Infant physical development, infant perceptual development, sensorimotor stage
What does research tell us about infants' understanding of objects?
Piaget underestimated their knowledge about objects and movements
How do researchers study perceptual development in infants?
track how long babies look at each pair of stimuli
What arguments do nativists and empiricists offer in support of their theories of perceptual development?
many basic perceptual abilities are at birth but specific experiences are required to maintain the underlying system
How does malnutrition affect infants' development?
lacks calories, specific nutrients, vitamins, and minerals
What is intermodal perception?
learn something from one sense and transfer it to another
A baby will splay out its toes then curl them under in response to stroking the bottom of the foot. Which reflex is this? a. Babinski b. Moro c. Bronfenbrenner d. Nisod
A
Each burst of synaptogenesis is followed by which of the following processes? a. Pruning b. Loss of axons c. Formation of dendrites d. Degeneration
A
In the United States, which group has the highest infant mortality rate? a. African Americans b. Puerto Rican Americans c. Mexican Americans d. Chinese Americans
A
In which substage did Piaget suggest that children can first imitate the facial expressions of others? a. Four b. Two c. Five d. Three
A
Researchers determine an infant's interest in an object by measuring which of the following? a. How long they look at the object b. Whether or not they look directly at the object c. Whether or not they smile at the object d. Whether or not they show signs of boredom such as yawning
A
Vernon is a 14-month-old toddler. His family laughs when he waves bye-bye because he seems to be waving at himself. Piaget would attribute this twist on the bye-bye wave to which of the following ideas? a. Children simply imitate what they see. b. Children learn gestures through object permanence. c. Deferred imitation is impossible until age two or later. d. Caregiver involvement dictates the level of sensory development.
A
What does your text suggest about the persistence of the Moro reflex or the Babinski reflex beyond six months of age? a. It may signal the existence of some type of neurological problem. b. They aid in the infant's developing social skills and emotional relationships. c. It is normal and is used as a sign of neurological maturation. d. It is due to positive or negative reinforcement.
A
What is Piaget's first stage of cognitive development? a. Sensorimotor b. Sensory accommodations c. Concrete operations d. Preoperations
A
Which of the following is a primary function of brain development in the first year of life? a. Formation of synapses b. Proximodistal development c. Ossification d. Development of neurons and glial cells
A
Which of the following is true of the process of ossification? a. It follows a proximodistal pattern. b. It is the process of bone softening. c. Once it begins it progresses sporadically. d. It begins during the 10th and 11th weeks of gestation.
A
Which of the following statements best describes challenges posed to Piaget's theories, based on more recent research? a. Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of infants. b. Piaget's assessments overestimated the extent to which developmental change appears to be continuous. c. Piaget failed to take into account cultural differences when he studied infants.
A
An infant sees a toy disappear under a blanket and does not search for it. In fact, the infant acts as though the toy never existed. This is because the infant has not yet developed... a. visual tracking. b. object permanence. c. mental symbols.
B
An infant's sleep/wake cycle lasts approximately how long? a. 30 to 45 minutes b. 2 hours c. 8 hours d. 4 - 6 hours
B
At birth we lack the ability to perceive, think, or use language because which area of our brain is not well developed? a. Glial cells b. Cortex c. Midbrain d. Medulla Feedback
B
Chun Lee sticks anything in his mouth that he can get his hands on. He has also started looking in the general direction of sounds that he hears. Chun Lee is exhibiting which of the following? a. Tertiary circular reactions b. Primary circular reactions c. Secondary circular reactions d. Coordination of secondary schemes
B
Dominic is eight months old. He sees a toy that he wants to play with, but it is out of reach. He uses the toy in his hand to drag the out-of-reach toy closer. What is Dominic demonstrating? a. Coordination of secondary schemes b. Means-end behavior c. Mental representation d. Reflexive behavior
B
The Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence measures which of the following? a. Cognitive and language development b. Habituation rates c. Sensory and motor skills d. Motor skills
B
When a child combines information from several senses into one perception, this is called a. inhabituation. b. intermodal perception. c. synesthesia. d. sensory integration.
B
Which of the following has been suggested to account for the finding that the sequences of motor development are virtually the same for all children? a. The importance of nurture. b. An inborn timetable. c. The process of accommodation.
B
Which of the following involve processing information based on body motion or the motion of an object in relation to the body? a. Binocular cues b. Kinetic cues c. Monocular cues d. Linear cues
B
Which of the following is a criticism of Piaget's theories? a. Piaget overestimated children's abilities. b. Piaget underestimated children's abilities. c. Development occurs in stages, unlike the quantitative changes that Piaget proposed.
B
Which of the following is a term used to describe the brain's ability to change in response to experience? a. Pruning. b. Plasticity. c. Synaptogenesis
B
Your text refers to studies involving nursing mothers who were inadvertently smothering their infants a little by holding them improperly during feeding. The babies response was usually to resist nursing. This study was used to illustrate which of the following concepts at work in infant learning? a. Deferred imitation b. Classical conditioning c. Operant conditioning d. Limited reinforcement
B
A child's understanding of the nature of objects, their properties, and how they work defines which of the following? a. Object permanence b. Objectification c. Object concept d. Object relations
C
A developmental psychologist is showing a four-month-old infant a series of drawings. Each drawing shows a series of heavy black dots arranged in the shape of a square. After seeing a series of such pictures, the infant looks for shorter and shorter periods of time until she is barely glancing at each new version of the black dots in a square. Suddenly the researcher presents a new drawing of heavy black dots in the shape of a circle, and the baby shows renewed interest by gazing for a longer period of time. Which of the following is the best description of the baby's behavior in this research project? a. The baby illustrated that her perceptual system is geared toward perceiving the sharp contrasts present in the dot displays. b. The baby displayed a capacity for intermodal perception. c. The baby habituated to the pattern of the dots in the shape of a square, but dishabituated to the circles.
C
At eight months old, baby Abigail transfers objects from one hand to the other. What ability is she demonstrating? a. Gross motor skills b. Primitive reflexes c. Fine motor skills
C
Dishabituation is best described by which of the following? a. Focusing on a stimulus that has not been successfully reinforced b. Focusing on a stimulus that has not been completely conditioned c. Responding to a familiar stimulus as if it was new d. The transition to preoperational thought
C
If two-month-old Andrew has colic, which of the following characteristics will be most noticeable to his parents? a. His high fever and listlessness b. His lack of appetite c. His intense crying d. His diarrhea and vomiting
C
In terms of understanding, which of the following is not usually seen until around age five and is linked to language development? a. Conceptual grouping b. Conservation c. Hierarchical categories d. Complex categories
C
Johann lives in a family with five siblings. There is always a lot of activity and interaction between the children and parents. There are many brightly colored toys and things to play with. Suzanne's family can't afford many toys at all and she has only old hand-me-downs to play with, most of which are broken. Which of the following best describes a likely difference in brain development between Johann and Suzanne? a. The normative age-graded change theory, which says that since Johann and Suzanne are both under two years of age, the differences in environment will have little impact. b. The principle of synaptic pruning says that since Johann is in a more stimulating environment than Suzanne, his brain will have a smaller number of synapses. c. The "use it or lose it" idea which says that since Johann is in a more stimulating environment than Suzanne, his brain will have a denser network of neurons and synapses.
C
Lilly has just learned to walk backward. How old would you expect Lilly to be? a. Between 19 and 24 months b. Between 10 and 12 months c. Between 13 and 18 months d. At least two years old
C
Object permanence is defined as a baby's understanding that a. objects belong to them. b. objects don't exist when they cannot be seen. c. objects continue to exist when they cannot be seen.
C
The disease kwashiokor is caused by which of the following? a. Impaired immune system functioning b. Restricted caloric intake c. Insufficient dietary protein d. Excess dietary vitamin B12
C
What did research carried out by Herbert, Gross & Hayne in 2006 demonstrate regarding deferred imitation? a. That a 14 month old can defer imitation for up to a week. b. That the longest that a child under 14 months of age can defer imitation is 3 - 4 hours. c. That nine-month-olds can defer their imitation for as long as 24 hours. d. That deferred imitation doesn't happen until at least 18 months of age.
C
Which of the following is included in the Bayley III scales of infant intelligence which was not included in earlier versions? a. Items that assess sensorimotor intelligence b. Items that assess motor skills c. Items that assess cognitive and language development d. Items that assess sensory skills
C
Which of the following is the best description of tertiary circular reactions? a. The child uses letters and pictures to represent their internal world. b. These are the beginnings of accommodation. The child learns that objects have more than one use. c. The child engages in purposeful "scientific" exploration, initially through trial-and-error processes. d. The child learns that when an object or person disappears, it continues to exist.
C
Which of the following is the most common nutritional problem in industrialized countries such as the United States? a. Marasmus b. Macronutrient malnutrition c. Micronutrient malnutrition d. Kwashikor
C
Which of the following statements is true regarding the well-known "Visual Cliff" experiment carried out by Gibson and Walk? a. Children who had developed depth perception would continue to crawl beyond the boundaries of the cliff. b. Young children use mainly social cues to determine the depth of a cliff, while older children used perceptual cues. c. It provided evidence that children were capable of perceiving depth, and using depth perception to define ?safe? places to crawl by the age of six months.
C
Which of the following would be considered an example of a tertiary circular reaction? a. Little Kaylene discovers that she enjoys sucking her thumb, so she does it three times again. b. Jimmy notices that when he coos his mother smiles at him, so he repeats the action to see if she will do it again. c. Little Alberta, after discovering her puppy will chase a ball she throws on the floor, tries throwing other objects to see if they produce the same result
C
A child's ability to pick up round pegs from the floor and place them into round holes in a toy requires which type of motor skills? a. Gross only b. Dynamic c. Fine only d. A combination of gross and fine
D
In which substage of Piaget's sensorimotor cognitive development will babies look for partially hidden objects? a. Third b. Second c. First d. Fourth
D
Of the following statements, which is an accurate description of an infant's perceptual abilities? a. Infants develop depth perception only after a prolonged experience of walking toward and away from objects. b. Infants will display habituation to an unfamiliar pattern of objects or features of objects. c. Infants as young as one week of age seem to prefer attractive faces to less attractive faces. d. When newborns gaze, they can see the edges of objects.
D
Seth is six weeks old. You are holding three balloons in your hand: one red, one blue and one green. Which of the following statements is most likely true? a. Seth probably only has the rods for blue vision in his eyes, so he won't be able to distinguish between red and green. b. At this age, Seth's cones are still too underdeveloped for him to distinguish any colors at all. c. Since Seth is only six weeks old, he can only distinguish between red and green. d. Seth has already developed the required cones in his eyes to differentiate between the three different colored balloons.
D
What is the name of the sheath around the axons that serves as insulation and speeds neural transmissions? a. Fontanel b. Dendrite c. Glial fiber d. Myelin
D
When an infant cries, the caregiver responds by picking up the child, changing a diaper, or feeding. These actions by the caregiver serve as reinforcements, increasing the likelihood that the child will again communicate certain needs by crying. This demonstrates that even an infant learns through which type of conditioning? a. Observational b. Modeling c. Classical d. Operant
D
Which of the following is NOT true of the research conducted by Steiner regarding the taste abilities of infants? a. He photographed the facial expressions of infants as they reacted to different tastes or flavors. b. They can distinguish between the five basic flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami. c. He conducted his research by feeding infants who had never been fed various flavored of waters. d. Children born in non-Asian countries can not taste umami.
D
Which of the following processes is an emphasis of brain development in the second year of life? a. Formation of synapses b. Proximodistal development c. Development of neurons and glial cells d. Myelinization
D
A newborn's hearing acuity is a lot worse than its visual acuity. True False
False
The sequence of motor skill development normally varies from child to child. True False
False
Babies as young as 3 months can remember a specific object. True False
True
How do infants perceive human speech, recognize voices, and recognize sound patterns other than speech?
beginning: speech contrasts 1: discriminations among speech sounds in the language he is hearing 6 months: different patterns of sounds
How do infants' bodies change, and what is the typical pattern of motor skill development in the first 2 years?
bones increase in number and density, muscle fibers become larger and contain less water stamina improves as the lungs grow and the heart gets stronger. Motor skills improve
What are the nutritional needs of infants?
breastfeeding
What kinds of learning are infants capable of?
classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observation 14 months: imitate
How do infants' visual abilities change across the first months of life?
color is present at birth visual acuity and visual tracking skill are developed rapidly during first few months
What important changes in the brain take place during infancy?
development of dendrites and synapses, pruning of synapses, myelinization of nerve fibers
How does categorical understanding change over the first 2 years?
early age infants use categories to organize information. sophistication and understanding on how categories relate increases over the first 2 years
How do depth perception and patterns of looking change over the first 2 years
kinetic cues > binocular cues > pictorial cues
How do infant mortality rates vary across groups?
poverty African American, Hawaiian, Native American highest mortality rate
What are the milestones of Piaget's sensorimotor stage?
primary, secondary, tertiary circular reactions and object permanence, means-end behavior, deferred imitation
What are infants' health-care and immunization needs?
regular checkups, variety of immunizations
How does memory function in the first 2 years?
remembering specific experiences over periods of a few days
What have researchers learned about sudden infant death syndrome?
risk factors: sleeping on stomach, sleep apnea, exposure tobacco smoke
How do infants' reflexes and behavioral states change?
sucking, moro and babinski reflexes
How have other theorists challenged Piaget's explanation of infant cognitive development?
suggest he underestimated infants' capabilities
How do infants' senses of hearing, smell, taste, touch, and motion compare to those of older children and adults?
well developed at birth
