ch 4, 5, 6 human development-pettitt

how does habituation and recovery make our learning more efficient?

at birth, the human brain is set up to be attracted to novelty and elements new in the environment and responded to in a more strong way, an inclination that ensures they will continually add to their knowledge base -HABITUATION refers to a gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation -once a loss of interest has occurred, a new stimulus-a change in the environment- causes responsiveness to return to a high level, an increase called RECOVERY -focuses our attention on aspects of the environment we know least about -infants rely on habituation and recovery more than any other learning capacity -Recovery to a new stimulus assesses infants RECENT memory, "I recognize that, I've been here before!" -infants shift from novelty preference to familiarity preference with more time. AKA babies recover to a familiar stimulus rather than a novel stimulus -by focusing on that shift, researchers can also use habituation to assess remote memory, or memory for stimuli to which infants were exposed weeks of months earlier

intermodal perception and infants

simultaneous input from more than one modality or sensory system. -we make sense of these running streams of light, sound, tactile, odor, and taste information perceiving them as integrated wholes. -we know that the object is the same whether we see it or touch it -lip movements are closely coordinated with the sound of a voice -dropping a rigid object on a hard surface will cause a sharp, banging sound -infants expect sight, sound, and touch to go together -amodal sensory properties- information that overlaps two or more sensory systems. -enables babies to notice meaningful correlations between sensory inputs and rapidly make sense of their surroundings.

4 Body Growth- Individual and group differences -what are some obvious growth differences between the sexes and children of differing ethnicity?

-Girls are slightly shorter and lighter than boys with a higher ratio of fat to muscle. This difference is magnified at adolescence -Asian children are below North American children's norms -African American Children are above North American norms. -Children of the same age will differ in their RATE of physical growth, some faster to mature than others. -Current body size is not enough to tell us how quickly a child's growth is moving along.

4 Malnutrition What are the two dietary diseases that occur in about 10% of children in developing countries where food resources are limited?

-about 27% of the world's children suffer from malnutrition before age 5 -Marasmus= a wasted condition of the body caused by diet low in all essential nutrients. It usually appears in the first year of life when a baby's mother is too malnourished to produce enough breast milk and bottle-feeding is also inadequate. Her starving becomes painfully thin and is in danger of dying Kwashiorkor= caused by an imbalanced diet very low in protein. The disease usually strikes after weaning between 1 and 3 years of age. -it is common in regions where children get just enough calories from starchy foods but little protein -child's body responds by breaking down its own protein reserves, which causes swelling, belly enlargement, hair loss, feet swelling, skin rash, irritability and listlessness

4 vision and depth perception in infants

-around the time that infants crawl, most distinguish deep from shallow surfaces, shown with checkerboard and Plexiglas placements -crawling and avoidance of drop offs are linked -motion is first depth cue, blinking when an object moves toward their face like it will hit -binocular depth cues -pictorial depth cues (artists make to look 3D)

4 Hearing time period that infants can distinguish music and human speech

-between 4 to 7 months an infant displays a sense of musical phrasing -around 6 to 7 months they can make a distinguishable of tunes based on rhythm patterns, beast structure and accent structure -By the end of the first year, infants recognize the same melody when it is played in a different key. newborns can distinguish nearly all sounds in human languages and they prefer listening to human speech over non-speech sounds -and to their native tongue rather than a foreign language. -they learn to focus on meaningful sound variations 5 mo= sensitive to syllable stress patterns in their language 6-8 mo= screen out foreign languages "tuning process" in second half of first year, a sensitive period in which infants acquire a range of perceptual skills for picking up socially important information. -later, large speech segments and finding meaning -around 7-9 months infants extend this sensitivity to speech structure to individual words like units

4 How do infants learn

-classical and operant conditioning -through their natural preference for novel stimulation -shortly after birth, babies learn by observing other, can imitate facial expressions and gestures of adults

4 early prolonged institutionalization with victims of deprived environments earlier on

-generalized decrease in the activity in cerebral cortex -especially prefrontal cortex (complex cognition and impulse control) -Neural fibers connecting the prefrontal cortex with other brain structures involved in control of emotion are also reduced. -Activation of left cerebral hemisphere (positive emotion) is diminished relative to right cerebral activation (negative emotion)

4 Brain Development what causes the dramatic increase in brain size during the first two years? (few neurons are produced after prenatal period)

-glial cells and myelination and the fatty myelin sheath and efficiency of message transfer -Glial cells multiply rapidly from the fourth month of pregnancy through the second year of life, a process that continues at a slower pace through middle childhood and accelerates again in adolescence. Gains in neural fibers and myelination are responsible for gain in overall brain size. *at birth= 30% of its potential weight *age 2= 70% of its potential weight

4 Children who suffer from malnutrition and some extreme forms

-grow to be smaller in all body dimensions and suffer from lasting damage to heart, liver, other organs -when diets improve=tend to gain excessively -malnourished body protects itself by establishing a lower metabolic rate which may endure after nutrition improves. -disrupt in appetite control centers in brain(overeating when food is plentiful) -learning and behavior seriously effected -in one study of marasmic children, they experienced catch up growth in heigh but not in head size -a deficient diet alters the production of neurotransmitters in the brain, disrupting all aspects of development -lower IQ, difficulty paying attention, poor fine motor coordination -more intense stress response to fear arousing situations -food insecurity also in US

4 Breast feeding vs. bottle feeding

-in early infancy, breast feeding is ideally suited to their needs and bottled formulas try to imitate it -recommends breastfeeding until year two and solid foods added at 6 months -breastfeeding for a few weeks increases likelihood of child survival by 6 to 14 times -a nursing mother is less likely to get pregnant (spacing between siblings and help with poverty issued countries) -fewer than 40% of children in the developing world are breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months, 1/3 are fully weaned from breast before 1 year -in place of milk they use commercial formula or low grade nutrients (rice water or highly diluted milk) contamination of foods (poor sanitation) often leads to illness and infant death -UN encourages hospitals and maternity units in developing countries for mothers to breastfeed as long as they dont have viral or bacterial infections.

4 Nutrition

-is especially crucial in first two years bc the baby's brain and body are growing rapidly. -an infant's energy needs are twice that of adults -25% of caloric intake is dedicated to growth, infants need extra calories to keep rapidly developing organs functioning properly

4 Are chubby babies at risk for later overweight and obesity?

-most chubby babies thin out during toddlerhood and early childhood, weight gain is slowing and they become more active -evidence of rapid weight gain in infancy and obesity later on --may be due to adults promoting unhealthy eating habits in their young children --on average infants consumed 20% and toddlers 30% more calories than they needed (french fries, soda, candy, high-sugar) -concerned parents can prevent becoming overweight by BREASTFEEDING for the first six months, which is associated with slower early weight gain -avoid giving unhealthy foods -once toddlers can walk, parents should promote and provide opportunities for energetic play -limit time in front of the TV

4 Learning Capacities- Classical conditioning

-newborn reflexes make classical conditioning possible in the young infant -a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response. Once the baby's nervous system makes the connection between the two stimuli, the neutral stimulus produces the behavior by itself -environment becomes more orderly and predictable because the infant can anticipate what's going to happen next (which events occur together) -if learning has occurred, the neutral stimulus by itself produces a response similar to the reflexive response. The neutral stimulus is then called a conditioned stimules and the response it elicits is a conditioned response. -more easy when it has survival value -fear is difficult to classically condition in young babies

4 Impoverished families alongside children with expectations beyond their current capacities

-no evidence that these nut-so programs parents put their children in with a full curriculum so so early on yield "superbabies" -Trying to prime infants with stimulation for which they are not ready can cause them to withdraw, thereby threatening their interest in learning and creating conditions much like stimulus deprivation!

Face perception and babies preferences

-rely more on outer high contrast features (hairline and chin) -prefer an attractive adult= origin of social bias favoring attractive people -do these behaviors reflect overall general preference for orientation towards members of one's own species? -preference of mom's face relying on her outer features and preference of faces over other visually equal stimulation

4 Victims of deprived early environments continued

-remain substantially below average even if improving in test scores during middle childhood and adolescence -most displayed at least 3 mental health problems --inattention --overactivity --unruly behavior --autistic like symptoms

4 why does lateralization occur?

-the left hemisphere is better at processing information in a sequential, analytic way, a good way to approach communicative info, verbal (language) and emotional (happy smile) -right hemisphere is specialized for processing info in a holistic, integrative way, ideal for making sense of spatial information and regulating negative emotion. -A lateralized brain may have evolved because is enabled humans to cope more successfully with changing environmental demands. It permits a wider array of functions to be carried out effectively than if both sides processed info the exact same way.

4 Neurobiological methods why are the PET and fMRI not suitable for children and infants/ what's the other method

-they require the participant to lie as motionless as possible for an extended period of time. NEAR INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY infrared light is beamed at regions of cerebral cortex to measure blood flow and oxygen metabolism while child attends to STIMULUS -apparatus only consists of thin flexible optic fibers attached to scalp using a headcap, child can sit on parents lap and move during testing UNLIKE PET AND FMRI, NIRS examines only functioning of the cerebral cortex. PET and FMRI map activity changes throughout the brain

5 Violation of expectation method

-to discover what infants know about hidden objects and aspects of physical reality -researchers may habituate babies to a physical event to familiarize them with a situation in which their knowledge will be tested. -or may simply shoe babies an expected event and an unexpected event. -heightened attention to the unexpected event suggests that the infant is surprised by a deviation of physical reality, and is therefor aware of that aspect of the physical world controversy: -believe that it indicates limited awareness of physical events, not conscious understanding (Piaget) requiring infants to act on their surroundings as in search for hidden objects -babies preference for a novel item, not their knowledge of physical world -what babies looking preference tells us about what they actually understand

4 Heredity

-when diet and health are adequate, we know height and rate of physical growth are largely influenced by heredity -as long as negative environmental influences are not severe, children and adolescents typically show catch up growth. (return to genetically influenced growth path once conditions improve) --the brain, heart, internal organs, digestive system may still be compromised -genetic makeup and nutrition play large roles in weight

4 Neurobiological methods 2 methods that detect electrical activity in the cerebral cortex and what happens

1) ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG)- brain wave patterns are examined for stability and organization to determine MATURITY of the cortex 2)EVENT RELATED POTENTIALS- a person processes a particular stimulus to detect the general LOCATION of that brain wave activity -used on preverbal infants responsiveness -impact of experiences on specialization of specific brain regions -atypical brain functioning with people that have learning and emotional problems

5 sensorimotor stage and infants

1-reflexive schemes 2-primary circular reaction= a sensorimotor response that first occurred by chance strengthens into a new scheme (focused on own body limited anticipation of events) 3-secondary circular reactions (repeating interesting effects in surrounding environment caused by own actions) 4-coordination of secondary circular reactions (intentional, goal oriented behavior, coordinating schemes to solve simple problems) and beginning to master object permanence, although they still believe an object continues to exist when out of sight 5-Tertiary circular reactions (exploring in a novel way, imitation of behaviors, ability to search in several locations for hidden object) 6-Mental representation (images and concepts) -differed imitation and make believe play is made possible

4 Body Growth- Changes in body proportions What are the two growth patterns that occur as a child's overall size increases?

1. Cephalocaudal- "head to tail" During the prenatal period the head develops more rapidly than the rest of the body. -At birth= head is 1/4, legs are 1/3 -Age two= head is 1/5, legs are nearly 1/2 2. Proximodistal- "near to far" During the prenatal period, the head, chest, and trunk grow first, and arms and legs follow, then hands and feet. During infancy and childhood, arms and legs continue to grow ahead of hands and feet.

4 Brain development and molding a "living sculpture"

1. Neurons and synapses are overproduced 2. Cell death and synaptic pruning sculpt away excess building material to form the mature brain (influenced by genetic events and child experiences) 3. Resulting "sculpture" is a set of interconnected regions, each with specific functions, much like countries on a globe that communicate with one another "geography" of the brain allows researchers to study its developing organization and activity of each region using neurobiological methods

4 Brain Development Brain growth in the prenatal period?

1. Neurons are produced in the embryo's primitive neural tube 2. Then they migrate to form the major parts of the brain 3. Once those neurons are in place, they differentiate and establish their unique functions by extending their fibers to form synaptic connections with neighboring cells first two years= neural fiber and synapses increase at an astounding rate

memory and infants

2 mo old can remember one to two days after training 3 mo old can remember for one week 6 mo old can remember for two weeks recognition vs. recall -long term recall depends on connections among multiple regions in the cerebral cortex, especially with prefrontal -during infancy and toddlerhood, neural circuits develop rapidly -infantile amnesia- I can't remember events as a baby

4 What verifies the existence of sensitive periods in brain development?

Both animal and human studies reveal that early, extreme sensory deprivation results in permanent brain damage and loss of functions -general quality of the early environment affects overall brain growth -when animals reared from birth in physically and socially stimulating surroundings are compared with those reared under depleted conditions, the brains of the stimulated animals are larger and heavier and show much denser synaptic connections

4 The two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex or "handedness"

Each hemisphere receives sensory information from the side of the body opposite to it and controls only that side left hemi= verbal abilities and positive emotions right hemi= spatial abilities and negative emotions -in left handed people this pattern may be reversed or more commony, the cerebral cortex may be less clearly specialized than in right-handers

4 The cortical regions with the most extended period of development are the...

FRONTAL LOBES prefrontal cortex= body movement and coordination -consciousness -inhibition of impulses -integration of information -memory use, reasoning, problem-solving -planning age 2 mo and on: functions more effectively -undergoes especially rapid myelination and formation and pruning of synapses during preschool and school years, followed by another period of accelerated growth in adolescence, which is when it reaches an adult level of synaptic connections

4 Body Growth- Changes in Body size and Muscle/Fat makeup How could the pace of growth be described for infants and toddlers? Milestones up until 2 Y.O.

Infants and toddlers grow in spurts, rather than steady gains Height: -End of year one=a 50% increase from birth (32 in) -End of year two= a 75% increase from birth (36 in) Weight: -5 months= doubled to 15 pounds -1 year= tripled to 22 lbs -2 years= tripled to about 30 lbs *Parents describe their babies as irritable and hungry the day before a spurt *Early rise in baby fat happens at about 9 months, to maintain body temp. *In 2nd year, most toddlers start to slim down until middle childhood. *Muscle tissue increases slowly, strength and physical coordination are limited

4 Neurobiological methods Which technique provides the most precise info about which brain regions are specialized for certain capacities and about abnormalities for brain functioning? one vs. other

NEUROIMAGING TECHNIQUES- yield detailed, three dimmensional computerized pictures of the entire brain and its active areas. (2) Most promising=fMRI -the fMRI, unlike the PET, does not depend on an X-ray photograph, which requires an injection of radioactive substance. **When individual is exposed to a certain stimulus**, fMRI detects changes in blood flow and oxygen metabolosim throughout the brain magnetically, yielding a colorful moving picture of parts of the brain used to perform a given activity.

Fine Motor movement

Reaching is most important, then grasping -How they first experience the world newborns make poorly coordinate swipes or swings called PREREACHING toward an object in front of them, but because of poor arm and hand control they rarely contact the object -these early behaviors suggest that babies are biologically prepared to coordinate hang with eye in the act of exploring infant's grasp reflex is replaced by the ulnar grasp, or clumsily closing the fingers against the palm by end of first year infants use the thumb and index finger opposably in a well coordinated pincer grasp.

4 Body Growth Why can Timmy be larger and heavier than both Caitlin and Grace but not physically be more mature? (term) -ethnic norms

Skeletal Age= best was to estimate a child's physical maturity, it is a measure of bone development. It is determined by X-Raying the long bones of the body to see the extent to which soft, pliable cartilage has hardened into bone, a gradual process that is completed in ADOLESCENCE -African american children tend to be ahead of Caucasian children -Girls tend to be ahead of boys -at birth this difference is about 4-6 weeks and the gap widens over infancy and childhood -This maturity level may be the cause for girls to be more resistant to harmful environmental influences

4 Brain development Synaptic pruning and the importance of stimulating your child

Stimulation is vital for the survival of these neural connections to keep hold. Neurons that are stimulated by input from their surrounding environment allows for more elaborate communication systems and more complex abilities. A child is ensured that he or she will have motor, cognitive, and social skills they need to survive because the brain created an overabundance of synapses that have identical functions as the other. Neurons that are not stimulated enough lose their synapses and those "unneeded" neurons return to an uncommitted state for future development. -about 40% of synapses are pruned during childhood and adolescence to achieve that adult level. Proper stimulation is required during vital periods for process advancement

4 Brain lateralization and brain plasticity

a highly plastic cerebral cortex, in which many areas are not yet committed to specific functions has a high capacity for learning. -if a part of the cortex is damaged, other parts can take over tasks it would have handled. -once the hemispheres lateralize, damage to a specific region means that the abilities it controls cannot be recovered to the same extent or as easily as earlier. newborns- greater activation in left hemisphere in response to speech or displaying positive state of arrousal -right hemisphere reacts more strongly to nonspeech sounds (and stimuli) that evoke negative emotion -early experience greatly influences the organization of the cerebral cortex (brain-damaged children and adults) -process of acquiring language and other skills promotes lateralization -brain is most plastic in first few years than ever will be

Presence of cortisol in the saliva

a physiological response linked: -to persistent illness -retarded physical growth -learning and behavior problems --deficits in attention and control of anger and other impulses the longer children stay in orphanage care, the higher the cortisol levels -in other investigations orphanage children displayed abnormally low cortisol levels, a blunted physiological stress response that may be the central nervous systems adaptation to earlier, frequent elevations of cortisol

4 Brain Development programmed cell death

an aspect of brain growth that allows for space to be made for connective structures. As synapses form, many surrounding neurons die, 20-80% depending on the region -during the prenatal period, the neural tube creates far more neurons than the brain will ever need:)

Am I depriving my baby of an experience essential for healthy psychological development if I chose not to breast feed?

breastfed and bottle fed infants in industrialized nations show no difference in quality of relationship between mother and child and also later emotional development. -some studies report slight advantage in intelligence test performance who were breast fed - no difference between child that was breast fed and bottle fed by the year 2.

4 Infants impressive statistical learning capacity and speech

by analyzing the speech stream for patterns, repeatedly occurring sequences of sounds, they acquire a stick of speech structures for which they will learn meanings, long before they start to talk around 12 months. -they prefer to listen to new speech that preserves the word internal pattern -7-8 mo= locate words and focusing on words and identify regular syllable stress patterns -can detect words with weak syllables by listening for sound regularities before and after the words. some researchers believe that infants are innately equipped with a general learning statistical capacity for detecting structure in the environment, which they also apply to non-speech auditory information and to visual stimulation --consistently, recordings suggest that newborns perceive patterns in both sequences of speech syllables and sequence of tones --2 month old's detect regularities in sequences of visual stimuli

4 Why is the cerebral cortex sensitive to environmental influences for a much longer period than any other part of the brain?

cerebral cortex- largest brain structure with most amount of neurons and synapses the cerebral cortex is the last part of the brain to stop growing

4 pattern perception contrast sensitivity

explains early pattern preferences -contrast=difference in amount of light between adjacent regions in a pattern -if babies are sensitive to the contrast in two or more patterns, they prefer the one with more contrast -poor vision in babies so they cannot resolve small features and prefer large bold patterns -around 2 mo infants become sensitive to contrast in complex patterns, spend more time looking -earlier weeks stare at single high contrast features and difficult to look away -2-3 mo scanning ability and contrast sensitivity improves and they explore a patterns features looking at each part -4 mo= perceive subjective boundaries that aren't necessarily present

4 A newborns capacity to imitate

extends to certain gestures such as head and index finger movements, and is demonstrated in many cultures. -because newborn mouth and tongue movements occur with increased frequency to almost any arousing change ins timulation, it is argued that these imitative responses are actually MOUTHING- a common early exploratory response to interesting stimuli -skeptics believe it is no more than a reflex in babies -newborns try to imitate with what they are seeing and what they feel themselves are doing

4 Gross Motor-development, Fine Motor Development and rate

gross-motor development refers to control over actions that help infants get around in the environment -ex: crawling, standing, walking Fine-motor development has to do with smaller movements such as reaching and grasping large individual differences in rate of motor progress -motor skills are interrelated , each is a product of earlier motor attainments and a contributor to new ones. Children acquire motor skills in highly individualized ways.

4 Learning Capacities Operant conditioning

infants act, or OPERATE, on the environment and stimuli that follow their behavior change the probabiltiy that that behavior will occur again. A stimulus that increases the occurrence of a response is called a reinforcer -removing a desirable stimulus or presenting an unpleasant one to decrease the occurrence of a response is called a punishment -operant conditioning is a powerful tool for finding out what stimuli babies can perceive and which ones they prefer -vital role in formation of social relationships --baby gazes into adult's eyes the adult looks and smiles back, and then the infant looks and smiles again. As the behavior of each partner reinforces the other, both continue their pleasurable interaction

differentiation theory and infants

infants actively search for invariant features of the environment, those that remain stable, in a constantly changing perceptual world 1) babies seek out invariant relationships first, amodal properties, such as common rate and rhythm, in a voice and face, and later, more detailed associations like unique voice and face matches. -over time the baby detects finer and finer invariant features among stimuli

Dynamic Systems theory and acquiring a new skilll

infants must refine their skill when they acquire it. -as babies attempt a new skill, previous mastered skills become less secure -novice walker experiments notice a baby acquiring skill of balancing body on two feet makes balance of sitting in a chair temporarily less stable -repetition=synaptic connection in the brain that govern motor patterns is happening Dynamic systems theory is learned and not genetic. Rather than being hardwired into the nervous system, behaviors are softly assembled allowing for different paths to the same motor skill. acquired, refined, extended, combined

4 Dynamic Systems Theory of Motor Development

mastery of motor skills involves acquiring increasingly complex systems of action. When motor skills work as a system, separate abilities blend together, each cooperating with others to produce more effective ways of exploring and controlling the environment ex: control of the head and upper chest combine into sitting with support ex: kicking, rocking on all fours, and reaching combine to become crawling -each new skill is a joint product of 4 factors 1) central nervous system development 2) the goals the child has in mind 3) the body's movement capacities 4) environmental supports for the skill -change in any element makes the system less stable -child starts to explore and select new more effective motor patterns -broader physical environment has an effect (stairs in home vs stairs not in home)

4 Breastfeeding and industrialized nations

partly as a result of natural childbirth movement -more common among well-educated women -74% of american mothers breastfeed but more than half stop by one year. -mothers who return to work sooner stop earlier -mothers who cant be with their infants all the time do a combo of breast feeding and formula -advisement to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months and inclusions of breast milk in their diet until 1 year

5 displaced reference

realization that words can be used to cue mental images of things not physically present- symbolic capacity that emerges after about 1 year -memory and vocab improve, displaced reference improves.

Mirror Neurons

researchers identified specialized cells in primates found in motor areas of the cerebral cortex -mirror neurons fire identically when a primate hears or sees and action and when it carries out that action on its own Human adults have these systems too, which enable us to observe another's behavior while simulating the behavior in our own brain ex: imitation, empathic sharing of emotions, understanding other's intentions functioning mirror neuron systems as early as 6 M.O. by imitation, babies learn about others "like me" and therefore are learning about themselves. -infant imitation may serve as the foundation for understanding others thoughts and feelings.

5 information processing perspective stages

sensory register- limited in capacity and duration (one second or less) short term memory (working) long term memory central executive- manages cognitive systems activities, directs flow of info, implements basic procedures, engaging in more sophisticated activities that enable complex and flexible thinking -coordinates incoming information with information already in the system, it selects, applies, and monitors strategies that facilitate memory storage, comprehension, reasoning, and problem solving -conscious reflective part of our mental system; working purposefully to attain our goals

executive function

the diverse cognitive operations and strategies that enable us to achieve our goals in cognitively challenging situations -directing and monitoring thought and behavior -controlling impulses -coordinating info in working memory

4 Appropriate stimulation- How can we characterize appropriate stimulation during the early years? Experience dependent brain growth

the second type of brain development- experience-dependent brain growth occurs throughout our lives. It consists of additional growth and refinement of established brain structures as a result of specific learning experiences that vary widely across individuals and cultures. -the brain of a violinist differs greatly from the brain of a poet because each has exercised different brain regions for a long time. -reading and writing -playing computer games

4 Appropriate stimulation- How can we characterize appropriate stimulation during the early years? Experience expectant brain growth

two types of brain development- experience-expectant growth refers to the young brain's rapidly developing organization, which depends on ordinary experiences. -opportunities to explore the environment -interact with people -hear language and other sounds Because of evolution, toddlers and children expect this sort of interaction and experiences -if they do experience such, they will grow normally -appropriate play materials and engage in enjoyable daily routines -occurs earlier and naturally and as a result, this growth provides the foundation for later ocurring experience-dependent growth!

4 vision and babies and visual accuity

visual accuity=fineness of discrimination -improves steadily reaching 20/80 by 6 months and 20/20 by 4 years -scanning, tracking, noticing arrangement and characteristics of objects in a space

attention and infants

year one- attend to novel events (eye catching) year two- attentional and sustained behavior