Introduction to Psychology/Child and Adolescent Psychology/Infants and Toddlers

Physical Developments Prematurity occurs before 37 weeks of gestation or about 3 weeks earlier than the normal due date Low birth weight is weight less than 5 ½ pounds at birth (2 pounds lighter than average); indicates potential for health risks Very low birth weight is weight less than 3 ½ pounds at birth (4 pounds lighter than average); indicates greater potential for health risks Small for gestational age (SGA) is born below the tenth percentile of birth weight for gestational age; indicates serious health risks Prevention includes childbirth classes, healthy lifestyles and especially good prenatal care, but sometimes there is nothing you can do Infant Mortality Refers to deaths that occur before the age of 1 year Having a Healthy Baby Prenatal care is important Growth of the Body and Brain Physical Growth Average birth weight is 7 ½ pounds, with males bout ½ pound heavier than females Baby's weight doubles in first 5 months About 20 inches at birth and half of adult height by age 2 Feeding and Nutrition (Breastfeeding) Sterile, cheap, “specially formulated” Colostrums are a thick, yellowish substance in breast milk containing important antibodies (only for the first few days of breastfeeding) Breastfed babies are at less risk of SIDS, asthma, and other illnesses Breastfeeding helps mom lose weight faster, and lowers risk of breast and ovarian cancer Infectious diseases can be spread via breast milk, so some mothers can’t (iron enriched formula) Exclusively for 6 months, slowly introduce iron-rich foods from 6-12 months, judgment call after More likely if mom married, higher income, and supported to breastfeed, but only ¼ by 6 months Structure of the Brain and Nervous System Spinal cord is the “information superhighway” Brain stem controls automatic functions Cerebellum is on the back of the brain and controls posture, body orientation, and complex muscle movements Neurons are specialized cells that process information and allow communication in the nervous system (form by 7 weeks) Cerebral cortex is the “gray matter” that forms the top portion of brain and is divided into the 4 lobes (10 wks) Forming the Brain and Nervous System Neural tube at about 4 weeks, which later develops into central nervous system Synaptogenesis is one form of neuron maturation in which dendrites and axons branch out to form an enormously large number of connections with neighboring neurons (by 23 weeks) Most neural connections (synapses) form AFTER birth, as a result of maturation and experiences Myelination is a form of neuron maturation in which the fatty insulation (myelin sheath) grows around the axons; occurs in different parts of the brain at different times Programmed cell death is a process by which many neurons die during periods of migration and heavy Synaptogenesis (we lose half before even born!) Sensory Capabilities Vision Visual acuity is the ability to see fine detail Infants prefer faces Newborns vision is somewhere between 20/150 and 20/600, reaches 20/20 by bout 6 months Normal color vision by 3 months Prefer to look at green, yellow, or red over gray Depth perception by just under two months, but afraid of cliff by time can crawl Binocular disparity is the difference between the images projected on the two eyes Pictorial cues are relative size and density of the pattern elements shown beneath the glass Hearing Hearing is functional before birth Recognize own names by 5 months Smell and Taste Facial expressions show that newborn babies react to certain odors and tastes similar to adults The fetal system is well enough developed sometime near the end of gestation to sense and store information about odors encountered before birth Motor Development Reflexes Reflexes are involuntary movements elicited by environmental stimuli Important early indicators of nervous system function Primitive reflexes disappear around 4 months; help the infant to find nourishment or might have served protective functions during earlier periods of evolution Postural reflexes disappear by 12 months; help infants to keep their heads upright, maintain balance, and roll their heads in the direction of their body motion Locomotor reflexes disappear by 4 months; mimic locomotor movements such as crawling, stepping, and swimming Voluntary Movements Gross motor development is the process of coordinating movements with the large muscles in the body (first step around 1 year) Fine motor development is the process of coordinating intricate movements with smaller muscles Influences on Motor Development Maturation of the muscles and brain Opportunities for practice culture differences in early experience Cognitive Developments Perceptual Development research techniques: Preferential-looking technique used to test infant visual perception. If infants consistently look longer at some patterns than at others, researchers infer that the infants can see a difference between the patterns Babies prefer moving stimuli, sharp color contrasts, symmetrical patterns, curved patterns, patterns with some complexity or detail, and patterns that resemble the human face Babies are already equipped at birth with an innate schema, or mental framework, of the human face Habituation-dishabituation technique used to test infant perception. Infants are shown a stimulus repeatedly until they respond less (habituate) to it. Then a new stimulus is presented. Habituation is the tendency of infants to reduce their response to stimuli that are presented repeatedly. Dishabituation= is the recovery or increase in infant’s response when a familiar stimulus is replaced by one that is novel. Intermodal Perception is the process of combining or integrating ifnormatino across sensory modalities. “Impossible events” (Renee Baillargeon) Most recent method of assessing infant cognition is via neuroscience (wave imaging) Explaining Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Constructivist View Mental processes (thought, memory, solving problems, language) Children’s thoughts gradually becomes more organized and complex (cognitive development)