Week 4 Lecture Flashcards
What does philosopher John Locke believe about infants minds?
That a babies mind is a ‘tabula rasa’ - a black page
What did William James think about infants mind?
The the infants couldn’t differentiate between sensations “a blooming, buzzing confusion”.
What is todays view about infants’ minds?
That they are born with many skills, and actively learn more, very rapidly, as they explore their world.
What is sensation?
Detection and discrimination of sensory information
What is perception?
Interpretation of sensations including recognising and identifying information
What is our most important sense generally?
vision
Which skill takes up most of the cerebral cortex?
Vision - takes up about half.
What level of vision does an infant have?
Well-developed vision
What are three popular testing paradigms used to test vision?
- Preferential looking
- Habituation
- Conditioned head-turn
What is preferential looking?
Used to test if the infant can discriminate between two similar visual stimuli.
How is preferential looking used to test infants?
Looking time measured between two stimuli. If they look at something for longer than average, they show more interest, they prefer it and can tell a difference
What is one problem with the preferential looking time?
If they are looking to the stimulus at equal times
What are two possibilities as to why babies look at the stimulus for equal times?
- They can’t tell the difference
2. They find the stimuli equally interesting
What is habituation when used to test infants?
Gradual decrease in response to a repeated stimulus.
What does habituation tell us about human preferences?
That we have a preference for anything new or different
In a habituation task, if the infant looks at a new stimulus for longer than the habituated one, what does this tell us?
That they can distinguish between the two stimuli.
What are two advantages of using habituation testing methods?
- Humans always prefer new stimuli
2. Can accomodate for individual difference (use different mean time)
Infants can see at birth, but lack what?
visual acuity
How can we tell that infants lack visual acuity? What types of test is used?
- via preferential looking
- using narrow stripes vs. plain field
For stationary objects, infants can best see what distance?
20-25 cm (perfect to see Mother)
At 6 months, visual acuity is at what level?
Near -adult levels
Colour vision in infants are initially______.
limited
At 2-3 months, infants’ vision start to perceive:
adult like colour categories
By 4-5 months, infants show what in terms o vision?
adult like colour preferences
Pattern recognition requires what types of processing?
Higher order processes
What is visual scanning?
How we visually track object details over time/space.
With visual scanning, what occurs at 1 month old?
Infants focus on one or two features of the object they’re viewing
With visual scanning, what occurs at 2-3 months?
develop more comprehensive methods of scanning visual objects
As infants get older, what do they tend to prefer in terms of visual stimulation?
More complex patterns
What happens when infants see edges or contrasts? (4)
- learn info on object boundaries
- learn about depth
- greater neural activation
- helps to developed pathways of pattern recognition
What are some reasons that infants are particularly interesting in faces? (7)
- 3D
- moving
- contrast
- visual and aural
- stimulation
- regulate their behaviour re baby’s activities
What is a ‘special’ stimulus for babies?
faces
Newborns < 3 months old showed a preference for what kind of face?
adult females faces judged attractive by adults
What part does sex play in infants preferences fro faces?
Prefer novel faces (new faces) of same sex as their own caregiver
What do infants prefer in faces with smiles?
By 3 months, infants prefer smiling faces UNLESS the mother is depressed
Do infants show a preference to look at their own race or difference?
They prefer to look at their own race
What is the still face paradigm?
If the Mother suddenly shows an expressionless face, the baby will demonstrate significant distress
What is one implication that the still face paradigm can have?
negative implications for babies of mothers with depression
Define object constancy
The perception that an object remains constant, despite changes in the way it looks
Conditioning studies suggest that infants have innate knowledge of what in relation to object constancy? (2)
- shape constancy
2. size constancy
What is object constancy important?
Helps to maintain a stable, perceptual world
What is the conditioned head-turn?
Rewards infant for turning head from side to side. If the child can recognise the stimulus, they should turn head only to that stimulus.
What is object continuity? (1)
How is this tested? (2)
- That an object remain continuous even if part of it is out of sight
- moving rod task
At 2-3 months, what do infants learn in regard to depth perception?
To focus on objects at different distances
What age are adult levels of distance perception demonstrated at?
By 4 years
What is one of the most famous study to examine distance/depth perception?
Visual cliff - if they have depth perception, they will show fear and not crawl.
What is seen in 2 month olds who do the depth perception task?
They are curious/show no fear (heart rate actually decreases)
What is seen in 6-14 months olds in the depth perception task?
won’t cross (heart rate increased)
What might explain the learning in depth perception task in differences between 2 months to 6 months?
They start to move around by themselves, so they have to learn depth perception
If looking at novel, attractive, interesting but not exciting stimuli that’s not exciting, what will you heart rate do
Decrease slightly
What are kinetic cues and what age are they developed?
looking to moving objects. Developed at around 1-3 months
Give an example of motion parallax (a visual depth, kinetic cue)
For example, if you are on a train, the things which are closer will be moving faster than those which are further away.
What is interposition? (a visual depth, kinetic cue)
Closer objects obscure further objects.
What are shadows as a visual depth kinetic cie?
Cast by closer objects (train) onto further objects (trees)
What is a binocular depth cue?
If things are far away, the image will be the same on each eye. If super close, the image on each eye will be different.
What age are binocular depth cues developed/
4-6 months
What is linear perspective?
If there’s two parallel lines, they appear to converge in the distance
What is texture gradient?
If you have many rows in a row, you’d think they are further together and then appear as closer far away (like at a winery)
How can you test texture gradiant and linear perspective in infants?
By reaching tasks
Is it harder to tell if infants are listening or looking?
Harder to tell if listening
What are some habituation DVS you can use in auditory testing in infants?
- turning head
- change heart rate
- change breathing rate
- change in sucking rate
What is high amplitude sucking used for
If a novel/interesting stimulus, high amplitude sucking rate will increase. With habituated, should be at normal level.
Foetus’ can respond to sound as early as what age in utero?
24 weeks
Can infants hear at birth? How do we know this?
Yes, respond with startle reflex, crying
Do infants prefer complex or pure sounds?
complex melody
After how many days can infants orient their heads to the direction of sound?
3 days
What can infants detect in sound stream (music)?
rhythm
What can infants detect at 6 months in relation to music?
tempo and melody
What can infants detect at 9 months in relation to music?
melody complexity
Do infants prefer consonant or dissonant music?
Consonant
Are smell or taste developed when born, or are they developed after birth?
highly developed at birth
At what age are newborns sense of smell stabilised by?
About 6 months
How does taste preference change for infants?
At birth, infants prefer sweeter tastes. Salty is unpleasant and bitter is very unpleasant. After 4 months, start preferring salty to sweet
How early do infants respond to touch?
8 weeks in utero
What age do infants manually explore the feel of objects tailored to objects?
4-6 months
What is haptic perception?
use of touch to explore objects.
What is the most useful touch manipulation for infants?
oral manipulation as it is the most informative
At what age to babies show adult like exploration with touch?
3 years
How to infants respond to pain?
With distress
What else may influence pain with infants?
Other peoples reactions
It is hard to assess older children’s experience of pain. What do hospitals use to assess this?
Faces pain scale
What is intermodal perception?
Combining input from difference senses to form a perception of unitary events or objects
How is intermodal perception tested in infants?
Given either a smooth or bumpy dummy. Then shown a picture. Will look at the one they sucked on.
