EARLY LEARNING, MOTOR SKILLS & PERCEPTUAL CAPACITIES IN INFANCY

By Medhavi Sood III rd year

Stages of Fetal development

Day 1:  fertilization: all human chromosomes are present; unique

human life begins..

Day 6:  embryo begins implantation in the uterus. Day 22:  heart begins to beat with the child's own

blood, often a different type than the mothers'. Week 3:  By the end of third week the child's

backbone spinal column and nervous system are forming.  The liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape.

Week 4:  By the end of week fourth the child is ten thousand times larger than the fertilized egg. 

Week 5:  Eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop. Week 6: At 6 weeks, the embryo is just over half an

inch long. As shown in this photograph, the arms and legs are just beginning to grow, and the head area is extremely large compared to its size after birth. The embryo is shown here in the amniotic sac, which is filled with fluid to protect it. Brain waves are detectable; mouth and lips are present; fingernails are forming.

Week 7:  Eyelids, and toes form, nose distinct.  The baby is kicking and swimming.

Week 8:  Every organ is in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, and fingerprints begin to form.  By the 8th week the baby can begin to hear. 

Weeks 9 and 10: 3 inches, 1 ounce Teeth begin to form, fingernails develop.  The baby can turn his head, and frown.  The baby can hiccup. 

Weeks 10 and 11:  The baby can "breathe" amniotic fluid and urinate.  Week 11 the baby can grasp objects placed in its hand; all organ systems are functioning.  The baby has a skeletal structure, nerves, and circulation.

Week 12:  The baby has all of the parts necessary to experience pain, including nerves, spinal cord, and thalamus.  Vocal cords are complete.  The baby can suck its thumb. 

8 weeks

Week 14:  At this age, the baby is 6 inches long the heart pumps several quarts of blood through the body every day. The heart beats120-150 beats per minute and brain waves detectable.

Week 15:  The baby has an adult's taste buds. Month 4:  Bone Marrow is now beginning to

form.  The heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood a day.  By the end of month 4 the baby will be 8-10 inches in length and will weigh up to half a pound. At about 4½ months of prenatal development, the foetus is about 10 inches long and weighs approximately 9 ounces. As shown in this photograph, the foetus shows the reflexive movement of sucking its thumb. This activity appears remarkably similar to thumb-sucking in neonates.

Week 17:  The baby can have dream (REM) sleep

Week 19:  The baby is 8 inches. Babies can routinely be saved at 21 to 22 weeks after fertilization, and sometimes they can be saved even younger. Eyebrows and lashes appear and nails appear on fingers and toes.  This is an exciting time for the parents: The mother can feel the foetus moving ("quickening") and the foetal heartbeat can be heard with a stethoscope.

Week 20:  The earliest stage at which Partial birth abortions are performed.  At 20 weeks the baby recognizes its' mothers voice.

Months 5 and 6:  The baby practices breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid into its developing lungs. The baby will grasp at the umbilical cord when it feels it.  Most mothers feel an increase in movement, kicking, and hiccup from the baby.  Oil and sweat glands are now functioning.  The baby is now twelve inches long or more, and weighs up to one and a half pounds.  After 5.5 months, the baby only grows in size. It grows 4mm a week.

Months 7: 15 inches, 2 lbs. 11 oz Eyeteeth are present.  The baby opens and closes his eyes.  The baby is using four of the five senses (vision, hearing, taste, and touch.)  

Month 8- 15 to 17 inches, 4 lbs. 6 oz.: These weeks see further development towards independent life:  There is a rapid increase in the amount of body fat and the foetus begins storing its own iron, calcium, and phosphorus.  The bones are fully developed, but still soft and pliable.  There are rhythmic breathing movements present, the foetal body temperature is partially self-controlled, and there is increased central nervous system control over body functions.

Month 9- 19 to 21 inches, the baby weighs 7 or 8 pounds. At 38 weeks, the foetus is considered full term.  It fills the entire uterus, and its head is the same size around as its shoulders.  The mother supplies the foetus with the antibodies it needs to protect it against disease He knows the difference between waking and sleeping, and can relate to the moods of the mother.  The baby's skin begins to thicken, and a layer of fat is produced and stored beneath the skin.  Antibodies are built up, and the baby's heart begins to pump 300 gallons of blood per day.  Approximately one week before the birth the baby stops growing, and "drops" usually head down into the pelvic cavity. 

TERMS Zygote- Zygote or zygocyte, is the

initial cell formed when two gamete cells are joined by means of sexual reproduction. In multicellular organisms, it is the earliest developmental stage of the embryo..

Zygotes are usually produced by a fertilization event between two haploid cells—an ovum (female gamete) and a sperm cell (male gamete)—which combine to form the single diploid cell. Such zygotes contain DNA derived from both the parents, and this provides all the genetic information necessary to form a new individual.

EMBRYO- is

a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until In humans, it is called an embryo until about eight weeks after fertilization (i.e. ten weeks Last Menstrual Period or LMP), and from then it is instead called a foetus.

Umbilical Cord

Umbilical Cord Clamp

Breach Baby

NEONATES

Size and Appearance In their first few days, neonates lose as

much as 10% of their body weight primarily because of loss of fluids. They begin to gain weight again at about fifth day and are generally back to birth weight by the 10th or 14th day. Many new-borns have a pinkish cast; their skin is so thin that it barely covers the capillaries. During the first few days some neonates are very hairy because of some of the lanugo, a fuzzy prenatal hair, has not yet fallen off. All new babies are covered with vernix caseosa (cheesy varnish) an oily protection against infection that dries within the first few days.

Competencies of Neonates Newborns are far from totally helpless, passive, and

non-reactive creatures as opposed to the earlier view. They are highly competent organisms with surprisingly well developed reflexes and sensory responses and they are surprisingly well equipped to begin adapting to their new environments from the first moments they are born. Nor are their responses random and disorganized; rather newborns show a capacity to respond in an organised meaningful way, their mental activities are quiet complex as well. They initiate social interactions and can also see, hear, taste, smell, feel pressure and pain. They are very selective in what they look at and are able to learn much more than what scientists had earlier assumed. They are though physically immature and dependent on the care-giver or the mother and their cognitive ability is also very limited.

Neonate reflexes Some of the first reflexes in the new-borns are permanent and some

disappear during the first year of life. A number of these reflexes have obvious value in helping to ensure their survival. For e.g. the rooting and sucking reflexes help the new-borns to locate and obtain food, eye blink helps to shield the eyes from excessively strong light and the withdrawal reflexes helps to protect the baby from painful and possibly harmful stimulus.

Some of the reflexes in the new-borns are permanent and some disappear with time. If these reflexes don’t happen it indicates some malfunctioning. For e.g.-Eye blink is permanentPupillary is permanentMoro (startle) disappears around 4-6 months of age.Rage disappears around 3-4 months.Babinski it usually disappears around 8-12 months but it is absent in babies with spine problems.Tonic neck disappears around 4 months.Planter or toe-grasp disappears between 8-12 monthsPalmar grasp is initially intense but disappears by 3-4 months and is replaced by voluntary grasp within a month or so.

Adaptive value of Reflexes Reflexes vary in utility. Some have a

survival value. An example is the rooting reflex, which helps a breastfed infant find the mother's nipple. Babies display it only when hungry and touched by another person, not when they touch themselves. There are a few reflexes that probably helped babies survive during human evolutionary past like the Moro reflex.

Reflexes and the development of Motor Skills

A motor skill is a learned sequence of movements that combine to produce a smooth, efficient action in order to master a particular task. The development of motor skill occurs in the motor cortex, the region of the cerebral cortex that controls voluntary muscle groups. Babies adapt their reflexes to changes in the stimulation. Some reflexes may be related to voluntary behaviour in subtle ways, some reflexes may disappear early, but motor functions may renew later in development.

Many factors contribute to the ability and the rate that children develop their motor skills. Uncontrollable factors include: genetic or inherited traits and children with learning disorders. Controllable factors include: the environment/society and culture they are born to. A child born in the city is much less likely to have the same opportunities to explore, hike, or trek the outdoors than one born in the rural area. For a child to successfully develop motor skills, he or she must receive many opportunities to physically explore the surroundings. Infantile: Early movements made by very young infants are largely reflexive. An infant is exposed to a variety of perceptual experiences through the senses. Gradually, the infant learns that certain involuntary, reflexive movements can result in pleasurable sensory experiences, and will attempt to repeat the motions voluntarily in order to experience the pleasurable sensation.

Importance of assessing new born reflexes that it helps To assess the health of the baby’s nervous system. To diagnose brain damaged infants To distinguish between normal & abnormal functioning of

CNS.

Infant States State is a concept that is operationally defined in many

ways. Some define it as configurations of analogue signals recorded from electrodes placed on the subject others define it as mixture of physiological signal along with behavioural variables. Behavioural researchers are in agreement with two major sleep states- Active sleep (REM) and quiet sleep (NON-REM). Most commonly used behavioural state systems are those of Wolff (1966). Wolff (1966) classified states as-

Regular sleep (REM)Irregular sleep (NREM)DrowsinessQuiet alertnessWaking activities & crying

Babies, like adults, have various stages and depths of sleep. Depending on the stage, the baby may actively move or lie very still. Infant sleep patterns begin forming during the last months of pregnancy - active sleep first, then quiet sleep by about the eighth month. There are two types of sleep:

REM (rapid eye movement sleep)

This is a light sleep when dreams occur and the eyes move rapidly back and forth. Although babies spend about 16 hours each day sleeping, about half of this is in REM sleep. Older children and adults sleep fewer hours and spend much less time in REM sleep.

A baby enters stage 1 at the beginning of the sleep cycle, and then moves into stage 2, then 3, then 4, then back to 3, then 2, then to REM. These cycles may occur several times during sleep. Babies may awaken as they pass from deep sleep to light sleep and may have difficulty going back to sleep in the first few months.

Non-REM sleep:Non-REM has 4 stages:› Stage 1 – drowsiness - eyes droop, may open and

close, dozing› Stage 2 – light sleep - the baby moves and may

startle or jump with sounds› Stage 3 – deep sleep - the baby is quiet and does not

move› Stage 4 – very deep sleep - the baby is quiet and

does not move

Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale

Developed by Dr T. Berry Brazelton in Boston, Mass, USA during the 1960's & first published in 1973.

With 28 behavioural items each scored on a 9-point scale, which assess the infant's behavioural response to positive and negative stimuli.

The materials used for the assessment are a torch, bell, rattle, and a red ball to look at habituation and orientation. The examiner's face and voice are also used for orientation.

There are 18 reflex items, each scored on a 4-point scale, which assess the infant's neurological status, although it is a screening tool and is not diagnostic.

Learning Capacities Learning refers to changes in behaviour as a

result of experience. Babies come into the world with built in learning capacities.

The 4 learning approaches of learning in infants-

Conditioning› Classical conditioning› Operant conditioning

Habituation and recovery Imitation

Classical conditioning

Pairing of a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response› New stimulus produces behavior by itself

Present in newborns› Blass et al (1984)

Breast milk (UCS) --> Sucking (UCR) Pair forehead stroking (NS) with breast milk (UCS) Forehead stroking (CS) --> sucking (CR)

Occurs most easily when association between UCS and UCR has survival value

Operant (instrumental) conditioning

Learning about the consequences of one’s own actions› Act on the environment› Subsequent stimuli will either increase or decrease the

probability of that behavior occurring again Positive reinforce increases occurrence of

response (contingency). Present in newborns but initially limited to sucking

and head-turning responses› Newborns produce head turns for sucrose

Range of responses increases with age› Infants between 2 and 6 months of age learn

contingency relations between leg kicking and mobile moving

Habituation is a decrease in an elicited behaviour resulting

from the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus (a simple form of learning).

Onset of stimulus Initial reaction

Habituation (Sound continues) 

Recovery (Stimulus changes)

Recovery is some change in the

stimulus/environment causing responsiveness to return to a high level. It is an increase in response to novel stimuli. Infant can distinguish between two different stimuli. Habituation and recovery are adaptive; enables infants to attend to things they know the least about.

Imitation / Observation-

The new-borns capacity to imitate extends to certain gestures such as head movements and has been demonstrated in many ethnic groups and cultures. Neonates may form cognitive representations of the model’s behaviour, which they then translate into motor movements of a similar type.

Crying in Babies Three different types of cries in infants- Basic cry, which is a systematic cry

with a pattern of crying and silence. The basic cry starts with a cry coupled with a briefer silence, which is followed by a short high-pitched aspiratory whistle. Then, there is a brief silence followed by another cry. Hunger is a main stimulant of the basic cry.

Anger cry is much like the basic cry; however, in this cry, more excess air is forced through the vocal cords, making it a louder, more abrupt cry. This type of cries is characterized by the same temporal sequence as the basic pattern but distinguished by differences in the length of the various phase components.

Pain cry, which, unlike the other two, has no preliminary moaning. The pain cry is one loud cry, followed by a period of breath holding.

Soothing Techniques 1) Ethological Theory- It was given by Bell &

Ainsworth in 1972. According to this theory maternal responsiveness is adaptive & it ensures the infant’s basic needs will be met & provide protection from danger.

2) Behaviourist’s position- It was given by Boyd & Gewirtz in 1977. According to this theory, consistently responding to a crying infant reinforces the crying response & result in a whiny, demanding child.

3) Sucking a pacifier-may also sooth a baby more rapidly than other methods (Campos, 1989). Studies also say that

There is no easy formula for how caregivers should respond to cries. It depends on culture, contexts, intensity & suspected reason for cry.

Intensity crying (Distress, hunger, wet, uncomfortable) should be responded to immediately.

Milder crying for a nap can reinforce crying

Motor Development in Infancy

The term "motor development" refers to age related changes in our capacity for voluntary physical movement. Baby's physical skills develop by progressing from the torso outward to the fingers. They are skills that involve large-muscle activities such as moving one’s arms and walking.

Organization and Sequence of Motor Development-

Gross motor skills are the ability to control the large muscles of the body.  These are associated with the movement of the torso, arms and legs. Children will develop at their own speed and pace, and there is a wide range of healthy ages at which they can achieve these milestones. Milestones help organize and summarize this information easily and clearly.

Fine motor skills are the ability to use the small muscles of the body, especially the hands and fingers.  Although these skills develop at the same time as gross motor skills, they tend to lag behind a bit, because the large muscles must be able to put the body in place for the small muscles to play their part.

From birth to around 2 months, babies are "pre-reaching." They will extend their arm and hand toward an object that interests them, but they will rarely be able to make hand contact with that object. In those two early months, baby's vision is beginning to develop the acuity and focus needed to grab an object they see. There is poor coordination which is rarely successful. As their eyesight matures, babies can reach with more accuracy and make contact with objects, usually around age 3 months.

Voluntary Reaching It starts at 3-4 months of age. Baby’s initial attempt to reach, grasp, and manipulate an object is an extremely important sign of motor development. First sign of voluntary reach and grasp is around 4 months of age. The reach and grasp seems to appear simultaneously. It starts with one-handed reaching. The child reaches when he sees an object. Once the child makes manual contact with the object, vision facilitates hand closure (grasp). Child decides when to grasp based on what they visually perceive. By the age of 5 months infants may reduce efforts to reach a difficult target.

Ulnar grasp-refers to an early manipulatory skill in which an infant grasps objects by pressing the fingers against the palm.

Ulnar grasp is a method of grasping objects in which the fingers close somewhat clumsily against the palm.

Pincer Grasp- Pincer grasp or whole-hand grasp, wherein both palm and the fingers, including the thumb, are involved in holding objects. Children are usually able to use a pincer grasp by the age of 9 to 10 months. It is a well coordinated grasp involving thumb and forefinger opposition. It is said that motor development influences cognitive development as well.

Locomotor Development

Locomotor Development refers to changes in children's mastery of mobility.

Mary Shirley outlined the locomotor milestones in 1933(Shirley 1933). The sequence also included milestones such as sitting with or without support. This sequence was assumed to invariant in nature and was consistent across all cultures with cultural and individual differences. Even though there can be substantial variability in the patterning of early motor responses, the basic order and occurrences of these milestones are still relevant today. Locomotor skills according to Shirley emerge from the interplay among a variety of developing components like perceptual, affective, attention, and motivational components. All the components have to be ready ant an appropriate maturational status & context before behaviour is evident.

Trends of Locomotor Development

The CEPHALOCAUDAL PRINCIPLE states that growth follows a pattern that begins with the head and upper body parts and then proceeds to the rest of the body.

The PROXIMODISTAL PRINCIPLE states that development proceeds from the center of the body outward.

The physical growth & motor control follows the same trend during infancy & childhood.

Dynamic Systems Theory-

The use of dynamical systems theory as a framework for the consideration of development began in the early 1990s and has continued into the present century. According to this theory, motor skills are dynamic systems of actions, i.e., they are not a series of isolated, unrelated accomplishments. Combinations of previously acquired skills lead to more advanced ways of exploring & controlling the environment.

Each new skill according to this theory is a joint product of-

CNS development Movement possibilities of the body Goals the child has in mind Environmental supports for the skills.

Mastering a motor skill requires the infant’s active efforts to coordinate several components of the skill. Infants explore and select possible solutions to the demands of the new task: they assemble adaptive patterns by modifying their current movement patterns.

Biodynamic theory of motor development

Bernstein, 1967 said that motor development doesn’t stem from the unfolding of prewired maturational programs, but rather from active exploration by the infant within the constraints & boundaries of his/her biological limitations & demands of the environment.

It is a complex transaction of nature v/s nurture.

Heredity sets limits to motor development by maturation.

Environment can control the rate and timing of emergence of the skills.

Stimulation can be helpful but degree & timing must be carefully considered if maximal effectiveness is to be achieved.

Motor development in infants with visual impairments

Motor development in infants with visual impairments is slow, especially reaching & independent walking.

They are benefited by training & electronic devices.

They learn to use a combination of sounds & touch to identify people & things.

Perceptual Development in Infancy

Sensations occur when information acts with sensory receptors like eyes, ears, tongue, nose & skin. Perception is the interpretation of what is sensed.

Sensation occurs: a) Sensory organs absorb energy from a

physical stimulus in the environment. b) Sensory receptors convert this energy

into neural impulses and send them to the brain. 

Perception occurs: The brain organizes the information and

translates it into something meaningful.

Approaches to Perceptual Development-

The Empirical Approach- It says that sensory experience is the foundation

of all perception and ultimately all knowledge. The Cognitive Approach- It believes that not only does sensory experience

influence perception & understanding, but understanding also influences sensory & perceptual processing.

Gibbons Differentiation Theory- It says that perception reflects children’s growing

ability to identify the features that distinguish complex patterns.

TOUCH AND PAIN Newborns are sensitive to touch, many areas

of the newborn’s body respond reflexively when touched.

Megan Gunnar and colleagues 1987 found that newborns cried during circumcision intensely, they however showed the resiliency that they interact in a normal manner within several minutes. The threshold for pain in infancy varies just like adults. We can use indirect evidence only to study pain stimuli since they cannot express their pain. This can be in form of high pitched cry, difficult to soothe.

Sensitivity to touch & have close body contact immediately after birth is an important.

Sense of touch is well developed even in PRETERM NEWBORN.

Reflexes show sensitivity to touch cheek produces a turning of the head; touch to lips produces sucking movement.

Some parts of body are more sensitive to touch There are developmental changes too. Touch includes many senses. This has been less researched than other

senses Females are more sensitive than males.

The infant’s nervous system is definitely capable of experiencing pain

Receptors for pain in the skin are just as plentiful in infants as they are in adults.

Babies behavior in response to a pain-provoking stimulus suggests that they experience pain.

Neonates & Pain Earlier view was that they are insensitive to

pain, so doctors performed operations on them without anaesthesia. From needle sticks to open heart operations were done with no anaesthesia or analgesia, other than muscle relaxation for the surgery.

Recent advances in neurobiology and clinical medicine have established that the foetus and newborn may experience acute, established, and chronic pain. (Anand KJ, Buckman S, Maxwell LG, 2007)

Facial feature coding have also been used to detect if the neonates feel pain or not.

Significance It stimulates physical growth and

development It has adaptive and bonding effect as it is

very important for the mothers to make close physical body contact immediately after birth with the baby to give warmth, security and love.

It means to explore the world by licking before looking.

Piaget considers hands on manipulation essential for cognitive development.

TASTE By weeks 9 &10: 3 inches, 1 ounce Teeth begin to form. &

by the end of 7 months taste buds are fully developed. Sensitivity to taste may be present before birth (Doty &

Shah 2008). Experiments with saccharin introduction in amniotic fluid in

near term foetus increased the swallowing (Winde 1940). Different facial expression to different taste was reported

even at 2 hours of birth (Rosentein & Oster, 1988). Newborns are sensitive to change in breast milk taste

changing with the mother’s diet. At the age of 4 months, infants begin to prefer salty tastes,

which in newborns are found to be aversive (Harris, Booth, 1990).

Previously disliked taste can change to preferred when paired with relief of hunger

Significance

Important for survival as even animals also avoid bitter fruits and prefer sweet ones.

Sweet can have soothing and calming effect.

Can detect hypertension risk in babies. Animals use taste to avoid or approach

food.

SMELL Well developed like in adults May even be present before birth (Doty

and Shah, 2008) Nasofacial effects seen even in 12 hour

old, vanilla & strawberry is smell preferred but disliked rotten fish and rotten eggs smell (Steiner 1979).

It is an innate capability to smell and detect different kinds of smell.

They can even detect location of odour.

Significance

Has a role in social interaction Can recognize their mothers Has an important role in eating. Olfactory sense is the earliest to be

acquired (prenatally ) and is sustainable the longest.

Hearing This develops in foetal stage in last two

months of pregnancy. (Kisilevsky and others 2009).

The story heard in the womb “The cat in the Hat” was preferred even after birth as shown by increase sucking and sucking in a different way when any other story was read out by the mother (Decasper and Spence 1986).

Soon after birth the auditory canal is filled with fluid so the hearing as it is may be impaired. They need 10-17 decibels higher sound to detect it. Detection of sound also depends on the state of arousal. Perception of sound varies according to LOUDNESS, PITCH & LOCATION.

They show preference for-› Human voice over others(speech

perception)› Mothers voice over others› Music than noise› Distinguish between emotional tones› Can perceive different sounds like ‘Ba’

Ga’› Sensitive to language structure –

prepared for acquiring language› Brain structure for transmitting and

interpreting hearing continues till 2 years.

Techniques used to detect auditory threshold have been devised for infants OAE (Otto-acoustic –emission)

Vision It is the least developed in newborns and most

required by adults. Even the new born perceives the world in some

order. At birth the eye with retina, lens, muscles and nerve are still developing, so they cannot see small things far away.

Cells in retina mature in few months and lens muscles are weak.

Eye muscles being weak-eyes lack convergence of eyes till 2nd month which limits depth perception.

Visual acuity not fully developed. Optic nerve takes several years to develop.

New born can detect Changes in brightness Track an object that moves within their

field of vision Distinguish movement in the visual field. Newborn visual acuity is 20/400 to 20/800 20/200 or worse defines legal blindness in

adults By 6 months, infant visual acuity is 20/25 Visual acuity is defined as the smallest

pattern that can distinguished dependably

Visual acuity It is estimated to be 20/240 on the well known. (Aslin and

Lathrop 2008). It is estimated that that at 6 months average vision 20/40 is achieved. (Aslin and Lathrop 2008).

Interest in human faces develops soon after birth. (Cashon 2010).

Infants spend more time looking at mothers face as early as 12 hours after birth than at strangers face.

By 3 months can distinguish between male and female face, different ethnic groups etc.

With development they change they gather information from visual world including .(Mareschal ,Quinn and Lea 2010).

From 3-9 months they gradually begin to focus attention to faces than the silent background stimuli. (Frank, Vul and Johnson 2009).

Can perceive certain patterns. Robert Fantz 1963 noted that the infants prefer to look at

“Bulls Eye “rather than plain black circle.

By the time these two checkerboards are processed by eyes with poor vision, only the checkerboard on the left may have any pattern left to it. Poor vision in early infancy helps to explain a preference for moderately complex rather than highly complex stimuli. (BANKS & SALAPTEK, 1983).

Colour vision- Colour vision is detected by cones in retina

which detects different wavelengths.› Colour vision gradually improves. (Kellman and

Artebury 2006)› By 4-8 weeks infants can distinguish between

colours. (Kelly, Borchert and Teller 1997). 1 month old can detect gray from blue, red from green but not yellow from green or red i.e. medium and short wave lengths are detected but not complete.

› By 4 months have adult like colour preferences like saturated colours (Royal blue over pale blue)

› Normal vision develops only with experience. (Sugita 2004).

Newborns can perceive few colors, but By 3-4 months newborns are able to see the full range of colors (Kellman, 1998).

In fact, by 3-4 months infants have color perception similar to adults (Adams, 1995).

At 1 week, the infant can discriminate the desaturated red from gray

At 2 months, the infant can discriminate the desaturated blue from gray

Significance Vision depends on state of arousal. Gazing helps in bonding They actively explore the environment with

their limited visual ability. Ensuring the opportunity for infants to see

interesting things in environment helps in proper development of vision area of the brain.

Any vision impairment affects and it seriously delays all the aspects of development i.e. MOTOR, COGNITIVE, LANGUAGE, PERSONAL ANS SOCIAL.

All senses mutually influence one another and any impairment in one of the senses, development is seriously affected.

Depth perception It is the ability to judge the distance of an

objects from another and from ourselves. Its significance at this stage is –

› Adaptive significance in helping them reach out for objects; prevent them from bumping into furniture; falling from stairs.

› Though is present at birth but improves with age and depends on cues. The cues are monocular as well as kinetic depth cues.

› Binocular cues develop only between 2-3 months.

› Pictorial depth cues develop by 7 months.

You can recognize that the woman in this picture has not shrunk…she is just farther away

Eleanor Gibson and Richard 1960 constructed a miniature cliff with a drop-off covered with glass in a laboratory placed infants between the ages of 6 and 14 months on the centre board and looked at whether they would crawl over the shallow and deep sides. Most infants did not crawl out on glass, choosing to remain on the shallow side suggesting thus that they had depth perception. 6-12 months have sufficient visual experience to perceive the depth but younger ones had no experience so the depth perception was developed in younger ones by the age they learn to crawl.

Gibson and the cliff walk

Pattern & Form Perception

› Are sensitive to patterns, images, forms, squares etc, some being more sensitive than others and preferring some patterns over others, distinguishing triangles from squares etc.

› Rhodes et al (2002 Perception 31315 - 321) showed that infants preferred the less symmetrical face to the symmetrical one.

› Perception of human faces› At 3 months, infants develop visual expectation

to anticipate future events which implies that cognitive or biological development is crucial for emergence of visual skills.

› 7 months old perceive subjective boundaries not really present.

If infants are sensitive to the pictorial cue of interposition, they should reliably reach for the “closest” area of a visual display (left side in this example). Seven-month-olds show this reaching preference, whereas 5-month-olds do not. FROM GRANRUD & YONAS, 1984.

OBJECT PERCEPTION This ability helps the infant to of perceive

their world as stable otherwise every time they saw the same object at different distance or orientation; they would perceive it as a different object.

Kellman and Spelke (1983) reported, the key to the young infant’s perception of object is the coordinated movement of an object's surface in relation to the background.

2 types of object perception are size and shape constancy-

Size constancy- size of the object on the Retina is not sufficient to tell its actual size. This ability develops in infants by 3 months, though present in 1st week, but is full blown by 10-11 months. Kellman and Banks 1998.

Shape constancy- is the recognition that the object is of same shape even after change of orientation. This is present at birth too & is considered as an innate perceptual ability. In as young as 3 months this ability is there but not for tilted /irregular objects. (Cook and Birch, 1984).

Figure ground perception motion- helps in identification than stationary cues like shape, texture or colour. According to Gestalt psychologists, the ability to perceive an object as a bounded figure, in front of an unbounded background is important to all perception is dependent to on the tendency to confer the simplest organization on visual scene.

Auditory perception- infants can locate the source or the originator of the sound.

Intermodal Perception› It involves integration of two or more sensory

modalities e.g. visual and auditory/hearing. (Brenner and others 2010).

› Babies are intermodal from birth. (Bahrick and Hollich 2008). The babies turn their head as well as eyes towards the sound of rattle when the sound is maintained for several seconds.

› They get sharpened with experience in 1st year of life.› The infants have shown to look longer at their mothers

when they also heard her voice (Spelk and Owsley 1979).

› The precision to put together the visual-auditory stimuli is not as much as in adults but gets in 2nd half of 1st year.

› If we try to teach mismatched audiovisual stimuli, infants do not learn it.

Attention Infants as young as four months old can

learn to anticipate the location of an event and demonstrate this by moving their eyes to a location where the event will occur. Infants also show preferences for novel objects in the first few months of life.

Infants do not direct their attention very effectively compared to adults.

Pre-schoolers get distracted by extraneous information.

Techniques Reminding them to pay attention Giving them more relevant information Perform a task more systematically as they

pay more attention to systematic and organised stimulus.

There are times when children do not improve by these skills. Children with ADHD are characterised by over activity, inattention & impulsivity and lack of attention. For such kids, comprehensive treatment involving medication, instruction, parental training can be of help.

SOCIAL SKILLS IN INFANCY

Infants are dependent, so their capacity to entice the care takers role is critical.

 Starting smiling                                                            Imitate facial expressions                                     Mimic sounds Start “Babble, coo, gurgle” Play alongside another child Crying brings someone closer to provide care. Being soothed reinforces caregivers. Mutual gaze and smiling are both very powerful

hooks for adults continued attention Turn taking can be seen in very young e.g. sucking,

pausing, jiggle….

Early deprivation & Enrichment: Is infancy a sensitive period of development????

Harlow 1966 removed baby rhesus monkeys from their mothers and arranged for them to be "raised" by two kinds of surrogate monkey mother machines, both equipped to dispense milk. One device was made out of bare mesh wire. The other was fashioned from wire and covered with soft terrycloth. He later modified the experiment by separating the infants into two groups, giving them no choice between the two types of mothers.  It was found that the young monkeys clung to the terrycloth mother whether or not it provided them with food, and that the young monkeys chose the wire surrogate only when it provided food.

critical period refers to a limited time during which the child is biologically prepared to acquire certain adaptive behaviours but needs the support of an appropriately stimulating environment.

The sensitive period is considered to be a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially responsive to the environmental influences.

Research on children from Eastern European orphanages consistently shows that the earlier infants are removed from deprived rearing conditions, the greater their catch-up in development. (2004; O’Connor et al., 2000)

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