Perceptional development Flashcards
In the context of development, which two senses are studied the most, and why?
Sight and hearing
It is because they are the most important
They provide the most information of the surroundings
They can to a certain degree substitute each other
What are the two big theories of development of perception, and which sense do they focus on?
Piagets constructivist theory
Gibsonian ecological theory
They focus on sight!
How does Piagets constructivist theory work?
It looks at the child as actively constructing a mental representation of the world, which becomes more and more accurate
“The active child”
It builds on indirect perception, creating schema and putting them all together!
How does the Gibsonian ecological theory of development work?
The theory focuses on knowing facts and learning how to act in situations in the world (no mental models)
It looks at the way humans as animals are adapted to a niche and how because of that we have certain affordances
it builds on direct perception
What is the definition of perception?
To identify and differentiate sensed information, and control attention to parts of the environment to make meaning and consciously experience it
What is the difference between direct and indirect perception?
Direct perception: The world contains enough information. No mental model is needed.
It is highly connected to affordances
Indirect perception: One uses a cognitive model to interpret the world
In the brain, what are the two streams for vision?
The dorsal stream:
What to do with it.
Where is it
-> Motor connection
The ventral stream:
What is it?
Whats its name?
When has sight developed to a “normal” adult level?
Around school age (6 years)
What do babies show visual preference for?
Curves
Contrast
Varying edges
Movement
Complexity
What is visual preference often used for?
It is used to research things like memory, sights, words and cognition
Which assumption does research using visual preference build upon?
Looking time paradigm:
Living things (babies & animals) will look at things that are of interest
But it needs a lot of interpretation….
What is the A-not-B error?
(and what is a possible explanation for it?)
A baby is habituated to something being hidden in place A. (baby passes object permanence)
Then it is hidden in place B
Babies under 10 months usually reach for A
Babies over 12 months usually reach for B
(???Preoperational stage???)
What is object permanence?
The idea that objects still exists, even though they are not perceived anymore.
It is not completly developed before 1 year
Piaget says its one of the infants most important accomplishments, because nothing else is possible otherwise
How did Bowers experiments question object permanence?
When might be simple forms present?
What was the experiment?
Bower’s experiments challenged Piaget’s notion that object permanence develops late (10-12 months), proposing that aspects of it may be present as early as 3,5 months.
Using the violation of expectation paradigm, 3,5-month-old infants were habituated to a car rolling behind a screen and reappearing. When an obstacle was placed, but the car still emerged (through the obstacle) the children reacted with surprise (-> longer looking time)
How does the Draw-bridge experiment work?
A rotating screen, was rotated away.
Then an obstacle was placed, so that it would be intercepted
The infant would then react stronger to an impossible event (the bridge going through the objects) than to a possible event
Citicism:
Interpretation of looking time
Visual cache might still contain image on retina -> no memory!
