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Memory in Infants How do you study memory in an infant? By using the orienting response & habituation Orienting Response = tendency to respond to new stimulation by becoming more alert (shows recognition that stimulus has changed) Habituation = When stimulus becomes familiar, infant responds less to it (this can be interpreted as demonstrating memory)

Memory in Infants How do you study memory in an infant? By using the orienting response & habituation Orienting Response = tendency to respond to

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Memory in Infants

How do you study memory in an infant? By using the orienting response & habituation Orienting Response = tendency to respond to new

stimulation by becoming more alert (shows recognition that stimulus has changed)

Habituation = When stimulus becomes familiar, infant responds less to it (this can be interpreted as demonstrating memory)

Development of Infant Memory

Three sequential phases in development of memory: Neurons fire when a new stimulus is presented and

stops with habituation Around 3 months infants actively look and search and

show recognition for things Around 8 months infants can remember categories of

things such as “fuzzy things” and “toys”

Intellectual Achievements

The Object Concept – learning to think beyond the “here and now.”

Modifying schemas (assimilation) versus creating new schemas (accommodation) – equilibration

Intention and imitation Learning new behaviors through observation

Cognitive Development in Infancy

Cognitive Development

I. Basics of Piaget Children ACTIVELY construct their cognitive world Two processes:

Organization and adaptationPiaget says we adapt in two ways:

Assimilation Accommodation

More Basics

Schema

4 forces that shape development for Piaget Equilibration Maturation Active Experience Social Interaction

Sensorimotor Period

Birth-2 years No object permanence

1. Exercising Reflexes 0-1 mos.

2. Primary Circular reactions (repetitive actions) 1-4 mos.

3. Secondary Circular Reactions (Actions with people and objects) 4-8 mos.

4. Purposeful Coordination (goal directed actions) 8-12 mos.

5. Tertiary Circular Reactions (experimentation) 12-18 mos.

6. Mental representation (symbolic representation) 18-24 mos.

What is Language?

A system of symbols that are used to communicate with others

The Influence of Biology Evolution Critical Period (18 mos - puberty)-Genie LAD (Language Acquisition Device)-Chomsky

Stages of Language Development

1st stage: crying, cooing, gurgling

-echoing, labeling from parents

2nd stage: 3-6 month

-babbling

-universal adaptability/universal linguist

3rd stage: 12 months, 1 -word stage

-holophrase hypothesis

-overextension/underextension

-24 mos, 2- word stage, telegraphic speech

Social and Emotional Development in Infancy

Focus Questions: How do infants influence caregivers? Are all infants the same in terms of emotional reactions

and personality? Are mother-infant bonds biological or learned? What happens when infants are separated from

caregivers? What do “average, normal, and exceptional” mean?

Contextual Model

Family relationships impact members in a reciprocal fashion Second order effects

Influence father has on mother Relationship between mother and infant Effect of child on marital relationship Economic changes

II. Attachment & Temperament

What is Attachment? Harry Harlow’s Studies Differences in Attachment Styles

Separation Anxiety

Ainsworth – strange situation Setting designed to evaluate the infant’s reaction at being

separated from, and later reunited with, a caregiver. Used to assess infant attachment Can minimize fear reactions by having many familiar people

and objects around

Stranger Anxiety

Unusual prior to 6 months of age Peaks at about 9 to 15 months Uneasy or fear response to something that is non-familiar Incongruity hypothesis – child is developing a familiarity

(and sense of predictability) with environment that stranger challenges

Attachment

Mary Ainsworth Strange Situation

Attachment Styles

At first, 3 Attachment Styles Secure (60%) Insecure

anxious-avoidant (20%)Anxious-ambivalent/resistant (12%)

Then…Disorganized/Disoriented (8%) (Main & Solomon, 1990)

Types of Attachment

Securely attached – use mother as base of exploration – warm contact upon reunion

Insecure-avoidant – display negative behavior at reunion Insecure-resistant – may appear to want held and then push

mother away Disorganized-disoriented – range of behaviors such as crying

and then running from parent

Figure 6.3 Types of infant attachment. Source: Based in part on Ainsworth et al. (1978). Patterns of Attachment. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum; and on M. Main & J. Solomon (1986). Discovery of an insecure, disorganized/disoriented attachment pattern: Procedures, findings, and implications for the classification of behavior. In M. Yogman & T. B. Brazelton, eds., Affective development in infancy. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.

Temperament

What is temperament? 3 Basic types or clusters

Infant Temperament

Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1970) Activity level Rhythmicity Approach-withdrawal Adaptability Sensitivity to stimuli Intensity of reaction

Chess & Thomas, 19911. Easy (40%)2. Difficult (15%)3. Slow-to-warm-up (10%)4. Varying Mixtures/Unclassified (35%)

Figure 6.1  Infant temperaments. What sort of infant were you? Ask your mother, your father, a sibling, or someone else who can tell you. Do you see any relationship between who you are now and what you were like as an infant? Source: Based on classifications used by Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1968, 1970, 1981) in the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS).

Buss & Plomin, 1987

1. Emotionality

2. Sociability

3. Activity Level

Crying

Infants don’t cry because they want to – they cry because they have to

It expresses a need, a fear, a frustration, a relief Peak period for infant crying is around 6 weeks Persistent crying is sign of a serious problem

Kinds of Cries

Wolff analyzed tape recording of infant cries Identified 4 distinct cries

Rhythmic cry – typical cry that seems non-serious Angry cry – protracted loudness Pain cry – long wail followed by breath holding Hunger cry – parents usually readily respond

Smiling and Laughing

Reflex smiling – brainstem response. Social smiling – in response to auditory and visual stimuli. Selective social smile – occurs in response to social stimuli

with which the child is familiar.