Developmental Psychology Class

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Developmental psychology

-a positive or negative change during life.

-Hall developed ‘dev. Psyc’

Developmental psychology starts at birth and ends at death.

Opinions as to the exact beginning:

1)conception

2)birth

3)before conception- i.e. family background, parents relationship, etc.

Nature vs. Nurture

Various areas of development:

1) Cognitive development

Thoughts/intellectual

Development of linguistics

Movement from more egocentric to less egocentric

2) Physical development

3) Motorical development

4) Emotional/social development

à each act is a combination of the areas above developments

i.e. soccer player: cognitive: to know the rules and the current situation in the game; emotional: to deal w/ failure; motoric/physical: ability to run

Outlook

Universal models

Look at changes that occur to everyone at the same age without any relation to their respective culture

-establish norms

Norm: what most people do/undergo

Advantage: -ability to find problem

-ability to isolate positive and negative characteristics

Disadvantage: -might assume a negative trait in a person when not applicable

Individual differences/trends

-i.e. why is one kid more scared of strangers than another

External/environmental influences

-the study of the influence on person by surroundings

Developmental Psychology’s goals

1) To collect basic information on the development of a person (descriptive)

2) practical purposes

i.e. –to know when bedwetting is expected to stop.

-court: where is a kid best off? At mom’s care/dad’s care/foster home

Descriptive process

1)collect data from the group

2)analyze info: i.e.: if most kids start speaking at the same time, it is probably genetic

3)foresee: what will happen in future cases

4)influence: using tools to fix a problem

Basic Dev. Psyc. Question

Nature vs. nurture

à no clear answer

Opinions:

Nature

-Behaviors is only influenced by genes/biology

-John Lock-baby=clean slate – life chisels at it

Nurture

-Behavior infl. By nurture: nutrition/right upbringing

-Rousseau – baby=intrinsically good, but corrupted by society

--

There are things influenced more by nature and some more by nurture

Way to check:

-identical twins separated at birth and brought up in different surroundings

-2 people of different genes grow up in same surrounding

Anthropology: children grown in same surroundings vs. others

-i.e. in idnie tribes of Africa, child is carried on backs of mothers for hours a day – muscles are restrained

• if walking develops later that norm: walking=environmental
• if not: walking=inherited

Studies of twins/adoptee

-The attempt to study the relationships between 2 people with some commonalities (genes/upbringing)

-1---0---1

-1 –opposite relationship b/w the compared individuals (i.e. one smart, one not)

0 –no comparable relationship b/w compared ind. (therefore, not genetic)

1 –equal relationship b/w/ compared ind. (i.e. both smart)

Example:

1)identical twins grew up in 1)different 2)same surrounding

2) 2 people w/o family relation who grew up 1)together 2)separately

àproof that genetics do not have exclusive influence

Various factors of development

1)maturity

2)growth

3)learned

Maturity

-cellular maturity that allow for new action

ài.e. cells mature at certain age to allow for walking

-everyone had a biological clock that control maturity of cells

-i.e. first baby crawls, then walks.

Growth

# of cells in an organ increases

-unlike maturity, which refers to size/ability of cells

-influence by both genes/environment

à could also be infl. By emotional environment

-Growth not necessity for maturity

-Maturity not necessity for growth

Learned

-Change in behavior infl. By language

-i.e. leaning a language

Relation b/w maturity/growth/learn

-maturity –necessity for for learn

-there are rare cases where leaning infl. Maturity

How to collect data

1)Observation

2)closed/open questionnaire

Closed: given a range of answers that the person has to choose

Open: asking a free-range question

3)physiological

-observe things that reflect the kid feels/thing

-brain scans

• chemicals in blood/urine/spit

Focus of Dev. Psyc.

1)Developmental trends

2)Individual difference

3)psychopathy

Developmental trends

Observe how the child is developing mentally/physically

-adolescence – end of mental development

Individual difference

What do kids have in difference?

How Come

What outcome will it have?

What can be derived?

How could it be fixed if necessary?

Focus here is on individual (‘developmental trends’ focus on group – they do not oppose each other – just different focus.)

Psychopathic development

The study of unhealthy /not-normal development

-necessity of defining normal, in order to compare normal to not-normal

-In our class, since the focus is on development of kids, psychopathy is only referring to either kids developing wrongly or parents upbringing kids in bad ways

Infancy

Babies were thought to be confused and helpless

-Watson: babies have no response/reflex/feeling

studies show:

In Reality:

-Babies can follow sounds/objects first day after birth

-Recognize mom’s voiced immediately

-sound very developed

-vision underdeveloped àcan only recognize colors after 2 months

--

During first few months, baby strives to attain:

1)social contact

2)food

3)avoiding harmful stimulants

Things that help us find out what the babies know

1)Suck

2)Look

3)Focus on an object

suck

Babies suck faster at things that they like better

Focus on an object

Babies look at new objects, then turn away once it is familiar to them

Habituates – regular (and uninteresting)

Dishabituates – the regular object no longer is regular

Piaget –child psych

-did research on child development

2 of his famous tests

1) Had 2 identical cups with identical amount of liquid. Each with a different color.

The sample kid was asked which was fuller – he answered that it was equal. Then 1 cup’s liquid was moved into a tall glass When asked which had more liquid:

6 year old: the taller

7 year old: not sure

8 year old: same

2)train goes by – one area of tracks are blocked by a screen. When screen is lifted, there is a box on the tracks

-baby looks in confusion

àwe use baby’s vision to see h.m. he knows

-conc. From case #2: babies at one point realize that logically, things do not cease existing when they disappear

Summery:

3 factors play role in psychological development:

1) Genes

2) Past development

3) Present environment

Evolution/Natural Selection

Darwin – 1809-1882

-Natural selection: when a certain variance in genes put a specific animal in an advantage in terms of survival. He will have more chances of surviving and spreading it’s genes than the animals w/o this advantage àeventually this specific gene will spread to a big group of the species and might overtake it àEvolution

The 3 factors also necessary in evolution

Summery:

3 factors play role in evolution:

1) Genes

2) Past development

3) Present environment

Genes in psychology:

Psychologists are interested to discover which behaviors genes cause, and under which environmental conditions those genes are turned on by.

àthe psycho. want to study it to know which environments to avoid or encourage in the specific kids.

How do kids understand symbols? –movie

Symbol-something that is meant to rep. something else

Experiment #1

-a model of a room is shown to a kid. A small doll is hidden in the model room in front of the kid. Then kid told that the experimenter is doing the same to the real-life room (to which the model-room is based after.) ànot in front of the kid, the experimenter hides other doll in the place corresponding to the place in the model-room where the doll was hidden.

Results

-2½ kid can’t clearly correspond the model room w/ the real room àtrial and error until she finds doll

-3 year old kid finds it immediately, thus having the ability to correspond b/w model and actual room

Experiment #2

Floor of crib, -one half has a pattern; the other half is see-through to below where a similar pattern is laid.

Results

-6 months old will claw across crib, not having depth perception

-8 months old won’t craw over the see-through

Outgoing/secluding

Some of kids: outgoing/others secluding

àthis is a fundamental diff. among humans

àeven though it is very much genetic, this behavior could be modified

-another factor – outgoing mom = outgoing kids

Psychopathic/verbal skills also genetic

->Environment determines w/ genes will activate

à2-3 yr-old only can see his own view àcan’t be empathical

Class, Nov 6, 2000

3 kinds of development:

-Different theories allot different amounts of each structure in each stage of development

-Dev. Psych needs theory in order to experiment àneeds to experiment a theory

àevery theory focuses on a different element of behavior

2 things could be focused on in research:

1) Observable behavior (cognitive/intellectual)

2) Internal experience (social/emotional)

Kinds of theories

-Developments happened in stages

-Developments happened in linear way

Kagan

-Reinforced childhood experience is a huge factor in behavior

Treatment

Find out:

*why did people pick specifically those friends/partners

*why do they act the way they do?

àmake those things conscious and perhaps make a dissonance

àmight help change

Chapter 2, 68-72 notes

Kids need attention during infancy

àif kid taken from parents b/f 4 àvery traumatic

-kids who grow up in establishments –negative effect

àlack of stimulus/care during infancy

-Culture has effect on psychological development

Example:

-in Japanese culture:

-kids seen as intrinsically independency àneeds to be made ASAP

-self control

-respect

-mom: never leaves àeven for shopping

-dad leaves parenthood for mom

àway different from North American culture

Relations

Community/family/social group/socioeconomic level

Context –our surroundings

Question h.m. does our context influence our development?

Answer:

Freud/Wilmford: baby needs human surrounding (context) in order to have a normative development

Problem: orphanage: baby does not have a long-range relationship ài.e. change of workers; not enough personal care.

àbaby feels that what he indicates is meaningless (i.e. signs of tiredness might be ignored b/c ‘it is time to be fed’)

àmight lead to signs of autism

Context: within a relationship during development, which helps infant develop

àinfant needs a constant relationship, i.e. mom

àcontext could also be a cultural context

Social context

Americans –more eye contact that Japanese

àJapan has more structured society than America

-parents work more/spent more time @ home

Question: how does that effect the kid’s context?

àParent’s choices are depended on culture

Ecological context -Bronfenbrener

Family Microsystems

1) Transaction model

2) Bi-directional model

Transactional

Snowball effect. Kid reacts a certain way to his environment, which prompts a certain response from parent/guardian; which prompts kid to act certain way, etc…

Bi-directional

-a dynamic relationship where both factors influence each other

• Parent influences kid
• Kid influences parent’s behavior

-i.e. if kid has temperament, parent might give kid less attention

Negative emotionality

Positive emotionality

àboth genetic.

-The more negative the kid is, the more negative society id to him àthough they need more attention in order to get hooked into society

Video, Dec 4, 2000

Piaget noted 4 cognitive development stages

‘besheila’=? (Pp. 100, 2ns paragraph 2^nd line)

Chapter 4 notes:

Children are born w/

Characteristics of child’s earliest abilities

-Throwing up: anti-chocking reflex

-Sucking reflex – to guarantee food

-Crying reflex – to get appropriate attention

-i.e. when a baby hears a voice, his reflexes turn his head in that direction

à

later in life, those reflexes become more complex

àin order to learn how to recognize faces

àConnection b/w event and it’s result is called ‘Contingency’

One way to research babies' development id to study the cerebral cortex

Cerebral cortex -the outer layer of the cerebrum

-->where most intellectual processes take place

Neurons: basic building blocks of the nervous system

After birth - first 15 months

-slight increase in # of neurons-sharp increase in size of neurons

-Sharp increase in # of connections

Myelin -Fatty substance that helps transmit the electric messages within the brain

--

Baby conditions

-Babies has many daily conditions

Classification

Sleep: Active/inactive

Awakeness active/quiet

Distress fussying/crying

sleep

-infants spend over 16 hours a day sleeping

-->sleep amount decreases w/ growth

-sleep is not organized into a day/night scheme

-within North American society, day/night scheme is shown in babies 8 weeks old

-->probably b/c North American parents try to keep baby awake more during day/sleep more @ night

Inactive sleep

-Baby sleeps quietly -w/o movements

-slow breath

Active sleep

-REM-like eye movements

-movements of limbs

-faster breathing

-Infants don't have the organized brain wave pattern that adults have

-->only starts to show @ 3 months

Distress situation

Types of cries

Angry: sudden/loud cry

Hunger: starts softly/gets louder

Pain: starts w/ shriek/ continues loudly

-w/ experience, we can learn to differentiate b/w them

Calming effect

-pacifier

-vocal stimulation

-changing diaper

-movements

-hugging

-->each baby is calmed differently

-some babies calm easier/harder

Changes in baby conditions: with time, baby's conditions (the ones mentioned above) b/c more predictable

Reflexes

reflex: automatic/inborn response to a particular stimulus

-some of the reflexes are on a survival basis, i.e. blinking/sneezing

-Developmental psychologists are more interested in reflexes which disappear w/ acquirement of more advances skills, than w/ those who are lifelong.

1)Rooting reflex -baby reflexes to move sideways when cheek stroked -->to find breast to feed on

2)sucking reflex - when something gets entered in baby’s mouth, it starts sucking

-both reflexes help baby feed until it knows how to find the nipple itself

à

2-4 months - these reflexes disappear -->gives way to voluntary sucking

Other reflexes

-Some reflexes are from our evolutionary past.

Examples

Moro Reflex

-arms/hands clamp if baby falls backwards

-->probably ape's way to grab tree/mom in case it falls

Grasping reflex

-when baby's hand stroked, it grasps -->strong enough to hold baby's weight

-->by 3rd month, baby can grasp voluntary.

--

Stepping reflex

If baby is held upright and feet touch the floor, his legs move reflexively as if he is walking

-disappears at 3 months but reappear several months later, when the baby is ready to walk

-in early infancy, reflexes (such as grasping/stepping) is controlled by lower command centers

-->w/ development, higher brain control takes over and inhibits those reflexes

-->suddenly, babies can voluntarily do things which were reflexes until now

-->maturation of brain is related to the myelination as well as the proliferation of connections among neurons in the cerebral cortex

--

Infant learning

Habituation vs. Dishabituation

Habituation: decrease in attention when a stimuli is repeated

Ways to measure habituation:

1) looking time 2) visual recognition memory (H. fast kids recognize new things)

Orienting Response

The psychological/behavioral changes which takes place when a stimuli is first presented

-->i.e. heartbeat change/slight dilation of the eye pupils

à

increased awareness/attention

Dishabituation

After a while of dis-learning/disinterest of the habituation to a particular stimulus, renewed, increased attention

For habituation to take place:

1)child needs to realize that the stimulus is same as the previous time it has experianced it

2)Compare 1st and 2nd stimulus to recognize the 2nd as new

Associative learning

Associative learning - how infants learn that several events are associated w/ each other

à

certain stimuli goes w/ certain scenario

* 2 kinds of associative learning: Classical conditioning/Instrumental conditioning

Classical conditioning

-to associate a new stimulus w/ an old stimulus and its established reflex response

Example:

-Ivan Pavlov (psychologist) - caused dogs to salivate by ringing a bell when they eat. eventually they salivated to the sound of the bell w/o having food in from of them

Instrumental Conditioning

-also called Operant conditioning

-learning behaviors through the influence of their consequences

Positive reinforcements: the presentation of a pleasant stimulus following a behavior, to increase likelihood it will be repeated

-->example: baby gets bread every time he says 'beh'

Negative reinforcements: the removal of unpleasant stimulus to increase likelihood of that behavior

-->example: baby's diaper changed every time he cries

Punishment: the presentation of a unpleasant stimulus to discourage behavior from repeating

-->Example: kid slapped every time he does something wrong

-Reinforcement: any event that follows a behavior that increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

-->the dogs associated the bell sound w/ the food

Shaping: reinforcing which gradually gets closer to the target behavior

-->example: if baby said 'beh' every time he wants bread, the dad might repeat the word 'bread, and eventually only give kid when his mumbling becomes closer and closer to the word 'bread'

Imitative learning:

-behaviors learnt by imitation of others.

-->faster way of learning than shaping

-->child must be able to reproduce and remember the behavior for future use.

Imitation development

Before 6 months

Baby can match behaviors if perceptual consequences, such as sound. i.e. if baby makes a certain sound, and the adult repeats it, the bay will often repeat it

Beginning at 6 months

-babies will try to imitate sounds/behaviors that they have seen but never done before.

At 12 months

-Babies b/c much better at imitating unfamiliar behaviors

At 18 months

-imitation is very accurate

The concept of Preparedness

-genetic disposition to learn certain behaviors

Examples

Infant motor skills

0-2 months –chin up

2-4 months –chest up

2-5 months –rolls over

5-8 months –sits w/o support

5-10 months –stands, holding on something

6-10 months –pulls self to stand

7-13 months –walks w/ support

10-14 months –stands alone

11-14 months –walks well

14-22 months walks up stairs

Motor kills and physical growths

-infant motor skills develop within a context of drastic growth

-average growth within the first year:

à

kid must learn to deal w/ limbs that are growing/change proportions

Some Principles of motor Development

Differentiation

-everything we learn, motorically, starts simple and becomes more advanced:

Example:

*An adult covers a baby’s face

-a newborn will wildly wiggle clumsily his whole body until adult’s hand is off

-several weeks later, more usage of arm (specialized function!) but the arm movement will be focused closer to center of body

-at 6 months, the baby can move adult’s hand is one swipe

-a month or 2 later, baby will cover face in anticipation/protection

Cephalocaudal Development

-Development starts closer to the brain continues downwards

à

eye movement/refined sucking will come b/f walking

Proximodistal development

-development starts @ center of body and extends outwards

à

i.e. –arms develop motorically b/f hands which develop motorically b/f fingers

The joint role of maturation and experience

-Maturation gives the general outline for the ability.

-the experience gives the practical ability/refinedness

The development of specific motor skills

Focus of the book is on several motoric skills:

Controlled eye movements

-eye movements are quite automatic

-->one of the earliest to develop.

-->helps young infant study what is around him to discover his environment

-learning would be severely limited w/o eye movement

-when they are bored, their eyes move more -->to find something to look at.

-in the beginning, eyes can almost only focus on bright/dark contrasts

Pursuit eye movements

-The smooth, continuous movements of the eye to follow moving objects

* In younger age, baby can only follow slow moving objects w/ pursuit eye movements

Saccadic eye movements

-the rapid, jerky eye-movements that occur when person looks at new object

-->adult can do it in 1 movement

-->infants seed several movements to move eyes to new objects

-->also use saccadic movements to follow faster moving objects instead of 'pursuit eye movements'

Reaching and grasping

-both reaching/grasping are behaviors that are inborn; then they decline/disappear, and then reappear much more advanced

prereaching

-a reflex of an infant to spontaneously try to reach for objectw/i it's gaze, even though he can't reach it

-b/w 1-4 months, there is a decline in prereaching

-by 4 months, there is voluntary reaching

-by 15 months, there is smooth/accurate reaching ability

-->the reflex is a learning aid to help the baby coordinate what he sees and his arm

-->also to coordinate the (his) hand he sees w/ the object he wants

-->this process does not lead to the ability to reach w/o seeing arm!!!

-->by 15 months, the baby is able to reach for things glowing in the dark (where he can't see his arm)

-->successful reach w/o visual audio info

Study:

-Brain Maturation allows for reaching skill to develop

-Environmental situation (experience) develops this potential within the kid

-Babies tend to reach only for things within their reach (through extending arm as well as other parts of body)

i.e.:

-baby who is 5 months old has undergone enough maturation to lean forward to reach.

-a younger baby won't even try to reach for the object

-by 8-10 months, the baby leans to lean and reach simultaneously

-->whereas the 5 month old would first reach, then see that he can't reach, then lean and then reach.

Grasping

-by 3-4 months, baby can voluntarily grasp

-by 6 months, he can let go

-by 8 months, he can use thumb against rest of fingers

-by 1 year, he can oppose the thumb/forefinger (and pick up small things)

Walking

-by 7 months, baby can crawl in some fashion or other -->mobility

-b/f 1 year -can walk w/ support of objects

-around 1st year, take solo step

-variances in age where walking starts should not be seen as a problem, unless the delay is extreme

Stepping reflex

-stepping reflex-declines around 2 months

Researchers' positions on why it declines:

1) Brain is developing -->ability to inhibit reflexes allows for organization of development.

à

w/o organization of development, the brain might go on overload

2) Body mass b/c too big to reflex

Study

-Esther Thalans

-Stepping reflex can be evokes in babies up to 7 months, who are put over a treadmill

-the walking depends on the integration of many systems, i.e. balance

-jerky movements (such as the reflexes/stereotypic movements associated w/ moving the legs) leads to smoother movements which enable kid to develop advances skills, such as walking

Stereotypic movement - the movements of a limb that is nor voluntary, nor reflexes -->it is a series of movements caused by a wide variety of stimuli

-->usually evoked by excitement

-->steppingstone in development b/w reflexes and voluntary motoric acts

-->onset of walking depends on both maturation of nerve system/musscles and practice

Study (done in 1940)

Example #1

-Hopi Indians restrain their infants in very physically constraining boxes

-the babies were given freedom from this constraint at about a year (which is where non-constraint kids start to walk)

-->they also started to walk

Conclusion -shows that maturation is a bigger factor in learning to walk than practice

Example #2

-Ache people (of S. America) constrain kids for several years

-->kids start walking way past 2nd year

Conclusion: prolonged restraint delays the development of walking

Examples

-Kipsigis tribe of Kenya teaches their babies to walk as early as 3rd month

-->the average for starting to walk is 3 weeks b/f N/A babies

Conclusion: practice has some influence

-nevertheless, studies show that the effect of practice (of the reflexes) as opposed to mere maturation exists, but is minimal

à

not worth practicing something which is anyways canalized

Sensory Systems in the newborn

Vision

Visual acuity - the degree to which one can see fineness of details

-->even adults w/ perfect eyesight has somewhat limited acuity

-->adult has to look closely/under magnifying glass to realize that a picture in the textbook is really made from many small dots

-babies meet the criterion for being legally blind (their visual acuity is so poor)

Determining how clearly babies see

Preferential looking

-based on babies tendency to look at things of higher contrast

Experiment

-babies was shown gray card vs. stripped black and white cards. Then showed increasingly narrow stripes on the stripped cards.

à

eventually, the babies did not show preference for the stripped cards

-At 2 weeks, baby’s sight is 20/300 (baby sees at 20 memters what an adult can see at 300

-at 5 months, 20/100

Visual evoked potentials

-measures brain activity to see if baby can tell the difference b/w objects

Problem: it gives a higher estimate than reality

àit can focus sharp image on Retina (the back of the eye, which is light sensitive)

à

but brain visual system/Rerina is yet immature

Studies

-visual experience w/ pattern needed for development of sight. W/o sight during development = insufficient sight

Can Babies see color?

Hearing

Studies show that a fetus can hear by 26-28 months after conception

-ability to detect direction of sound

à

very early skill

à

by 18 months, it is at adult levels

-at first, baby’s hearing capabilities are weak. Has to be 10-20 decibels louder

à

by 12/13

à

same as adults

Question

How well can babies discriminate b/w sounds?

Answer

Tool to find out: habituation studies:

Example

-Present baby a certain sound until he gets habituated (disinterested in it)

The present a different sound, and measure the reaction. If there is renewed reaction, then the baby has detected the difference in sound.

-->babies are better w/ higher than lower pitches

Studies show:

-babies can distinguish better b/w speach sounds than w/ pitches

-->i.e. by 1 month, baby can distinguish b/w 'bah' and 'pah' as well as adults

categorical perception

-putting a series of perceptions into categories

-humans, as young as babies use categorical perception

Smell and taste

Smell

-babies respond to odors similar to adults

-->facial expressions/body movements similar to adults

* Habituation studies show that babies can make refined odor distinctions:

-->i.e. mom's perfume vs. other perfume

-mom's nursing pad vs. other nursing pad

Taste

-babies can discriminate b/w/ sweet/bitter/salty

-->babies can discriminate b/w/ plain water and weak sugar solution

-at birth, taste-buds are present and localized in the main aread of the tongue, but the taste nervous system is not fully developed yet.

Organization of Infant sensory Behavior

-during waking hours, babies spend a lot of effort learning about their environment.

-->They scan for contrast areas. after they find it, they scan it for a while, then move on

-as babies grow older, they scan more for internal features of the object

Development of Perceptual Abilities

Perception: the process which the brain interprets info from the sendes, giving it order and meaning

Depth and Distance perception:

Experiment:

Babies in a crib:

1)one side of it had a pattern

2)Other side =see-through to below - had a pattern below

-by 7-8 months, as babies started to crawl, they showed preference for side which is not see-through

-->as they got older, this preference increased.

-->start of fear of heights in adulthood

-some studies show that babies can already perceive height at 2 months old

-The info comes to the Retina in 2D. the brain uses 2 techniques to decipher it into a #D image

-Kinetic depth cues

-Binocular depth cues

Kinetic depth cues:

-information about depth and distance assumed through its motion

-->i.e. expansion of size of object

-'monocular' - only 1 eye is needed in order to make this assumption

Study: babies blink more often to a computer screen where objects b/c bigger. They also blinked more often to objects on the screen that appear to get then rather than those that appeared to miss them

-'Accretion-deletion' -when a background disappear and then reappears, you assume that the object that moved is in front of the background

-->Accretion = reappearance

-babies start to use it at age 3, but only start to use it on a regular basis @ age 5-7 months

Binocular depth cues

-visual cues for depth/distance assumed by the fact that info reaches both eyes

Convergence

-brain measures the angle (convergence) of the eyes. the more they look inwards, the closer the brain assumes that the object is

*Studies show that by 1 months babies use convergence. by 5 months, they do it accurately.

Retinal disparity

By combining the info of both the retinas, which happens to be slightly different, the brain assumes that the image is 3D (i.e. perceives the depth)

-babies start to show sensitivity to retinal disparity @ 3 months.

-by 5 months, they effectively use this tool

Strabismus - the condition where the eyes are misaligned (cross-eyed)

-Strabismus affected people do not get the full experience they need to develop binocular cueing.

-->could be altered through surgery. though if it is done after 1 year of age, the binocular cueing won't work as well.

Conclusion

->it shows that both maturation of the brain and practical experience is needed.

->moreover, maturation equally affects experience. If baby is born w/o brain cells responsible for binocular cues, but normal eye muscles, he will b/c cross-eyes, b/c brain doesn't tell him when his eyes are aligned or not

-->W/ sight, brain development/visual experience influence each other in a circular way

Pictorial depth cues

-cues which can depict depth/distance in 2D images

-->'static cues' -they do not depend on motion

linear perception

-parallel lines that seem to converge as they extend away from viewer

Looking at a trapezoid:

* w/ 1 eye -looks like a slanted rectangle

* W/ 2 eyes - looks like a trapezoid

Interposition:

-when objects appear to overlap, the one perceived to be in the forground is assumed to be in front of the other

Shading

-shading by protrusions/depressions in a surface is detected by its shades

-babies b/c sensitive to those depth cues around the same time they are sensitive to linear cues (around age 5-7 months)

Size/Shape constancy

Size constancy:

the ability to perceive an object from different distances as the same size, despite that it appears bigger/smaller in the Retina

Shape consistency

-the ability to perceive an object being the same shape despite seeing from different angles

Studies show:

Perception of Faces

-complex procedure of learning that requires several steps.

-newborns -can recognize mom's face

-3 months -can recognize her on a picture

-5 months -can remember strangers' faces

--

-At first, babies prefer moving face-like image than static/blank face

Question:

-if baby prefers moving faces/learns to recognize mom's face fats, why does it take so long for general face perceptions to develop?

Answer:

-different neurological/visual info is used at various ages.

i.e.

-at first, babies use outline to discriminate b/w objects:

-->babies can discriminate b/w basic shapes, but can't distinguish b/w/ square w/ circle in it vs. square w/ triangle in it.

-->only later, can babies start to discriminate b/w internal features of an object [which is a requirement for face-recognition]

-->follows general outline of face -->the cerebral cortex is not used

->development of areas in the cerebrum cortex allows for use of it

First Adaptations in context

-biology inbuilt reflexes in the kids to babies to respond to their environment

-some pre-adapted preferences, i.e. attraction to light/dark contrast/ attraction to human voice

-->helps them socially interact by being attracted to humans through being attracted to human faces/voices

-environment gives baby experiences needed to develop brain/motoric skills/perceptual abilities/behaviors

-babies/adults are bias to direct attention t/w each other

[summery of chapter on page 152-153 of textbook]

Class, Dec. 18, 2000

Rule: kids like to interact with familiar things, but they like to look at new things

--

Chapter 5 in textbook

Advances:

-basic understanding of the physical world, including property of objects and relationships b/w objects

-use of basic cognitive tools: categorization/to number/to understand the world

-combine actions into sequences to get desirable ends

-increasingly powerful/flexible abilities

Limitations

-emphasis on perceptual info/action as sourses of knowledge of the world

-absance of symbol/language ability

-limited flexability in many emerging cognitive abilities

-limited memory capacity

Piaget's theory of infant cognitive development

Assumptions about the nature of infants

Sensorimotor period - the first 2 years of the infants life, where awareness of environment is limited to what baby can know through senses/motoric acts

-->piaget thought that baby is actively constructing and understanding of the world

-->Piaget thought that motor activity is essential to development

-->passive observation is not enough

-kids at first discover things by accident by moving their limbs/manipulate parts of their bodies

-->later, discoveries are more intentional -->kids deliberately try out actions and investigate their consequences

Processes of Developmental change

2 aspects of Piaget's theory of cognitive development:

Adaptation/equilibrium

Adaptation

How children change to b/c more efficient in their surroundings

-->i.e. how a kid learns how to drink from a cup instead of a bottle.

Adaptation has 2 elements: assimilation and accommodations

-Assimilation: applying old techniques to new scenarios

-Accommodation: modifying an old technique to adapt to a new skill

Schemes: in Piaget's theory: cognitive structure structures that could be applied in various scenarios

-->b/c increasingly abstract w/ development

Equilibration

Regulating one's skills to match the demands of the environment.

-->i.e. if the environment requires me to drink out of a cup, instead of a bottle, I will change my behavior so that my skills will develop in a way that allows me to be efficient in the new environment

-->disequilibrium - when my skills are lacking to the demands of environment. Piaget argued that there is a natural response to correct disequilibrium into equilibrium

-->called 'Equilibration'

Sensorimotor Stages

Piaget divided development into 6 sensorimotoric stages

-->each = increasingly complex

-->w/ more advanced interactions w/ environment, baby's schemes adapt to more scenarios

Note:

1) In each stage, Piaget in merely describing the most advanced level for that stage (at beginning of stage, baby will only start to acquire those skills)

2) The ages are approximate. The important element is the sequence; not their precise timing.

3) Piaget is only one way to describe/explain development

Stage 1 –Reflexes –Birth

à

1 month

-actions are limited to genetically programmed ‘reflexes’*

à

limited range of behaviors

à

no new behaviors developing at this stage

*Note: piaget’s definition of the word reflex: any act which is naturally inborn in the child. i.e. active looking

-at this stage, some of the standard reflexes (i.e. grasping/sucking) are refined

Stage 2 –primary circular reaction -1-4 months old

Circular reaction: a behavior which produces an interesting event, initially by accident

-->then the act is repeated in order to achieve the same event.

Stage 2: primary circular reactions (1-4 months)

-the baby learns how to use own body by circular evens: his action leads to a certain reaction.

Example

-The baby randomly moves arms, until he hits mouth, which starts sucking.

Stage 3: secondary circular reaction (4-8 months)

-the baby learns circular reactions of external objects

Example:

-a baby knocks a spoon off the table by accident. He finds the reaction of the spoon falling to the ground interesting. then he repeats it.

Stage 4: coordination of schemes (8-12 Months)

Coordination of schemes: a goal-oriented chain of behaviors

-->baby goes things instrumentally. (for other purposes)

Example:

-baby knows that there is an object of interest behind an object

-->baby will knock front object out of the way. (or go around the object to get to the requested object.

Stage 5: tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)

-a circular reaction involving trial-and-error

Example:

-baby throws an object is a various ways to establish the-cause and-effect

Stage 6: beginning of representational thought (18-24 months)

Deferred imitation: imitation of observed behavior after a while.

-->it indicated the baby's ability to store a representation of a certain behavior in memory

Symbolic/representational thought

-the ability to make something stand for another thing.

-->in infancy, it is still primitive

-->babies now don't have to go through physical actions to solve problems

Order of development

-Reflexes-->lead to sensorimotoric actions

-Sensorimotoric actions-->lead to representational thought

Challenges to Piaget's theory

-his observations are accepted, but his conclusions are challenged

Major areas of disagreement:

* Timetables for emergence of distinct developmental stages

* The existence of qualitatively distinct developmental stages

* The range of innate abilities

* Source of infants' cognitive limitations

Reassessing the timetables for infant Development

-Researchers suggest that Piaget underestimated baby’s skills at various stages.

àPiaget was aware of this problem. He called it Decalage

àsome researchers concluded that there are 2 kinds of development: general and specific. As a result, some skills/cognitive tasks are independent of general progress of development

Reassessing infant’s inborn abilities

-Piaget assumed that baby is born w/ reflexes that spark learning

à

some neo-nativists assume that baby has some inborn knowledge/abilities

Neo-nativism = a contemporary development theory that assumed baby is born w/ inborn knowledge/skills

Reassessing Infants’ cognitive constraints

-some researchers think that the development is constrained by limits of information-processing capabilities (working memory)

à

Working memory: the information-processing capacity at any given time

à

not, as Piaget suggested, a lack of mental representation

Example

If baby has to find hidden toy/imitate person

à

needs to memorize an order of events

à

if his working memory gets filled, there is a kind of information overload

à

kid can’t progress w/ action

-with brain developments and some actions b/c more automatic

à

cognitive development in the working-memory allows for more abstract actions

Infants understanding of the Physical world

Object Permanence: the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.

Piaget thought that object permanence is developed over 6 stages

Sensorimotoric stage 1/2

Birth-4 months

-babies have no concept of object permanence

* during this stage, babies will start to follow objects and reach them (once they have acquired voluntary reaching

--> but if the object is blocked from view, the baby will lose interest.

-->even if object is only partially covered (i.e. nipple of bottle covered -->baby won't perceive it as a bottle -->loose interest in it)

Sensorimotor stage 3

4-8 months

-will recognize objects if they are partially covered

-->will need a partial cue to be reminded of the object (i.e. seeing some if it.)

Sensorimotor stage 4

8-12 months

-baby will move things to find something that is hidden

But:

-it is still a limited object permanence.

-->i.e. if you continually hide a toy in a specific place, the baby will find it. After a while, if you hide it somewhere else, the baby will look in the place you used to hide it. then he will look randomly for it (even though you saw him hide it in the new place)

-this is called A not-B error

Sensorimotoric stage #5

-12-18 months

-baby no longer makes A not-B Error. they will rather look at the last place that the object was seen.

-->i.e. if they saw a ball in someone's hand. this person closes hand (hides ball) and then puts it under a cloth -->the baby will look in the hand and not under cloth. after they are disappointed at not finding ball under cloth, they look randomly

Sensimotoric stage #6

-18-24 months

baby will now have a mature understanding of object permanence

-->they can imagine the objects that they do not necessarily see

à

various theories to show that piaget’s age classification might be are inaccurate

ß

-Some researchers claim earlier ages for those developmental stages

-->i.e. if a substantial minority of infants learnt this task, they considered it a learned task for that age-group

Perception of partially hidden objects

Study (kellman/spelke)

-this study thought that babies recognize partial hidden objects sooner than piaget suggested.

-->i.e. a box moved back and forth blocking the middle section of a rod

-->babies looked longer at a rod that is split in the middle that 1 long rod (see page 170)

Evidence of object permanence in stage 3 babies

-some studies show that 4-8 months olds have some understanding of object permanence

à

i.e. babies reached for objects in the dark. [they didn’t see it as they reached for it

Studies

Study #1

Habituation case :

Test cases:

• screen stopped by a box behind it [possible event]
• The screen was not stopped by the box behind it àwent right through it [impossible event]

Conclusion:

• most 4½-5 ½ year olds looked longer @ impossible event

àshows their understanding of object permanence

Follow-up

* 4½ month old –had no accurate idea as to where the screen would stop

* 6 months old – had accurate idea as to where the screen should stop

Study #2

Habituation case

Test Cases

• A box is placed b/h tracks, behind the screen [possible event]
• A box is placed on the tracks, behind the screen [impossible event]

[In reality, the block was moved before the train rolled by, so it appeared to the baby that the train was passing through the box which was on the tracks]

Conclusion

• Babies not understood that the box behind the screen remained on the tracks even when the screen was down.

àThe also understood that an object can block the movement of another

[see page 171 for drawings of studies]

Explaining the infant’s search behavior

Question

Why, then, according to those who place the object permanence b/f Piaget does, is there a disparity b/w the development of object permanence and searching for hidden objects?

Answer

Baillargeon

Bbabies start to search, but they do not have the skill of goal-oriented chain of behavior until stage 4 (8 months).

à

has to do w/ cerebral cortex’s maturation

Question

Conclusion

Causality and other relations b/w objects

-Babies need to understand relationship b/w objects to make sense of perceptional info

Piaget - this ability comes gradually as a result of sensorimotoric exploration

Modern researchers: -comes earlier than Piaget thought

-perhaps inborn

Studies show:

Study #1

7 months babies shown:

Case #1

'Causal event': Brick hits another one which gets launched

-->after habituation, prceeded to case #2

Case #2

'Non-Causal event' brick hits another brick

-->delayed launching of 2nd brick

-->bricks don't get touch, but the 2nd one gets launched anyways

Conclusion:

7 months old babies can tell cause of some events

Study #2

Case of objects being launched b/c they are hit by an object

6 Months old

-can tell cause using balls

10 months old

Can tell cause w/ all toys

Study #3

4 1/2 months old babies look longer at objects suspended in the air.

-->shows their understanding that something is illogical

Study #4

Box moved across a platform

Possible event Box stopped @ end of platform

Impossible event: only edge of the box is still on platform, yet it doesn't fall.

-not all 5-6½ months old could understand that case #2 is an impossible event

à

even some 9 ½ couldn’t

[see page 174 for a drawing of this experiment]

Conclusion of the studies

-babies get rudimentary grasp of relations b/w objects @ 4-8 months

(Piaget’s stage 3)

à

but still only in basic scenatios

-by 8-12 months (Piaget’s Sensorimotoric stage #4), it gets more complicated

Number

Piaget: concept of numbers is beyond sensorimotoric period

Other studies: 4-7 months old have some concept of #’s

Study:

4 groups of babies

1. Habituated to 2 dotted card
2. Habituated to 3 dotted card
3. Habituated to 4 dotted card
4. Habituated to 6 dotted card

-babies habituated to 2 –showed interest in 3

-babies habituated to 3 -showed interest in 2

à

not those w/ 4/6 dots

Question

Answer

Study #1

-8 months babies has 2 boxes of 2/3 toys

Study #2

-babies shown a doll than screen hid the doll

-hand comes out of screen w/ another doll then goes back behind screen.

-hand comes out of screen again w/ no doll

à

when screen comes up, babies shown 0,1,2 dolls

à

show more interest in 1 doll

Conclusion: they probably expected to see 2!

Study #3

-2-3 months old shown pattern: 2 pictures on right, 1 picture on left

à

learned to tell this numerical pattern

--

Conclusion

-Babies seem to have numerical skills, yet it is limited to 3 or under.

Categorization

Categorization- the ability to put into a general scheme from past experience/knowledge

Example

-at 3 months, baby can distinguish b/w animals

à

even though baby has not concept of ‘animal’

Study

7-11 months given toys of same category

à

showed decreased interest in each category of toys after time

Generalization: babies (14 months) generalized about animals broadly (i.e. to drink from cup/sleep in bathtub

à

not done those generalizations w/ vehicles!

As seen, sometimes, generalization is too broad

-i.e. doll put to bed in bathtub

à

by 18 months, generalization is more specific

Conclusion

3 months =perceptual categorization

7 months =conceptual categorization

11 months =application of categorization in behavior

18 months = more specific categorization

Memory development in infancy

Recognition memory

Recognition memory- a type of memory to which a certain stimulus is perceived to be familiar

Recall

Recall –active retrieval of info from memory

à

requires repression of memory

-At first, babies could only have recognition memory

à

later in infancy, memory developes

Newborn – has some memory skills, i.e. mom’s smell/voice/face

à

until 3 months, babies have problems w/ remembering visual info, such as angles. They can’t recognize angles as being the same, when the angle was changed orientation (see top of page 178)

-humans perceive things comparing them to other things already in memory

à

but at first, babies remember things independently of other things they know

à

that is why they can’t at first recognize things like faces at first

-babies, at first, only remember things for hours/days

à

within month or 2, memory ability increases to weeks

à

once memory is gone, in could be reactivated

àthey have trouble retrieving it w/o clear-cut cues

Cued Recall- type of memory that a familiar stimulus triggers recall of stored info

-up to 6 months – recall is context-bound

à

change of room/color of object might disrupt the recall

Development of memory at first 6 months

Memory in later infancy

-emotional development is dependant on development in 2^nd 6 months of life (6-12 months old)

-helps in development of object permanence

à

based on development of working memory skill

Example

-at 8 months, babies can find hidden object after a 2 second delay

-12-15 months –babies can find hidden object after 10 second delay

à

increase in working memory

By 11 months= baby able to reproduce actions such as putting a button into a box and shaking box.

à

3 months later, baby is able to recall and reproduce act

By 16 months-complex sequences:

-a baby can undress/bathe a dull

à

baby is capable of deferred imitation earlier than Piaget thought.

--

7 months – able to remember usual locations of objects

11 months – able to remember unusual location

Memory improvement b/w 6-18 months

àsooner than Piaget thought

-B/w/ 6-18 months, baby is less dependant of perceptual cues

Analysis of info shows:

-some w/ high infant test scores, score average/below average IQ

-some w/ low infant test scores, score average/high IQ

Brain development and infant memory

-infant memory is not carried to later in life

Explicit/declarative memory

-conscious memory. It involved mental representation of images/ideas

-->could be explicitly explained/declared

Implicit/procedural memory

-unconscious memory, involving procedures or skills

-->does not lend itself to explicit memory

Example

Bicycle

-memory of learning to ride/receiving first bike

-->explicit/declarative memory

-the memory of how to ride = implicit/procedural

-->well learnt skill

Chuck Nelson

-First 6 months, most memory acquired is implicid.

-->Dependant on hippocampus/cerebrum’s development

-after 6 months, development of a connection b/w cerebral cortex and hippocampus

--> Development of the memory skills

Infantile Amnesia- the phenomenon of adults not remembering infancy [see page 182, as well as what was just discussed]

Social context and cognitive development in infancy

Socio-cultural view –adults structure the environment for the kids.

-->cognitive development affected by stimulation received at hime

Middle class

-focus is more on cognitive/perceptual development (i.e. toys/objects)

-->more emphasis on academics

Lower Class

-Emphasis is less on academics -->less cognitive stimulation

Cross-cultural research shows:

I.e.

Babies in France/Africa played same way w/ paper clip, even thought it was culturally meaningless in Africa

-difference in motor/cognitive development also influenced by floor freedom

-Americans tend to baby-proof their homes, so babies can explore world safely

-->not so in tropical areas where more dangers

-->less time spent exploring

-->less cognitive/motoric development over time

Vygotskian perspective

Vygotsky: babies develop through exploration:

-

Debate:

Piaget

Environment provides general context for child to develop

Information-processing theorists

Environment gives specific context for kids

-

Individual differences in infant cognitive skills

-there are tests to measure individual differences in development and if they are significant to future development

Examples:

Note: tests for younger kids focus on attention/sensorimotoric coordination

-->tests for older kids ar emore cognitive in nature

Study #1

-longitude test

Conclusion

-test scored do not correlate intelligence until about age 4

Study #2

Development tests do not reflect IQ

Conclusion

-Recently, researchers found other cognitive measures of infants that do reflect IQ

-->[correlation of 0.40]

Example

2 important points could be drawn:

-->no indication that the development is biologically fixed, but rather highly dependant on environment

Information processing

-How fast a kid habituates to stimulus/processes perceptual info predicts info predicts IQ as late as 11/12

Colombo: 2 infancy factors involved in IQ

Conclusion:

Traditional tests don’t predict IQ well.

Newer tests seem to predict better, i.e. info proceeding skills such as habituation and novelty (new things) preference

Advances and limitations

-Brain growth spurts: 3-4 months

-->reflects the developments in the infants

[summery of chapter 5 on page 187-188]

Attachment theory

-Started w/ Bowlby (psychoanalyst)

à

Studied, based on the orphans that showed up in England after WWII

-Focused on things like crying and movements as a form of attachments

-Ainsworth continued the studies àthe status of the stranger àb/w a year and a years and a half àthere is a correlation b/w connection w/ mom and fear of stranger àbetter relationship w/ mom, the less fear.

Chapter 6 –emotional development

Newborn =pre-adopted to social exchanges

-new babies are born w/ certain predispositions that help them participate in early social exchanges

à

provided that they get responsive care-giving

-those predispositions preadapt the newborn to b/c social

à

but will only dev. w/I a certain context

Examples of preadopted predispositions

• Crying

àpurely reflexiveànot intentional.

àas soon as they get a response, the crying b/c a social signal

-infants notice events caused by their behaviors and repeat them.

àsometimes, those reactions are by caregiver [i.e. smiling]

àsometimes, those contingencies preadapts kid to b/c part of a social system.

-attraction to faces [b/c of contrasting]

àduring feeding, bay close to mother’s face

àbabies also sensitive to human speech

àbuilt co-ordination b/w hearing and head movements

Example:

A – responded less quickly than B to cries of baby

à

but less hurried/automatic care that B

B - somewhat abrupt/fragmented

Result

-w/I 10 days: baby had more regular eating/sleeping habits under A’s care than B’s care

Origin of reciprocity

Reciprocity: true social interaction involving mutual exchanges b/w partners/

Sensitive care: a care-giving style where the caregiver attends to the infant's needs and responds to them promptly and effectively.

Attunement: a kind of 'sensitive care' where the caregiver's adjustment of the stimulation that they provide in response to signs from the infant

-through countless hours of interaction, parents b/c aware of moods/signals of baby and adjust their behavior accordingly.

Example of dev. of communication:

-mom starts speaking/cuddling baby when pause in sucking: eventually develops the turn taking of talking

-By 3/4 months: control of facial expressions; eye/head movements

-->baby starts to be selective of stimuli

-->when stimuli to arousing, baby turns away to process it/reduce stimulation

-Reciprocity: learnt gradually. each step leads to the next.

-->gradually, more and more active participation of kid in relationship = more advanced skills of baby

'Becoming an active participant: the example of social smiling.'

-example of development of reciprocity:

-parents often attribute complex emotions to young infants, such as joy/anger/fear/surprise

-->very imp. for development of relationship w/ kid

-technically, newborns only smile b/c of spontaneous electrical discharges in lower brain region.

-->at early infancy: only occurs while sleeping

Newborn Smiling

-takes place at sleep

-b/c of fluctuations around a critical threshold (see top of p. 200)

-facial muscles relax causing a smile

-if mild stimulus is done (such as a rattle), it might cause a gentle arausal in baby's brainwaves, causing a smile, several seconds later (since the baby's response system is still slow)

-but if the baby is aroused in a startling way, the arousal level will shoot up and won't come down the critical threshold for the smile, for quite some time (see p. 200)

-a few weeks later, a baby starts smiling during daytime as well.

-->adults are also programmed: to misunderstand those smiles as intentional and meaningful. therefore they react to the baby's smiles.

-->at 5 weeks, kids smile at any gentle stimulation; but parents think that the baby is smiling at mom's voice

-at 8-10 weeks, baby begins to smile at mom's face. (as well as anything else familiar)

-->b/c of 'recognitory assimilation'

'recognitory assimilation': smiling at visual stimulus which is familiar and is associated w/ an established scheme.

-->this time, the smile is also caused by arousal fluctuations.

-seeing an object causes tension which, when associated w/ a scheme, is relieved w/ a smile.

-by 3 months: baby can discriminate b/w familiar/unfamiliar faces

-by 4-5 months: can specifically recognize parents' faces and react aspecially to mom

-->at this point, baby stops smiling at strangers faces and only at mom's face.

-->at this point, the smile is a truely social act

Summery: at first 6 months, an interaction b/w parent/child, partially on basis of baby's responses when they talk/play.

-->prompts the continuation/elaboration of relationship/development

Emotional development

-includes the emergence of various emotions and the development of emotional regulation

Forerunners of basic emotions

emotion =state of feeling that arises when a person evaluates an event in a certain way.

-i.e. when 8-months old baby places on the see-through crib, shows physiological/behavioral signs of fear

-->not so for baby who did not learn how to crawl yet -->doesn't show those 'emotional' responses.

-during 1st year, motions get increasingly differentiated and specified to certain events

-->during 1st 6 months, reflexive behavior develops into forerunners of basic emotional behaviors

-from the beginning, babies seem to show basic emotions such as cries/sleep smiles.

-->they are reflexive responses to arousal levels in brain and not emotional signs

-->at first few week, baby show universal expressions of emotion, but they are fleeting and irregular, and not always easy to distinguish from each other/not clearly associated w/ any event

-->by 3 months, beginning of specific emotional signs

-->b/w/ 3-6 months: some emotion: wariness after inspection of unfamiliar face /frustration of not being able to do an established motoric act (i.e. grasping a toy)

-->by 10 months, smile at something abstract -a specific face [and association w/ whom it represents] -->not a mere physical stimulation!!! [-->true emotion]

But those responses are not full-blown:

--

Beginning of emotional regulationand coping

-babies gradually getskills to cope w/ emotioannly arrousing situations

Examples:

-babies -deep sleep after surgery

-->global and involuntary

-4-5 months - turn away from intense stimulus

-still universal and somewhat involuntary

-->5 months old will havea tough time turning from stranger staring at him

-->willlook back atstranger,and eventuallystart cryings

crying - a way to interrupt interaction w/ environment

Development in 2nd 6 months (7-12 months)

-increased organization -->especially revolving around caregiver

-->the element of purposefulness

-the changes are so dramatic, that they could be considered qualitative

Example: babies hospitalized older than 7 months show negativity to hospital staff. then they need readjustment back to the home

-->not so for babies less than 7 months

Emotional development

1)clearly differentiated specific emotions emerge

2)emotional response b/c increasingly immediate, rather than requiring time to build up

3) all the classified expressions of emotions begin to appear regularly

-by the end of 1styear, infant can recall past experiences and anticipate consequences/outcomes

Emotional reactions to the unfamiliar

5 months =if stranger looks long enough (about 30 secs) the baby starts crying

7-10 months =reacts negatively even w/o prolonged inspection of them

-->called 'stranger distress'

-Stranger distress lasts 2-3months

-->sometimes into 2nd year

-->varies greatly among kids

-babies are not scared of just any new unfamiliar thing

Example:

-if mom puts on a mask -delight

-if stranger puts on a mask -freight

-if then mom puts on the same mask - freight

-->context is relevant

Context

-baby might smile @ stranger from faraway, but distressed when stranger comes near and tries to lift him

-->more rapidly the stranger approaches, the more fear

-->in home =less fear than in lab -->familiar surroundings

-->if care giver is close =less fear

-->if caregiver has a worried look =more fear

Conclusion

-by 10 months, infants can make evaluations about the threat of strangers/new situations

-->those evaluations depend on the environment

Emotional regulation/coping

emotional regulation =expands dramatically in 2nd 6 months of life

-->more subtle/flexible/serviceable

-coping techniques: as heartbeat increases -looks away to reduce heartbeat and relax. then baby relooks

-->see top of p.205

-that kind of baby doesn't cry

-->the ones who do usually doesn’t go through the relaxing technique

Emotional Coping technique

-purposefully signaling to caregiver: calling/gesturing/stress signal/moving to caregiver when threatened

-->unlike crying, this helps baby stay in contact w/ environment and have organized behavior

Dyadic regulation = accomplished by both caregiver and infant -(regulation of emotion)

-->part of attachment

-at this point [late in first year] -not only more occurrence but also meaning of event

-->dev. of sophisticated skills to cope w/ emotional arousal

-->development of pathway b/w limbic and cortex regions of the brain

Foundations of attachment

Definition of Bonding: parents' initial emotional tie to newborn; it occurs @ first hours after birth

Attachment: an enduring emotional tie between infant and caregiver

-security @ presence of parent

-distress w/ caregiver's separation

-joy w/ caregiver's reunion

Separation distress

-negative reaction of infants when caregivers temporary leaves

-->more common/happens faster in cultures where mom is constantly w/ kid

Greeting reaction

-positive reactions of infants when the caregiver appears

Secure-base behavior

-behavior which baby uses caregiver as a base for exploration

-->looks back @ caregiver for security

-->goes back to caregiver if feels threatened

The base of attachment

-attachment is diff. from bonding

Attachment: 2 way relationship/develops over time

-early contact b/w parents helps but not essential to the relationship

-attachment doesn't have to be biological parent

-usually, infant attaches to several people. i.e. both parents/siblings/kindergarten teacher/etc.

-human infants have hierarchy of attachments

->probably for survival

-->when being attached and parent is not present, baby will go to someone else who is attached

Views on attachment:

1) psychoanalysts/learning theory: attachment is related to mom's feeding

2) Bonding: attachment is built into the human's natural selection

Harlow experiment

-2 fake monkeys.

1) made out of soft cloth. -no bottle

2) made out of wires -this one had a bottle

Assumption: infant monkeys are going to b/c attached to wired monkey since it had a bottle (i.e. food)

Result: baby monkeys attached to soft monkeys

Conclusion: security interaction =is more important that food for attachment.

Approaches to explain difficulties in attachment among children

1)Erikson: Psychosocial theory + Bowlby's attachment theory

-influenced by the quality of care/variability in the security/infant-caregiver attachment

2)Ethological: genetic influence

Attachment framework

-except in extreme cases, infants b/c attached to a caregiver.

Generally, infants w/ problems such as retardedness/blind/physically disabled/abused

-->b/c attached, but slower

Example: the monkies in Harlow's experiment b/c punitive/rejecting as parents

-->though their babies stilled cringed to them

Bowlby's hypothesis

-attachment is dependant on quality of attachment.

-->w/ sensitive care, infants assume caregiver will be responsible

-after repeated times where caregiver relieved baby's stress, baby assumes it can rely on that adult for safety

-->Erikson called it 'trust'

-->bowlby called it secure attachment

Patterns of attachment

Sensitive care hypothesis: care in infancy has lasting effects.

Ainsworth: some attachments are 'secure' others are 'anxious'

Strange situation: mom enters w/baby to a playroom -->then mom leaves briefly

-->shows how well baby got attached

-Anxious attachment is where the infant is not confident of the caregiver's availability and/or responsiveness

-->can't use caregiver as a secure base for exploration

Secure attachment

-associated w/ proper sensitive care

-60-70% of kids

-infant is confident in caregiver's responsiveness and availability

-uses the caregiver as a secure basis for exploration

-->they might be upset at separation, but they are happy at reunion.

Anxious-restraint

-associated w/ exaggerated maternal behavior/ineffective soothing

-infant is reluctant to separate from mom, but shows ambivalence to caregiver after when mom returns

-->i.e. baby shows that he wants to be picked up, but then they try to avoid being picked up

Anxious-avoidant attachment:

-associated w/ unavailable or rejecting mom

-a type of anxious attachment in which the infant readily separates from caregiver and avoids contact after reunion

-not scared of strangers

-doesn't cry when mom leaves

-when she returns, he tries to avoid her @ all costs

-->not so w/ strangers

Disorganized attachment

-worst kind of attachment

à

no mold of attachment/relationships

à

often appears in poor neighborhoods w/ much neglect and abuse

-associated w/ maltreatment/confusing mom behavior

-shows conflicting emotions

-showed conflicting events of diff. kinds of attachment.

--

C*opy Chart

--

secure attachment

-readily explores toy

-affectively sharing of toys

-affiliative to strangers w/ caregiver's presence

-readily comforted when distressed [promoting a return to play]

-infant seeks interaction/contact after separation

-if distressed: seeks contact to relieve distress

-if not distressed: active greeting behavior: strong initiation of interaction

Anxious-resistant attachment

-shows poverty of exploration

-difficulty separating to explore -may need contact even prior to separation

-worry of new people/situations

-may mix contact seeking w/ resistance: hitting/kicking

-may continue to cry and fuss squirming/reject toy

-may be show passivity

Anxious-avoidant attachment

-independent exploration

-little affective sharing

-affiliate to stranger when caregiver is away -->little preference

-actively avoids mom after reunion

-->turns away/looks away/moves away/ignores

-->may mix proximity w/ avoidance

-->avoidance is more extreme on the 2ns reunion

-->no avoidance of strangers

Disorganized/disoriented attachment

-infant shows inexplicable/conflicting behaviors that don't fit any category

Sequential contradictory: i.e. contented play interrupted by extreme anger

-Simultaneous contradictory: fearful smile/approach and avoidance.

-baby might appear disorganized/disoriented

-may show slow/incomplete movements/stilling

-may show all mannerisms (stereotypies)

-->develops w/ threatening caregiver

Quality of care and security of attachment

Approach #1 Look @ parent/infant interaction

i.e. earlier caregiver's interaction or sensitivity predicts child's attachment and later behavior

-->child's early behavior does not predict future

Approach #2 study the effects of quality of care of attachment to assess abusive ot neglecting parent

-w/i first year, baby will cry less if promptly helped

-->crying is not reinforced but is rather used as short signals to get prompt help

Sensitive care =not 'perfect' care but rather 'good enough'

Context of caregiver

secure attachment =depends on kind of care that baby receives

3 big factors:

1)amount of stress in caregiver's life

2)social support available to caregiver

3)caregiver's own developmental history

Life-stress/social support

-easier to cope w/ daily problems/hassles w/ others are there to help

-people w/o help/support of others usually also have $ probs.

Parent's developmental history

-studies related to caregiver's perception of their own childhood to quality of infant/caregiver attachment

Mary Main

'adult attachment Interview'

-adults talk about attachment related feelings/inconsistencies

=you can infer how much responsive care they had/to what degree they have solved any feeling of mistreatment.

-->but sometimes, it is hard to infer past, since adults might be infl. by current situation: might lead the, to report their history negatively/describe relationship w/ their infant poorly.

-some adults achieve emotional freedom despite insecure attachments

Monkey study

-monkey gives its baby physical contact. the amount it gets =correlated to how much it gives its offspring

More than:

1)mom gave all offspring [genetic inclination]

2)mom gave younger offspring [observation]

Infant attachment

internal working model

-An infant's generalized expectation about the social world incl.:

1)caregiver responsiveness

2)the infants ability to obtain care (worthiness)

3) nature of social relationships

An infant who receives responsive care:

1)develops a model of a caregiver as available

2)self worthiness -worth of care +obtaining it

2) social relationships as pleasurable and rewarding

-studies support Bowlby's theory that quality of attachments help shape child's internal working model of a social world

-->helps predict how well chilf will function later

-ethusiasm in solving problems/high self esteem/positive relationships w/ teachers -->strongly linked to quality of early attachments

The temperament framework

Temperament: general style of behavior across contexts

Involves various behavioral characteristics:

-general activity level

-irritability

-proneness to distress

-reactivity

-inhibition

-early temperament focus on specific things, like crying

Alexander Thomas/Stella chess

3 Kinds of Babies: easy/slow-to-warm-up/difficult

1)Easy: biological regularity/readily approaches new people/objects/highly adoptive/mostly positive mood

2)Slow-To-Warm-Up: mildly negative reactions to new experiences/adapt on after repeated exposure

3)Difficult: biologically irregular/withdrew from new situations/intense negative feelings/poor adaptability

Temperament: broadened to alse mean:

1) tendency to express certain emotions i.e.: wariness/proneness of distress

2)capacity to regulate one own's behavior.

Stability of temperament

-early research based on parent’s reports to measure baby’s temperament

Problems:

àearly research show little correlation b/w temperament and parent’s reporting

àa higher correlation is prenatal/postnatal parental questions

--

-studies prove that babies have personal temperament, which remain stable over time

àonce temperament has stabilized, at around 12 months, accurate predictions of behavior could occur

Biology of temperament

-neuriphysiological/horomonal systems are affected by behavior

à

changes in those system reflect behavior

i.e. Way babies: higher/more variant heart-rate/blood pressure

-more likely to show asymmetrical electric activity in brain’s cerebral cortex

-higher level of Coristol (stress hormone)

è

parents report low adaptability/high emotional negativity.

Genetics of Temperament

-studies show: genetic component for temperament

-i.e. studies of identical twins

à

but other studies show identical twins to behave like each others w/ time

Possibility: has to do w/ upbringing

à

but that has been proven to be true for separately brought-up twins as well!!!!

Conclusion

Not clear how much genes vs. experience shape behavior

Temperament and attachment

Attachment: relationship b/w caregiver/baby

Temperament: behavior across situations

-reaction in ‘strange situation’ =not purely based on temperament

à

some physiological difference!

à

diff. in reaction of diff. parent.

Quality of attachment =organization of behavior w/ caregiver

Temperament behavior –behavior, regardless of person who is behaved to.

Securely attached infants

-can have a very diff. temperament

-some cuddy/cry often

-others cry little/very placid

àthe common denominator is that they have an effective relationship w/ caregiver

Anxious attached

-could also have diff. temperament

à

various ways to express insecurity

insecurity = might be based on parental care, but the way to deal w/ it is temperament àoutwardly angry/passive

*Temperament may help define what sensitive care is

Placid kid =frequent stimulation =sensitive care

Easily over-aroused kid =intense stimulation=insensitive care

Match/mismatch hypothesis

Anxious Attachment

è

combination of infant’s proneness to distress (temperament) and

caregiver’s need for sole control

à

clashing personalities

Some studies: temperament infl. Attachment

à

more irritability =more anxious/avoidant attachment

à

since it affects relationship, mostly in lower class.

Other cases if temperament infl. On attachment

-when baby’s characteristics taxes caregiver beyond coping.

-i.e. primitive baby =increases chance of anxious-avoidant attachment

*Quality of care/temperament: converge around preschool age.

à

uncorrelated quality of care/temperament until then

*general context is more important than just parental care quality or just ‘temperament’

Example #1:

-mom’s ambivalence about parenthood

-kid’s crankiness

à

both intensify eachother

à

she might b/c truly hard kid b/c of this vicious cycle

à

temporary temperament b/c permanent

Example #2

-Kid is slow-to-warm-up

-mom=patient

à

kid develops skills of development into new situations

Importance of early care

-Development –total =greater than sum

Sensitive peiod hypothesis

-the idea that certain kinds of experience are especially important at a particular point in development

i.e. quality of attachment in infancy sets the stage for later relationships

à

makes a mold which is hard to break out of

Studies:

-monkeys who grow up w/o parents but w/ peers

-fearfulness

-clinging

-monkeys who are isolated:

à

isolation during 1^st ½ year is worse than 2^nd ½ year of life

-even after extensive rehabilitation

à

still had ‘signature stereotypies’

Signature stereotypies =particular mannerisms developed as deprived infants)

-human’s problems are more severe as their social life is more complex

cultural diversity/common humanity

-a lot of diversity/commonality

à

everyone agrees that the baby needs responsive care

Example #1

Gusii of Kenya: physically respond to crying baby

U.S. moms: verbally respond to crying

Example #2

-Japanese mom: focuses on looking @ mom

-U.S. mom: focuses on looking @ objects

Note: you have to be careful w/ cross-cultural diff.

à

many differences in understanding attachment:

i.e. Japanese kid might cry a lot when mom leaves

à

more than U.S. kid

à

but that is b/c they almost never experience seperation

àshown by studies of diff culture w/ babies having attachment to various people (i.e. siblings)

àmom was still needed

*at first few months, emotions seem to be universal

à

by the end of first year, cultural diff. seen to make a diff. on emotions

i.e. by 11 months, Chinese infants shown less emotional responsiveness to fear-inducing or frustrating experiences than Japanese/European/U.S.

->b/c that culture teaches to show emotional restraint

Enhancing the quality if early care

Study: early daycare in itself doesn’t cause more anxious/avoidant but rather if both parenting and day care are of poor quality

-poor quality day care led to negative emotions/hostility

à

non-compliance

Enhancing quality of care

2 approaches

àbaby is more likely to be securely attached

Conclusion

• Program must be intensive/lasting months

• Intervention should begin as early as possible, even b/f birth àto focus on life difficulties of caregiver even b/f baby is born

Early impact

-affects how children see world. Children experiences are not ‘remembered’, but rather set as a pattern of emotional/behavioral patterns.

à

change is possible –if ‘experience (for better or for worse) was not extreme.

Class; mar 5, 2001

Early childhood

-defined as roughly 12-30/36

à

usage of symbols

à

symbolic distance –

à

language

-some think that that is the biggest stage of development in kids

4 elements of language

-kids seem to pick it up naturally

Pragmatism: how you use the language: i.e. tone/choice of words/etc

Prelinguistic

-crying =first communication

-at around 2 months: -cooing

à

shows sartisfaction

à

basis of speech

à

based on satisfaction feeling of baby

àthe going back and forth of parent/child interaction which is the fore-runner of speech àgoing back and forth.

àdefines tones/volume/style of speech

Vocal play

-around 3-4 months

Cannonized babbling

-6 months

-random babbling that sound like speech

Conversational babbling

10 months

-in a style similar to speech

à

meaningless speech

Protowords

-sounds that don’t sound like real words but have a consistent meaning -i.e. ‘ma’ =mom

chapter 7

Language –abstract rule-governed system of arbitrary symbols that can be combined in countless ways to communicate information.

Symbolic representation

-the use of ideas/images/other symbols to stand for objects or events

5 elements of language

Phonology

-the system of sounds used in language

à

usage of stress/intonation of words

i.e. the difference b/w ‘b’ and ‘p’: ‘bat’/ ‘pat’

à

some not used in each language. I.e. rolling ‘r’ of spanich/clicking sounds of African languages

à

not in English

Semantics: meaning of words/sentences

-logic

à

not grammar

à

i.e. ‘daddy is having a baby’ is semantically incorrect

Morphology

Combining units of meaning into more complex words

i.e.-un-speak-able

-3 morphemes

-each meaningful unit is called a morpheme

Syntax

-Grammar rules:

i.e.

Girl kiss boy

≠

boy kiss girl

Girl boy kiss =incorrect syntax

Pragmatism

Productive/receptive skills

Productive skills –put things into ideas

Receptive skills –used to understand people

-parents might overestimate the kid’s skills, but they’re right to assume that receptive skills develop b/f productive skills

Example #1 young kids can tell the difference b/w l and w but won’t be able to pronounce the diff. clearly

à

receptive phonology is more advanced than productive phonology

Example #2

-Kids understand words that are not yet in their active vocabulary

-kids understand more complex sentences than they use

Major tasks in early language learning.

Learning the sound pattern of a language

Prelinguistic vocalization

-sounds produced by infants during first year of life, b/f they begin to speak

5 stages of Prelinguistic vocalization

1)Crying

-happends reflexively when overly aroused

-->diff. kind of cries for diff. kinds of arousal

2)Cooing

-@ around 2 months

-->expresses pleasure

-->also beginning of laughing/chuckling

3)Vocal play

-4 months

-babies play around w/ their range

-->vary their pitch/loudness

-->occasional simple syllable (i.e. ba/ga/ma)

4)Canonical babbling

-around 6 months

-strings of syllables

-->usually at first, it is a repetition of 1 syllable

-->then a sting of various syllables

-sounds increasingly like speech

-not yet use of syllables unique to that language

-->syllables used are quite universal at this stage (canonical babbling)

5) conversational babbling/jargon

-around 10 months

-use of adult-like stress/intonation

Protowords

-appear around 10-12 months

-vocalization w/ consistent meaning for this child

-->but it still doesn't closely resemble adult's words

-early vocalization mistakes are observed cross-culturally

-'t' replaces 'k' sounds by accident

-->i.e. 'tat' instead of 'cat'

-->this mistake is also observed in German/Hindi

Learning words and their meanings

First word

-first identifiable word -around 1st birthday

-usually refer to familiar person (mama)/objects (ball/shoe)

-could also express feeling (goodbye)/movement (up)

-compound words -->usually not broken up

Referential style

-A style of early words use in which words primarily refer to objects/events

Expressive style

A style of early word usage that express social routine

Referential children

-learn words faster -->but no diff. in grammar

-usually from more educated family

-more likely to be firstborn

-->referential mom uses language to label things

-->Expressive mom uses language to direct kid's behavior

Vocabulary growth

-at first, new words are acquired slowly

-by 18-19 months, an average of 50 words

-->18 months =vocabulary spurt

-Referential kids-->until now -mostly nouns -->most noticeable vocabulary spurt

-Expressive kids: equal proportion of nouns and other kinds of words

àrecent estimates of 6 year old's vocabulary range b/w 8000-14,000

-Preschoolers appear to acquire 5.5 new words a way

10,000 by first grade

40,000 by end of first grade

-First words/vocabulary spurts range differs culturally/socio-economically

Range:

-First word: 10-17 months

-Vocabulary spurt: 13-25 months

Process of Word Learning

-usage of word =b/f full grasp of word

-->very context-bound

-->w/ vocabulary spurt -words for 'categories' of words

-->early words disappear at vocabulary spurt

-->shows that it is not a true linguistic system

Study

-through intonation, baby could make out words from continuous flow of talking

Segmentation

when toddler makes a mistake breaking up the words

i.e. 'readit the book'

Fast-mapping

A process of using context cues to reasonably accurately guess the meaning of an unknown, new word

-->starts anywhere b/w 2-4 years

Joint attention

-the tendency of adult/language-learning toddler to share the same topic of attention

à

i.e. caregiver speaks to kid about something he's already paying attention to

Study

by as early as 16 months, baby can assume that the adults direction of gaze defines what he's labeling

Whole object assumption

-the infant's tendency to assume that the new word related to an object, as opposed to an attribute/event/action

Lexical contrast

-infant's assumption that no 2 words mean the same

Errors in early word learning

i.e. telling the kid to:

-look at the ball

-look, it's red

-->the kid assumes that those 2 unfamiliar words are diff. (BALL/RED)

Errors in early word learning

Under-extension

-language errors where the meaning attached to a wd is too restricted

à

i.e. thinking that 'truck' only applies to toy trucks and not to real trucks

Overextension

-language errors where the attaches meaning is too wide

à

i.e. thinking that 'truck' means any 4-wheeled vehicle

Study:

-more words in vocabulary =less overextension

Note: -when a word is overextended, the kid could be doing it intentionally, since he has no other/better word

-->Receptive overextension

-i.e. when asked 'where’s the bus? Where’s the truck?'

-->the baby might be able to tell the diff, even though he might not be able to express the diff.

Common patterns of over/under-extensions

àunder-extensions

-->overextension

Morphological rules

Grammatical morpheme:

-'a unit if language that carries little meaning by itself, but changes meaning of words/sentences in a systematic way'

-->includes prefixes/suffixes/auxiliary verbs/etc.

-->i.e. adding 's' to make word plural

English -->relatively few morphemes -->child only starts w/ them after combination of words into sentences

Turkish/Russian -->more morphemes -->infants add grammatical morphemes earlier.

Order of Acquisition

Study

-morphemes are acquired in a certain order

-->though the speed of acquisition might be different

Order

1)first

- ...s (to make plural

- ...ing

2)later

...ed (passed tense verbs)

...s (3rd person singular)

3)last

...'s (to be - it's big/she's nice)

Factors in order of acquisition

-->not frequency of usage but rather other factors:

Factors include:

1)Grammatical complexity

-simplest changes in words are learnt first

-->words closest to active/declaritive form of word (i.e.'go')

2)Semantic complexity

...ing =simple form of an ongoing act

...s (3rd person singular) =more complex

-->we're talking about someone else in the singular persent!

3)Phonological characteristics of a morpheme

-i.e. Turkish kids learn morphemes faster b/c they have morphemes that are

-->Easier to notice

Productivity/over-regulation

Productivity

-children learn general rule of grammar (i.e. usage of ...ing/...ed)

-->not word by word

àProductivity of language (usage of general rules)

Over-regulation

-application of general rules of language incorrectly to exceptions

-by 6-7 years -almost fully correct

-school-age children sometimes over-regulate

à

i.e.. I brang lunch -->not 'I brought lunch'

-->those mistakes =not a regression but an emergemce of a ne wkind of thinking

-->'growth error'

Learning pattern

-Kids automatically search of regularities

-->over-regulation fades out

Learning to form sentences

Syntax: language’s rules for organizing word sinto sentenxses

-->need to know form class

Form Class

-Category of words in a language that can fill a similar syntactic role in forming phrases/sentences

à

i.e. verbs/adjectives/nouns/etc.

-->only much later are they able to explicitly relate to those grammatical rules

The one word stage

Holophase

-a word that conveys the meaning of a whore phrase/sentence

i.e. if a baby says 'mama'

-->it could mean

1. 'simply 'mom'
2. 'I want my mother to pick me up'

First sentences

-18-24 months =first sentence

-->soon after, vocabulary spurt

-->but more related to verbs

-at first, 2 words =2 diff. ideas

à

i.e. ‘car, daddy'

First true sentence

-usually composed of nouns/verbs/adjectives

à

at first, English speakers usually don't add grammatical morphemes

Telegraphic speech

-speech omitting non-essential words

-->i.e. 'see teddy' -->could mean 'I see the teddy bear'

->still unclear

à

speech is still unclear ->parents mostly reply on gestures/facial expressions

àeven though parents model adult speech for toddlers, babies still start off w/ telegraphic speech

Further syntactic development

-stages pointed out by Brown (1973)

Learning to use language socially

communicative competence

-the ability to carry on a conversation

-recognize and repair breakdown in communication

-uaw language in socially appropriate ways w/i a particular culture

-develops in infancy -->i.e. caregiver's turn-taking, as mentioned earlier

-by 1 year =turn-taking w/ conversational partner is well-established

-2 year-old will attempt to repair breakdown

-->understands where there is a lack of communication

i.e. -responding to adults' request for clarification

-restating requests that have not been fulfilled

-learning communication differs cross-culturally.

Things that western families teach their kids:

-'don't mumble when you speak'

-in Japan, more politeness phrases =more emphasis on teaching them to kid

The child and environment in language development

-in toddlership (which spans roughly 1 1/2 years), development from few words to properly structures language

Environmentalist theory

-stresses environmental factors in language acquisition

Nativist theories

-stress the inborn, biologically based factors in language acquisition.

Environmentalists:

Skinner

-parents condition kids to speak

-->attention of parents reinforce baby along each step of speech development\

-->eventually develops into speech

Problem: observation shows that parents correct untrue more that grammatically incorrect phrases

Nativists

Noam Chomsky

-the ability to combine so many/endless unique combinations of words can;t possibly be done through reinforcements

-->reinforcements/imitation might help in speech learning but is not the reason for it.

LAD (Language acquisition device)

-innate capabilities to learn language

-->specialized are of brain

Problem: no focus on other areas of communication

-->today, no developmental psychologist is either-or!!!

Language acquisition

Humans: biologically pre-disposed to learn language

à

language is learnt w/ little explicit teaching!

Hemisphere specialization

-the process of functions b/c specialized in specific areas on L/R side of Brain.

-->there is a critical point to learning language!!!

Stages of development/neural development

8-9 months:

-long range connection in cerebral cortex begin to form

-adult-like metabolism

2nd year

-word spurt

-->sharp increase in synaptic density

-->increase in memory/info processing

4 years

-grammar development is basically complete

-decrease of synaptic density/brain metabolism

2nd language acquisition

Study

Chinese/Korean were taught English

-if taught b/f age 7 =fluency =also in grammar rules

-if taught after age 7 =decrease in competence

=>perhaps 7 is the critical point?

-speech is species-specific to humans

Some seemingly inborn capabilities

Lab experiment: preference to speech w/ pauses @ phrases/clauses than w/i them!!!

-->built in pre-disposition to pay attention to perceptually salient stretches of speech

-i.e. stressed syllables/beginning of word

-->helps them key in on grammatical morphemes

-There is also a built in constraint (conclusions that could be drawn) in learning speech

-i.e. to seek out broad rules

-->nouns/verbs/adjectives

-->morphemes that reflect singular/plural

-->assuming specific meaning for unknown/new words

-Studies show correlation b/w cognitive development (i.e. symbolic representation) and language

Environment of language learning

-w/o exposure to language kid's can't learn to speak

Child-directed speech (CDS)/motherese

-the modifications adults make when speaking to young children

CDS characteristics

-->often includes questions about objects/events

-Fathers tend to speak to child diff. than mom

-->asks for more labels/explanations

(i.e. 'what's that'/'what does this do?')

-->uses more advance vocabulary

-->more breakdown of communication w/ secondary care-giving father

Father: more likely to ignore utterance

à

Diff: probably b/c father spends less time w/ kid

Sibling

-also adjusts their speech to toddler

Study: even 2-3 year olds make their speech simpler for an infant sibling

Cross-cultural difference

-in some cultures, CDS doesn't take place

-->yet, the kids learn to speak at roughly the same time!!!

Study: 4 months old babies prefer CDS to adult speech

Non-linguistic aspects of symbolic representation

-According to Piaget, the main cognitive development of toddlership =emergency of symbolic thought

Piaget:

3 other non-language use of symbolic representation

1)Toddlers’ pretend play

Development of who the action is done on

-16 month-old will play-drink from a toy cup.

à

self-directed

-Later, he will pretend to ‘feed’ a doll w/ it.

-Other-directed

-by the end of the 2^nd year, there is development of thematic play: building a block fence around animal toys

à

theme-directed

--

-With time, baby is able to use decreasingly realistic objects to symbolize other things:

Steps of decrease of realistic symbols

Replica object

-14-19 months

- An object directly reflecting the real object

i.e.

Substitute objects

-19-24 months

-substitute objects increasingly used to represent an object

i.e.

Double substitution

-only appears later in preschool

i.e.

Note: when with a ‘pretending partner’ (i.e. parent or a sibling), the pretending is more complex, usually b/c:

2)Toddler’s Use of Gestures

-communicative gestures, such as pointing, usually appear at around 9 months

à

usually accompanied by some sort of vocalization

-conventional social gestures –appear b/w 9-12 months

à

i.e. nodding the head for a yes/waving bye-bye

-symbolic gesture –by 12-18 months

-i.e. putting thumb in mouth to represent a bottle

àearly symbolic gestures represent actions as opposed to features of object

-i.e. use symbolic gesture to rep. bouncing movement as opposed to roundness of ball

Coordination of gestures/visual signals

-12 months-old can’t follow id the adult is looking one way but pointing another

à

17-months-old can

à

18-months-old can point to one thing while looking at a person

à

Coordination b/w divergent signs usually happens w/ first word