Infancy Flashcards

Question

Simple reflexes (0-1MO)

Answer 1

Reflex schemes are weighted heavily towards assimilation, because they do not adapt much in response to the environment

Answer 2

Purposeful behaviours, less reflexes Repeat bodily movements made initially by chance Sucking on hands The movement is primary because it focuses on infant’s own body, and circular because once it is discovered, it is repeated intentionally

Answer 3

Same as above, but activity is in relation to external world rather than own body e.g. kicking mobile in crib

Answer 4

Actions begin not as accidents, but intentional goal-directed behaviour Can now coordinate schemes e..g moving something aside, then grasping for something else

Answer 5

Infants do not have it in first year At 4MO, when they drop something do not look for it From 4-8MO, they will look at dropped object only briefly Start showing object permanence at 8-12MO Still not complete- when Piaget put object under two blankets, they only checked under one

Answer 6

Rather than viewing cognitive development as discontinuous (distinct stages), views cognitive changes as continuous (gradual and steady) Cognitive processes remain essentially the same over time Focus not on how mental structures and ways of thinking change with age, but on the thinking processes that exist at all ages attention, processing and memory Object permanence: infants draw their attention to most relevant aspects of the problem, process the results of each trial, remember the results and retrieve the results from previous trials to compare to the most recent trial Componential approach because it involves breaking down the thinking process into its various components

Answer 7

Heart rate declines when a new stimulus is presented and gradually rises as habituation takes place Infants suck on a pacifier more frequently when a new stimulus is presented and gradually decline in their sucking rate with habituation

Answer 8

Over first year, takes less and less time for habituation to occur When presented with a visual stimulus, neonates may take several minutes before they show signs of habituation By 4-5MO, 10 seconds By 7-8MO, only few seconds Because infants become more efficient at perceiving and processing a stimulus Infants vary in rates of habituation, which remain stable over time Infants who habituate slowly seem to get stuck on the stimulus and cannot disengage from it Speed of habituation predicts memory ability on other tasks in infancy, as well as later performance on intelligence tests In second half of first year, joint attention (social, notice what important people around them are paying attention to, and will look or point in the same direction) Less likely to look in direction of an adult if adults eyes were closed Learn words by observing what another person is doing or looking at when they use a word, and do same

Answer 9

STM and LTM develop during first year STM development shown by object permanence Number of locations infants can remember and search to look for a hidden object increases sharply in the second half of the first year (STM) 6 MO remembered a learned kick one week later, whereas 2 MO did not (LTM) When researcher made mobile move, infants recognised clue and began kicking up to a month later, even though they had been unable to recall the memory before being prompted (recognition memory, recall memory) The older the infant was, the more effective the prompting From infancy onwards, recognition comes easier to us than recall

Answer 10

may be caused by hippocampus adding many neurons in early years, interfering with existing memory circuits, so that LTM cannot be formed until the production of neurons in the hippocampus declines in early childhood

Answer 11

Gesell constructed four sub scales: motor skills, language use, adaptive behaviour and personal-social behaviour (like using a spoon) Following IQ model, he combined a developmental quotient (DQ) as an overall measure of infants’ developmental progress Bayley Scale of infant Development (Bayley III) by Nancy Bayley continued

Answer 12

Cognitive scale: mental abilities such as attention and exploration (6MO= whether baby looks at pictures in book, 23-25= can baby match similar pictures) Language scale: use and understanding of language (17-19MO: can child identify objects in a picture, 38-42MO: can child name four colours) Motor scale: fine and gross motor abilities (sitting alone for 30secs at 6MO, hopping twice on one foot at 38-42MO)

Answer 13

Habituation to predict later intelligence ‘short lookers’ habituate quickly, ‘long lookers’ take more time The shorter the habituation time, the more efficient the infant’s information processing abilities Short lookers tend to have higher IQ later Also identifies developmental problems More reliable than Bayley scales

Answer 14

first gestures (bye bye)

Answer 15

comprehension of words and simple sentences

Answer 16

first spoken word

Answer 17

``` activity level attention span emotionality soothability sociability adaptability quality of mood ```

Answer 18

mood generally positive, adapted well to new situations and generally moderate rather than extreme in emotional reactions, 40%

Answer 19

did not adapt well, moods intensely negative, 10%

Answer 20

low activity level, reacted negatively to new situations, fewer positive or negative emotional extremes than other babies, 15%

Answer 21

(Thomas and Chess): children develop best if there is a good fit between the temperament of the child and environmental demands

Answer 22

most basic emotions we share with animals (anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise, happiness), evident within first year

Answer 23

require social learning (embarrassment, shame, guilt) | AKA sociomoral emotions (infants not born knowing but rather learnt from social environment)

Answer 24

Distress becomes anger, sadness and gear Interest becomes surprise Pleasure becomes happiness

Answer 25

When mum is depressed, 2-3MO show sadness Fear develops by 6MO (stranger anxiety) Surprise evident halfway through first year First social smile appears at 2-3MO First laugh is about a month after smile

Answer 26

at few days old, neonates cry when they hear another neonate cry Dicriminate so they only cry in response to human neonate

Answer 27

Initially better at perceiving emotions by hearing than by seeing (auditory more developed) By 2-3MO can discriminate between happy, sad and angry faces Still face paradigm: by age 2-3MO if parents show no emotion for a time, baby responds with distress, meaning they rely on others emotions to respond to their own Able to match auditory and visual emotion after 7MO Social referencing: over the first year, process of becoming more adept at observing others’ emotional responses to ambiguous and uncertain situations and using that information to shape one’s own emotional responses At 9-10MO, will play with a toy only if mum shows positive emotion in relation to it Development of humour related to social referencing: develops in second half of first year, when parents laughed at unexpected event, baby does too

Answer 28

trust vs mistrust When infants have a caregiver who provides for them in nourishment and love, they develop a basic trust in their social world Developing trust in infancy provides a strong foundation for all future social development, whereas developing mistrust is likely to be problematic in future

Answer 29

If the primary caregiver is sensitive and responsive in caring for the infant, the infant will learn that others too can be trusted in social relationships