PSYC 2500H Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Subjective Constancy, Stimulus Modality, Active Child
26 Jun 2018
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Chapter 7: Early Cognitive Foundations –Sensation, Perception, and
Learning p.220-244
-Research Methods Used to Study the Infant’s Sensory and Perceptual Experiences
The Preference Method: a method used to gain information about infants’ perceptual abilities by presenting
two (or more) stimuli and observing which stimulus the infant prefers
oInfants can discriminate visual forms and preferred to look at patterned (over unpatterned stimuli)
oEvidence suggests ability to detect and discriminate patterns is innate
The Habituation Method: a decrease in one’s response to a stimulus that has become familiar through
repetition
oInvestigator first presents one stimuli until the infant stops attending to it (habituates)
oSecond stimulus is presented – if infant discriminates this (second stimulus) from the first, will
dishabituate
oDishabituation: increase in responsiveness that occurs when stimulation changes
The Method of Evoked Potentials: a change in patterning of the brain waves which indicates that an
individual detects (senses) a stimulus
The High-Amplitude Sucking Method: a method of assessing infants’ perceptual capabilities that
capitalizes on the ability of infants to make interesting events last by varying the rate at which they suck on
a special pacifier
oResearcher establishes baselines sucking rate
oHigh intensity sucking produces display of stimulus, when high intensity sucking stops, so does
stimulus
-Infant Sensory Capabilities
Hearing
oSoft sounds must be made noticeably louder before a neonate can detect them
o4-6 months: can react to a rapidly approaching auditory stimulus by blinking in anticipation of a
collision
oReactions to voices: particularly attentive to high-pitched feminine voices
Babies suck faster on a nipple when hearing recording of mother’s voice (relative to
someone else’s)
Responsiveness to mother’s voice provides opportunity for fostering healthy social,
emotional and intellectual development
oReactions to language
Phonemes: smallest meaningful sound units that make up a spoken language
Development
At 3 months: babies could distinguish consonant sounds that are very similar
At 1 week: distinguish vowels a and i
4 ¼ months: turn to hear their own name, but not others (same stress pattern)
Use voices to identify and discriminate their companions
Segment speech into smaller units
Otitis media: common bacterial infection of the middle ear that produces mild to
moderate hearing loss
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Taste and Smell
oPrefer sweets
Sweets produce smiles and smacking of the lips
Sour substances – wrinkle noses and purse lips
Bitter – expressions of disgust
oReact vigorously to unpleasant smells
oRecognize mother’s olfactory signature
Touch, Temperature and Pain
oSensitivity to touch increases responsiveness to environments
oTouch and close contact promote developmental progress therapeutic effect
oBabies experience pain i.e. circumcision
Vision
oLeast mature of newborn’s sensory capabilities
oPupillary reflex from change in brightness
oResearch conducted by Fantz’
oVisual preference for human face (as opposed to other stimuli)
oNeonates see in colour, trouble discriminating blues, greens and yellows from whites
4 months of age, colour perception similar to adults
oRelatively low visual acuity: ability to see small objects and fine detail
Requires sharper visual contrast: amount of light/dark transition in a visual stimulus
-Visual Perception in Infancy
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Document Summary
Chapter 7: early cognitive foundations sensation, perception, and. Research methods used to study the infant"s sensory and perceptual experiences. The method of evoked potentials: a change in patterning of the brain waves which indicates that an individual detects (senses) a stimulus. Babies suck faster on a nipple when hearing recording of mother"s voice (relative to someone else"s) Responsiveness to mother"s voice provides opportunity for fostering healthy social, emotional and intellectual development: reactions to language. Phonemes: smallest meaningful sound units that make up a spoken language. At 3 months: babies could distinguish consonant sounds that are very similar. At 1 week: distinguish vowels a and i. 4 months: turn to hear their own name, but not others (same stress pattern) Use voices to identify and discriminate their companions. Otitis media: common bacterial infection of the middle ear that produces mild to moderate hearing loss. Sweets produce smiles and smacking of the lips. Sour substances wrinkle noses and purse lips.
