Sensory & Motor Development 2 Flashcards
When does the development of touch happen?
Touch is the first sense to develop
At 8 weeks, foetuses respond to the area around the lips being touched
At 10 weeks: reflexive grasp response when palm is touched
At 12 weeks, toes curl when soles of feet touched
For the first 6 months new born infants show an automatic grasp reflex, touch (particularly skin contact) is an essential part of attachment bonding for infants
What was found when matching touch to vision?
New born infants were given small objects to hold until habituation, the infants look longer at the novel object despite seeing neither before
What was found when matching vision to touch?
New borns were shown one of two objects until habituation, infants don’t hold the novel object for longer than the familiar object
So at birth, cross-modal matching is not bi-directional
At what age do infants begin to crawl?
5-11 months
Acquiring the ability to move unaided brings concurrent improvements in memory
What evidence has been found that links crawling and memory?
Infants were shown how to play with a novel toy, which had a specific novel action associated with it
Both crawling and non-crawling infants could remember the target action but only crawling infants were able to retrieve the memory in a new context
Crawling brings greater memory flexibility
What does the change from crawling to walking mean?
That infants give up on being expert crawlers in favour of being poor walkers
This change requires muscle development, different patterns of limb coordination and balance control
Why is skilled crawling a better means of getting about than novice walking?
Crawlers are better able to judge the steepness of slopes or the depth of a drop
Walking leads to an increase in falls
Why do novice walkers persist with an initially unpromising strategy?
Covers space more quickly
Gives access to more distant objects
Allows different interactions with others
Afford better visual input
But skilled walking takes months to develop
What is perception?
How we see, hear or directly experience the world
What is cognition?
How we form, use and act upon internal thoughts, states or pictures - these are known as mental representations
Outline the violation of expectation task
Children shown an event repeatedly until they habituate, they are then shown one of two variations of the same event
If they look at one event for longer it suggests they’re surprised by it
Infants looked longer at the impossible event compared to the possible one.
What is object permanence?
The ability to understand that even if an object can no longer be seen, it still continues to exist
Observed that prior to 9 months, infants made no response to an object after it was hidden
