Infant Perception©Gallahue, D.L., Ozmun, J.C., & Goodway, J.D. (2012). Understanding

Motor Development. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2012 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

9-2

Infant perceptual and motor development are intricately intertwined, resulting in an

interdependent system

9-3

“Perception”: The process by which we gain immediate awareness of what is happening externally.

Perceptual Modalities Visual Auditory Olfactory Gustatory Tactile/Kinesthetic

9-4

Perception Is The Process Of Integrating new data (sensory input) With stored data (cortical organization) That leads to (sensory integration) An overt act (motor output)

9-5

Changes in Infant’s State: Head turn Blinking Tracking Yawning Crying

Film Analysis Changes in Heart and Respiration Rates Changes in Nonnutritive Sucking Observing Habituation & Dishabituation to Stimuli Measuring Evoked Potentials: Electrical brain

responses

9-6

Contrast Sensitivity: One’s sensitivity to light Eyes anatomically complete Eyes functionally immature: Lachrymal ducts =

inability to shed tears; color vision? Consensual pupillary reflex Strabismus Turns head to light source Closes eyes if light is bright

Visual Acuity: The degree of detail seen in an object Organically complete-functionally immature Rapid focal distance increases to adult-like by 6-

12 months

9-7

Accommodation: Retinal image focusing Poor as a neonate Rapid improvement in first 2-4 months

Peripheral Vision: Extent of horizontal visual field rapid improvement 15, 30, 40 degrees from

center by 6 months Visual Fixation: Attending to a stationary object

Three steps to binocularity: Bifoveal fixation; fusion; stereopsis

Monocular at birthBinocularity improves with age and

experiencefixates on bright objects follows bright light

9-8

Tracking: Ability to follow a moving object Saccades: Quick movements of the eyes from

one object of focus to another Smooth pursuits: Slow controlled movements of

the eyes across the visual field Sequence: Horizontal; vertical; diagonal; circular

Depth Perception: Ability to distinguish distance Static: Depth judgments of stationary objects

(figure 9.1 the Visual Cliff) Dynamic: Depth judgments of moving objects Monocularity at birth prevents perception of

depth Binocularity enables rapid improvement in both

static & dynamic perception of depth

9-9

Color Perception: Ability to perceive and distinguish colors Presence of rhodopsin & iodopsin in rods and cones Infant responds to chromatic intensity Infant prefers shape to color Infant can discriminate among colors

Form Perception: Ability to distinguish shapes and discriminate among patterns Infant prefers complex shapes Imitates facial expressions Prefers human face Size and shape constancy Discriminates between 2 and 3 dimensional figures

9-10

Auditory Perception: Sense of hearing Prenatal responses Localizes sound Tonal responses Discriminates among voices

Olfactory Perception: Sense of smell Responds to & distinguishes among odors Prefers mother’s order Discriminates odors

Gustatory Perception: Sense of taste Preferences: sweet to sour; sour to bitter

Tactile/Kinesthetic Perception: Sense of touch/feel Responds to touch via reflexes from birth Responds to touch via crude voluntary movements

from birth

9-11

The hyphen in the term “Perceptual-motor” signifies the

important reciprocal relationship between these two

processes.