Cognitive Development in Infancy Flashcards
(16 cards)
Perceptual Narrowing
Infants are born with a language-general capacity:
* Can distinguish between any 2 speech sounds from any of the world’s languages
* Universal phonetic perception»_space;> language-spectific perception
Perceptual Narrowing
Werker & Tees (1984)
Universal phonetic perception
* 3 age groups, 3 languages
* Head-turn procedure: When sound changes, baby rewarded with visual stimuli to the side of them
* 10-12 months: Infants lose the ability to distinguish the different sounds
Born as “citizens of the world” and experience perceptual narrowing
Perceptual Narrowing
Pascalis et al. (2002)
Learning that Human Faces are special
* 6 month old: Discriminate between 2 human faces and 2 macaque faces equally well
* 9 month olds and adults: Discriminate only between human faces
Attunement to what is important is done in service of social learning to adapt to the environment
Piaget on Object Permanance
Develops as you age
* 1-4 months: Fallen objects not looked for
* By 4 months: Visually search for fallen objects
* 8-12 months: Search for entirely concealed objects
* 18-24 months: Full object permanence acquired
Object Permanence
A not B Error
Physical search for hidden objects
* <8 months: Will not search for object at all
* 9-12 months: Will search but usually in wrong location
Object Permanence
Baillargeon et al. (1985)
Violation of Expectation
* Do babies below 9 months detect when something impossible happens in the physical environment?
* As young as 2.5 months: Looking time increases in impossible scenarios
Object Permanenance
Possible Explanations for A not B Error
Lack of Inhibition/ Response Perseveration
* Habituation in repeatedly searching for object in location A makes it a part of the object identity
* Researchers have tried with purely observational trials and the error still occurs
Memory Deficiency
* Infants might struggle to keep track of the location
* Unlikely since error remains even when objects are placed into transparent containers in which the infant can see the object
Object Permanence
Integrative Executive Functioning Explanation
Frontal cortex immaturity
* Matures very slowly
* Involved in maintaining the representation of a hidden object and the inhibition of the incorrect object
* To succeed, the frontal cortex has to accomplish two different tasks at the same time
Object permanence
Dynamic Systems Theory Explanation
Two locations are in competition in the infant’s mind
* Repetition of location A highlights its importance so the memory of it wins
* If infants can immediately search without delay, they reach for location B
Embodiement of reaching action and the cognitive representation (memory capacity) both need to come together for it to be successful
Object Permanence
Smith et al. (1999)
Body Manipulation
* Sitting during location A and standing during location B = Correctly search in location B
* Sufficient qualitatively difference = Memory of A will have less influence
Object Permanence
Topál et al. (2008)
Social Context Manipulation
* Non-Social Condition: No experimenter at all
* Non-Ostensive: No eye contact or child-directed speech
* Ostensive: Smiling and child-directed speech
* Promoted search error
* Child associates hiding object with where it is meant to go: Embedded in the idea that adults are knowledgable teachers for babies to learn
Memory and Infantile Amnesia
“Mobile Contingency” Explanation
- 3 months: Can remember how to make a mobile move by kicking one week after receiving training
- 6 months: Can remember after two weeks
Boller et al. (1995): When in a different crib with different visual stimuli, infant forgets how to make the mobile move, even after short delays
Memory and Infantile Amnesia
Explanations for Infantile Amnesia
Brain Development
* Cannot form memories due to hippocampus not maturing until 3-4 years
Linguistic Development
* Cannot encode events without language
Emotional Development
* Cannot form memories without emotional schemas
Memory and Infantile Amnesia
Perris et al. (1990)
Long-term recall
* 6.5 months: Single exposure of auditory location study in a dark room in which they had to find the rattle
* 2.5 years: Retested in same procedure > Cued recall condition = reached and grasped the sounding object significantly more
Memory and Infantile Amnesia
Scaffolding Memories
Role of guiding questions and conversations: Vygotskyan account
* Can help child remember better
* Enhances the memory by verbal discourse
Memory and Infantile Amnesia
Procedural vs Conceptual Memories
Procedural
* Memories specific to situations in which the initial even occurs
* Embodied and even slight differences may interput the memory
Conceptual
* Rooted in verbal descriptions, semantic knowledge, and adult scaffolding
* Formed more actively and better than procedural memories
