Sensory Development In Infancy Flashcards
Visual paired comparison task
Infants can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar stimuli
Relies on habituation- decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations
Fagan test of infant intelligence
How infants process information
Amount of time children spend looking at a new object to estimate cognitive capacity
Quicker habituation reflects more efficient information processing
Scores are correlated with measures of intelligence
Correlation between 3-12mnth and childhood IQ scores= 0.37
Vision
Newborn- dim and fuzzy, see light, shapes and movement
1-2mnths- fixated objects, distinguish high-contrast colours
4mnths- depth perception and improved colour vision, follow object with eyes
8mnths- visual range increases- recognise people
1yr- similar to adult level
Seeing faces
Preferential interest in face-like stimuli
Newborns capable of recognising individuals faces, recognise mothers face even when olfactory cues removed
Development of vision
Perceptual narrowing and experience
Visual perception becomes increasingly tailored to regular features of environment
General abilities finely tuned following experience
Retain ability to discriminate between unfamiliar face types, by shaping instants experience
Heron-Delaney et al (2014):
- 9mnth shown Chinese face retained ability to recognise Chinese faces
- 9mnth shown Caucasian face lost ability to recognise Chinese faces
Development of vision
The other race effect
KELLY ET AL (2007)
Initially able to discriminate pretty well between faces they see
Become extremely good at distinguishing between kinds of faces
Gradually lose ability to discriminate between faces they don’t see that often
The development of hearing
Sound perceived in womb
26 weeks, foetuses show changes in heart rate as direct response to stimuli
Full-term foetuses recognise mothers voice
Understanding speech is remarkably complex process requiring segment a continuous stream of sound into separate parts
The development of hearing
DECASPER & SPENCE (1986)
Pregnant women read 3 minute story every day for final 6 week of pregnancy
After birth, played familiar and unfamiliar story
Preferred hearing story heard in womb, even when stories read by stranger
Babies not exposed to stories in womb showed no preference
The development of hearing
Perceptually narrowing and motherese
Infancy’s gradually exchange vast potential for processing all types of info for swifter, greater expertise in processing the information they tend to see in their environment
Motherese:
- exaggerated pitch range and speed
- infant directed speech
- help infants extract smaller chunks of language
- infants show preference, pay more attention
The development of touch
8 weeks in utero- respond to lips being touched
10 weeks- reflexive grasp response
12 weeks- toes curl when feet touched
6mth infant- automatic grasp reflex
Essential part of attachment bonding
The development of touch
Working with newborns
Birth difficult process, newborns need medical management
Apgar scale: -5-point-check -appearance: blue-pink -pulse: absent-100bpm -grimace: no response- grimaces, cries -activity: nine- all limbs flex -respiration: absent-robust cry Scores of 8 or above seen as ok
The development of touch
SANN & STRERI (2007)
Can use vision to identify an object they have previously held
Cannot use touch to identify an object they have previously seen
