Chapter 5: Sensation, perception etc.

Question 1

What is cognitive development?

Answer 1

Development of behaviors related to perception, attention, thinking and problem-solving

Question 2

What is a mental representation?

Answer 2

An internal description of aspects of reality that persists when that aspect is absent

Question 3

What is visual accommodation?

Answer 3

Control of focusing the eye

Question 4

What are two ways of investigating infant perception?

Answer 4

1. Visual preference method
2. Habituation techniques

Question 5

What is the visual preference method?

Answer 5

See if infants have preferences for stimuli. The amount of looking time is measured

Question 6

What is the habituation technique? What does it say when an infant can habituate? What does an infant do if it can habituate?

Answer 6

Attention to a stimulus gradually declines over time and recovers when a new stimulus is presented
–> if infant habituates, it tells you it has visual memory
–> infant would look longer at new stimulus

Question 7

Do infants discriminate based on forms or on single features?

Answer 7

Newborns perceive simple shapes as a whole, not as a collection of parts

Question 8

What is the difference between size and shape constancy? How do newborns respond to these tasks?

Answer 8

Size: understanding that object is the same despit its position in space

Shape: perception of constant form from different angles

Newborns: look longer at different size objects than the same object at a new distance –> so newborns can perceive shape/size constancy

Question 9

What is object unity?

Answer 9

Understanding that an object is whole or complete even though it’s partially hidden

Question 10

What is the development of object unity in infants according to Kellman?

Answer 10

Newborns don’t perceive object unity
2 mths olds have object unity only if narrow blockade
4 mths olds have object unity

Question 11

What is a subjective contour? How does it develop after birth?

Answer 11

When only parts of an object are presented, the remaining contours are filled in to complete the shape

Develops shortly after birth

Question 12

What does Fantz research say about face perception and infants and what is some criticism on it?

Answer 12

Young infants can perceive facial configuration, since they look longer at the face

Critique: infants look mostly at periphery of complex stimuli, so they look longer at face because there is more towards the edges

Question 13

How is discrimination between faces measured in infants?

Answer 13

Visual preference technique with familiar and unfamiliar faces. Looking time is measured

Question 14

What is hypothesized to be the basis on which newborns discriminate e.g. face of mother from a stranger?

Answer 14

Probably configurational differences

Question 15

Why do infants look longer at a face rated attractive by adults than a face not rated attractive? Give a possible explanation

Answer 15

Attractiveness arises within a few days of birth from experience of faces –> creating own average face

Question 16

What is perceptual narrowing in face processing?

Answer 16

Baby is born with general face recognition system. With experience this becomes a specific face recognition system

Question 17

What was Piaget’s view on imitation in kids? What is some counterevidence?

Answer 17

Imitation is impossible until infants were capable of representing self and other
Imitation develops in late infancy

Counter: newborns imitate facial/manual gestures

Question 18

What develops more quickly: face or voice recognition?

Answer 18

Face recognition

Question 19

Describe the study where the mother read sentences during prenatal development

Answer 19

Mother read the same sentence multiple times per day and after birth the infant showed preference for anyone saying this sentence

This tells us that young infants and fetuses can encode speech to extract differences in rhythm and intonation

Question 20

What is motherese?

Answer 20

Infant-directed speech

Question 21

What is the difference between cognition and perception?

Answer 21

Cognition continues when there is no perception, so cognition is based on mental representations

Question 22

What is object permanence? When does a child have this according to Piaget?

Answer 22

Ability to understand that even if an object is no longer visible, it still exists

Piaget: development between 9-24 months

Question 23

What is the A not B error? Which age group makes the most mistakes in this?

Answer 23

Searching error in age group 8-12 months

They look for an object where they have most often found it rather than where they last saw it

Question 24

What is the violation of expectation technique? What are the results in infants and what conclusions can we derive from this?

Answer 24

Infants are shown 2 events, one is realistic and the other unrealistic

Infants look longer at impossible event from 2-5 months

Conclusion: infants have object knowledge from 2-5 months

Question 25

What is core knowledge?

Answer 25

Basic information about the world that is particularly knowledge about physical properties of objects

Question 26

To which discussion did the results of the violation of expectation technique lead?

Answer 26

If there is core knowledge about objects in a newborn

Question 27

What is subitising? From what age can you do this?

Answer 27

Ability in young children to perceive the number of items directly without consciously counting. This only works for small numbers

From 4-7 months onwards

Question 28

What is a possible explanation of the A not B error?

Answer 28

Infants are unable to use the knowledge of object permanence and movement to guide their actions

Question 29

Why are limitations in memory no explanation of the A not B error?

Answer 29

Errors were also made when object was under a transparent cover

Question 30

What is the link between SES of kids and performance on the A not B task?

Answer 30

High SES: great overall attention and therefore more success on AB task

Low SES: delay in development abilities AB task

Question 31

Why can’t a lack of attention be the explanation of the A not B error?

Answer 31

There is a link between success on AB task and attention, but the more attentive they are doesn’t exclude mistakes. This can’t be the only explanation

Question 32

What does the AB error show?

Answer 32

Early knowledge on objects in infants doesn’t guide action

Question 33

When does the fear of depth develop?

Answer 33

6 weeks after they start crawling