Motor Development

Question 1

What is a reflex?

Answer 1

“innate”, fixed patterns of actions that occur in response to particular stimuli (e.g. grasping, sucking, blinking)

Question 2

Example of Neonatal Reflexes

Answer 2

Grasping, sucking, rooting, and tonic neck

Question 3

What is “The Case of the Disappearing Reflex?”

And why does it happen?

Answer 3

WHAT:
-At birth, show stepping reflex when held upright
-Around 2mo of age, stepping disappears and feet drag
-From birth to 6mo increases in the rate of spontaneous kicking while lying down
-Near the end of the first year, upright stepping reappears
WHY:
-Gravity/body posture
-Springiness of legs
-Fat to muscle ratio

Question 4

What are the 3 original experients for The Case of the Disappearing Reflex?

Answer 4

1) Gravity/body posture  water tank dunking
2) Springiness of legs  baby treadmill
3) Fat to muscle ratio  bodybuilding, ankle weights

Question 5

What is Dynamic Systems Theory?

Answer 5

• How change occurs over time
• Children’s actions shape motor behavior (reaching), language acquisition, memory, and more
• Development is:
• -Step-by-step: behavior now will impact behavior later
• -Continuous: happens over many timescales
• -Softly assembled: many interacting elements
• -Non-linear: small change in one area can lead to big changes in another

Question 6

Dynamic Systems Theory and The Disappearing Reflex

Answer 6

• The body has to instruct the brain
• -Infants have to learn about their own bodies in particular situations in order to show acquire different skills
• -Development occurs in the baby-environment system

Question 7

What is Soft Assembly in Dynamic System Theory?

Answer 7

The behaviors you see are not strictly wired in the brain, but they are instead a product of all available components in the system being brought together in the moment

Question 8

An example of fine motor development

Answer 8

Something that they can use their small muscles. Children use their fine motor skills when writing, holding small items, buttoning clothing, turning pages, eating, cutting with scissors, and using computer keyboards

Question 9

Integrating Perception & Action:Visual Cliff (Gibson and Walk): What is Scale Errors?

Answer 9

Scale Errors – attempts to do something with a miniature replica object that is far too small for the action to be possible

Question 10

Give an example of a scale error.

Answer 10

The video where the child used normal-sized objects like the child’s playground, car, and chair. Then put them in a room of those miniature objects.

Question 11

Who is more likely to avoid the edge–and experienced crawler or a new walker? Why?

Answer 11

An experienced crawler since they already have seen their world in that perception and are more likely to be able to have better depth perception.