Notes on Infancy and Toddlerhood Development: PSYCH 300 EXAM 2 - Prof. Gregory D. Reynolds, Study notes of Developmental Psychology

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Infancy and Toddlerhood
9/21
Infancy is birth – 1 year
Toddler is 1-2 years of age (at 3 you are early childhood)

Body Growth  Gain 50% in height from birth to age 1. 75% by age 2. Typical to be about 30 inches at 1 year.  Grow a massive amount in these years. Gaining of weight is 300% in the first year. From 7lbs to about 21. The gaining of weight is much bigger than height.  Grow in spurts. Will have a massive growth spurt and the infant will be highly fussy. Rough period of time with lack of sleep and then when they sleep a massive amount is when they are hitting that growth spurt. Can grow up to ½ in.  Girls: slightly shorter and lighter than boys  One of the things that changes drastically is the baby’s face and alertness. Growth Trends  Cephalocaudal:  “Head to Tail”  Lower part of body grows later than the head.  The head is closest to adult size at birth so the rest of the body is playing catch up. This really doesn’t occur until adolescence.  The baby must be able to support their head and develop posture before they are able to develop other skills such as reaching.  Proximodistal  “Near to far”  Extremities grow later than the head. (look this up)

Neuronal Development:
**our nervous system works through electrochemical conduction. Start as electro and then end in chemical signals.**  Synapses: where the communication between cells splits  Neurotransmitters: float around in the synapse. Chemical part of the signal. Released in the brain.  Neurons are less selective in early development rather than later on. In babies the neurons will be excited by many different neurotransmitters. As you age, they become more selective.  Synaptic pruning: leads to us becoming more functional by losing cortical plasticity. Getting rid of the neurons you do not need. Ex. Pruning a hedge to make a plant look better and healthier. Use it or lose it principal. The synapses you lose regularly become more functional, the ones you do not use will die off.  Synaptogenesis: early on characterization. Early formation of new synapses. New connections with other neurons around them. Dendrites forming and branching out. Early on we build up a lot of extra connections that are not functional. Relates to high levels of plasticity. Cortical plasticity in the brain  means your brain is flexible. If you suffer brain trauma early on, these extra connections will come in handy.  Glial cells: glue of our central nervous systems. Surround neurons and provide with nourishment. Play a key role in myelinization.  Myelinization: myelin sheath is formed around the axon of the neuron. Insulated, fatty sheaths. Ex. Insulated wire. Much more efficient when insulated by this myelin sheath. Signals pass quickly between them.  Significant changes in behavior when areas become myelinated. Ex. Vision.  Surround the cell body are dendrites: branch out and end adjacent to the terminal buttons/presynaptic terminals of other neurons.  The electrical signal passes through the axon. Once it gets down to the bottom it releases the chemical signal. Matter in the brain  terms used with stain slices of the brain and MRIs White Matter: connections within the brain. Myelin. Gray Matter: cell bodies, Glial cells …  As kids age, you can tell the difference in their myelinization. As a newborn the MRI of the brain is very dark, barely any white. Increasingly becomes whiter into adulthood.  Major difference between 10 year old and adult, the frontal lobe is the slowest to develop. The frontal lobe is responsible for our most complex behaviors. The adult has much more white in the adults brain. Continues to develop well into our 30s.
Regions of the Cerebral Cortex: Figure in book  Saccade: shift from one stationary object to another stationary object. Not very smooth. Jerky eye movement.  Smooth pursuit: use to track a moving object. Following a finger.  6-7 mo: Depth perception. Relates to visual cliff Sticky Fixation: child is stuck on an object. Up to 3 mo. Of age this occurs. Blank stare. From 3-6 mo. Will start to shift from this.

9/23 Depth Perception:  The Visual Cliff (Eleanor Gibson & Walk): experiment where there is a glass only deep side and a glass over a patterned surface. Has the baby developed depth perception yet? Does a baby show a sign that they are scared of the sudden drop off?  Gibson is credited with creating the visual cliff. (1970)  Can pick up most depth by 4-5 months of age.  Fear on the deep side is shown at 7-8 months of age. The problem is that it is not just a maturational thing. You don’t just get to a certain age and become scared. Kids need experience of self locomotion in order to get to this point. Takes about a month after beginning to crawl. May be related to peripheral vision.  Anderson & Campos: put them in a wagon that they could move with a joystick. Proved that if you can control yourself, then you will start to understand depth.  Combination of the visual system maturing  Can tell if a baby is scared by heart rate. Will go up if they start to show signs of fear. Precocial vs. Altricial Species:  How fast they mature.  Altricial: humans; mature slowly.  Precocial: advanced, mature quickly. Relatively self sufficient at birth. Show signs of fear of the deep side in the visual cliff almost instantly.  Fear of depth may be innate. Karen Adolph (1997,2000): walkway and risky gap experiment. Platforms that can be pulled apart from each other. Very easy to manipulate.  If they are new to sitting up, they will reach and fall over. Their judgments are not accurate yet.  When they begin crawling they must adjust once again. Not used to that position and will just cruise right into the drop off.  Must transition again with walking.  Amount of decline they can handle with each method of moving. Reaching, crawling, cruising, walking. Intermodal Perception  Perception that combines information from 2 or more senses.  Integration Theory: newborns do not have intermodal perception, must develop ability to integrate separate senses into a whole.  Classic view of how intermodal perception develops.  At birth we are not capable of intermodal perception. Must be able to integrate different perceptions to form the intermodal.  This means that a newborn doesn’t link together hearing and vision. Face and voice of mother are not linked together.  Treisman & Piaget: both believed in the integration theory.  Now research supports that most newborns have multimodal perception.  Gibson  Differentiation Theory: newborn perception is more holistic than adults, must learn to pick out fine details.  Eleanor Gibson was married to James Gibson. He developed the differentiation theory.  In early development perception is not very detailed. Blurry vision metaphor.  Must be able to pick out the fine details and relevant information needed.  Synethesia: strange phenomena in mature people. Ex. Seeing the letter C in yellow. Blending of the senses that is not normal. Much more common in young child, but as you age it becomes less common. Can lose it as you age. Provides indirect support that early development perception is holistic.  Intersensory = intermodal = multimodal. All mean the same thing. Differentiation Theory of Infant Perception  Infants actively search for invariant, unchanging features of the environment  Borders of stimuli, faces  Immediately after birth the infant is seen as active. Always engaging in some sort of activity. Have motivation to make sense of the world around us.  The ground and horizon stay constant. Talks about the horizon and other things around you that you can use to pick up distance.  Affordances: opportunities for action in environment.  Other people are the main affordances. Mom. Giving cues to mom for what they need.  Ex. When we walk into a class room, find a seat to sit in. What do we need?  Affordances change as you age. A 3 year old would see the floor as a better seat than an actual seat.  Perception gets more and more sensitive  differentiation.  Attention is the ability to pick up affordances.  Also called ecological view of perception. CHAPTER 6 Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood Using Habituation to Study infants  Most widely used approach  Study looking behaviors  Capitalizing on the natural tendency to prefer new things vs. old.
“Addition and Subtraction” Wynn: Shown one toy, then two toys. What happens when she is shown that one disappears behind a screen and a second is added, then the screen drops and there is one again. As the scenes go from possible to impossible, she focuses on the impossible.
“The Blanket Pull” Amanda Woodward: Will the baby be able to understand that they can use a blanket to pull a toy towards them?  What age will they realize it can be a tool to their advantage.  If they are demonstrated this, the baby will observe and catch on at an earlier age.
“The Spoon” Keen: changed orientation of the spoon right to left. If the spoon is flipped, the baby still picks it up with their dominate hand.  Shows that at an older age, the baby will use whatever hand the spoon handle is presented to.
“The Handle Rail” Adolph: Does a toddler know if they need the support of a hand rail? As the bridge narrowed, toddler became cautious. When the hard railing was put in place at the narrow part, the toddler used it to hold on.  They then put in place a bendy, rubber railing. Does the baby know if it will support their weight or not? Yes they do.
“Intentions” Woodward: Two toys on different colored cloths, the researcher puts hand on one toy signaling that’s what she wants. The baby understands the persons intentions by their actions.
“Other Peoples Minds” Meltzoff: people differ in thoughts, tastes, and opinions.  Baby chooses crackers, researcher shows she likes broccoli better than crackers.  The older baby will understand the preference of others.
Notes From 9/30
DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION
1-2 months: Reflexive System  Subcortical areas and visual cortex  Sticky fixation  Focus on borders, motion  Salience is key factor  Arousal strongly influences attention  Face scanning 1-2 mo. Or 3-6 mo focus?
3-6 Months: ability to voluntarily shift attention, focus on object features. Posterior attention system.  Occipital and parietal lobes, frontal eye fields  Novelty and familiarity preferences  Mom vs. stranger  Look shorter at things 6-24 months: higher level attention begins to develop.  Anterior attention system: frontal lobes  Focus on complex, dynamic stimuli  More sustained attention when called for
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory  Knowledge gained through direct action  Infants actively explore world  Attempt to construct mental representations that accurately reflect reality  Schemes: organized way of making sense of experiences  Construction: building mental processes.
Building Schemes  Adaptation: building schemes  Assimilation: using existing schemes to interpret external world  Accommodation: adjusting old schemes and creating new schemes to better fit environment.  Equilibration: comfortable in own environment, they have figured it out
Using Assimilation and Accommodation  Organization: internal rearranging and linking schemes.

10/5 continued chapter 6
Sensorimotor Stage: first stage (out of 4) of cognitive development that Piaget believed in.  Birth to 2 years. Overlaps with infancy and toddlerhood  Building schemes through sensory and motor exploration  Circular reactions: key for development in this stage. Very basic behaviors that are repetitive. Simple motor habits.  Names reflect way the child is thinking in each stage, or mental deficiency  Sensorimotor: what the child thinks about is tied to what they are sensing and what they are interacting with. What they are doing in the here and now. o In this sense they are similar to other species
Within the Sensorimotor stage you have 6 sub stages   Reflexive Schemes Birth 1 months: newborn reflexes. Innate reflexes they are born with. Not really engaged in voluntary behavior. Development will build on these, become cumulative.  Primary Circular Reactions 1-4 months: simple motor habits centered around own body  Specifically refers to the primary. o Ex. Playing with toes. Sucking thumb. Do not have the sucking thumb ability right at birth, but when they get it down they’ll do it over and over.  Secondary Circular Reactions 4-8 months: repeat interesting effects in soundings. Figure out that they can engage in behaviors that’ll effect something outside of their body. Impact their environment. Once they figure it out, they’ll repeat it over and over again. o Ex. Learning about physical properties in their environment  dropping objects off highchair and watching it hit the ground. Potentially learning about gravity and the properties of objects and how they fall. Also learning about parents behavior to their actions.  Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions 8-12 months: intentional, goal directed behavior, object permanence. o Means end sequence: the way that Piaget and others have tested for object permanence. Hide a toy under a blanket or towel and see if the child will move it or show interest in the toy when it is covered. Most will not show interest when it is covered until 8 months of age (according to Piaget). They do not realize the out of sight, out of mind concept. Most others say it happens earlier than 8 months. o Goal directed behavior: child’s actions have a reason.  Tertiary Circular Reactions 12-18 months: Explore properties of objects through novel actions. Child becomes a little scientist. More exploratory than earlier stages. Before they just discover things spontaneously/accidently, now they actively explore and discover new things about their environment  Naming explosion: When is this?  At 3, speech splits into: o Communicative speech o Private speech: where child talks out loud. Not for purpose of communicating with someone else.  7 to 8 years, private speech becomes inner speech. o Vygotsky and Piaget disagreed on this. o Vygotsky: Private speech was the child thinking out loud. Working out ideas in their head. At 7 to 8, they internalize this thoughtful speech. o Piaget just thought it was the immaturity of the child. Egocentric speech. Self absorbed and do not consider other people. Basic Language Development: First word produced around 1 year. Combine 2 words around 1.5 to 2 years.  Telegraphic speech: fragmented speech. Incomplete sentences that get the message across. Vocabulary of 10,000 words by age 6. Only 5 years later from the first word. Massive process that is very quick. Babies can understand more words than they can produce. Understanding is larger than vocabulary. Getting Ready to Talk
First Speech sounds:  Cooing at 2 mo. End of the infancy stage. The cooing is vowel sounds. Ooh, ahh, eee.  Babbling at 4 mo. Mixing consonant and vowel sounds. Mama, dada. Gagagoogoo. Will take on the form of their native tongue.
Becoming a communicator:  Joint attention: critical for language development at 11 months of age. Share the focus of attention with somebody else. Helps to form the first word. Then build upon that. o Kids with autism are deficient in this. Delayed language development  Give and take  Preverbal gestures
Starting to talk:  First words: underextension and overextension with first words o Underextension: girl just represents one person. o Overextension: applying one persons name to everyone.  Two word Utterances: o Telegraphic speech
10/7: Fall Break 10/12 Chapter 7 (Emotional and Social Development) Albert Experiment by Watson: expose child to mouse to see if he fears it. Then pair it with loud noises, etc… Psychosocial Stages Age Erikson’s Freud’s First yr Basic Trust vs. Mistrust Oral Second Year Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Anal Erikson: influenced by Freud. He modified Freud’s early stages into his own psychosocial stages. He believed that Freud was too focused on sex. His stages are cumulative, so if a child is successful in one, then they’ll probably be in the next stages.  He shifted his focus to social interaction and social crisis.  In the first year the child must develop a basic sense of trust and mistrust.  He did not view these things as mutually exclusive, just two ends of the spectrum.  Trust comes from the interaction with primary caregiver. Mother, father. Needs to be reliable and predictable. Child needs someone they can depend on to develop trust. World becomes safe.  If the parent is not reliable and focuses on their own needs, this is where mistrust comes from.  Crisis for oral stage is weaning.  Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt: good example on how these stages are cumulative. Most children are beginning to walk at the start of this stage. The child must develop a sense of autonomy, separate from the help of others.  Process of moving on your own and exploring the environment is critical.  Parent must still “hold on” and watch closely, but must balance this with letting go. Should not always be on top of the child. Step back.  You do not necessarily have to be successful in one stage to be successful in the other. Emotional Self-Regulation  Strategies used to control or manage emotions  Maternal regulation: first few months, newborn period o The child is completely dependent on parent to regulate for them. They cannot regulate at all. Baby is just crying and cannot meet their own needs. o Aka. Other regulation. Because someone OTHER than themselves is regulating them.  Mutual regulation: 6-12 months o Child is becoming a better communicator. o Engage in controlling/focusing their attention. o Infant learns how to regulate from the parent by the way the parent talks and handles situations.  Attachment in the making phase (6 weeks to 8 mo.): child starts to show clear preference for mother vs. a stranger. Stranger anxiety shows up towards end of this stage  Peeks at 11 mo.  Phase of clear cut attachment (8-18 mo.): child is now a communicator and solidifying relationship.  Separation anxiety forms around 8 mo: this is a display of clear attachment. Child will cry when mother leaves.  Separation anxiety may also show because of object permanence concept understanding. Baby knows that mother still exists once the mother leaves the room.  Formation of a reciprocal relationship: what you will have for the rest of your relationships in life and as you age. Model you will always use.  Internal working model.  If it’s a screwed up relationship, you might repeat that cycle with romantic relationships or maybe even your offspring. Unhealthy attachments. Can be a repetitive cycle.

The Strange Situation: AINSWORTH  Bowlby’s student. Putting child in strange situations and then bringing back the parent. Will the child leave mom and go explore on their own: are they showing no signs of caring that they are leaving their mom, or are they clingy? It is a different stranger each time. Does child get really upset when mother leaves them? How long are they upset? Does mother coming back calm them down? Some children do not care when mom comes back.  Episode 1: Mom, child, and experimenter  Episode 2: Mom and child  Episode 3: Stranger Enters  Episode 4:Stranger and child  Episode 5:Reunion with mom  Episode 6:Child along  Episode 7:Stranger enters again  Episode 8:Reunion with mom From this strange situation, Ainsworth has come up with different types of attachment children can form. AINSWORTH’S Measurement of Attachment:  Secure 65%: will typically check back in with the parent. Parent is important, but the child is still independent and will go play. Depends on the child. Good relationship. Trusts parent to come back and knows they are there.  Insecure Avoidant 20%: Unhealthy relationship. Avoid parent. When they are in the room they will go play and never check back with the parent. When parent leaves they aren’t upset and when parent comes back don’t readily go to them. Parents are typically very intrusive or harsh with children, always on the child’s back. Need own space from parent every chance they get. Child needs to develop autonomy. Adaptive behavior.  Resistant or Insecure Ambivalent 10%: Mixed emotions and responses. Tend to be clingy. Less likely to leave parent and go to play. Insecure with parents relationship. When parent leaves the child becomes extremely upset. Don’t trust the parent to come back, in a permanent sense. When parent comes back they go to the parent but show mixed signs. May run to parent and show signs of relief, but will not calm down. Upset with parent for leaving.  Disorganized/disoriented 5-10%: Least common. Kids show odd behavior. Show signs that they are just in their own world. Associated with the worst of developmental outcomes. Abuse and neglect in early life. Extreme situations cause children to be in this class. Not necessarily abused, but can be. Factors that Affect Attachment Security:  Opportunity for attachment: parent must be around in order to form a bond. If they are never around, you wont form a bond.  Quality of care giving:  Interactional synchrony: maternal sensitivity being able to pick up on child’s needs and respond appropriately. Relates to face to face interactions that flow well together. Individuals are in sync with each other. Ex. If moms happy, child will be happy. Effective communication as well.  Infant characteristics: measure temperament as an infant, then measure attachment at 2 years of age. Ex. Easy temp coincides with secure attachment at 2 years. Difficult infant shows lack of security with parent because parent is more likely to lose temper with child.  Family circumstances: if you have a healthy family life then you are more likely to have securely attached kids.  Parent’ internal working models: cycle of parents. If you had a healthy relationship with mother, then you will with your kids, so on.. Attachment and Childhood Social Interaction  SROUFE’S Findings:  Secure: positive, adaptive, and socially competent children. Able to form solid relationships with others and are liked by their peers.  Avoidant: isolated and detached as children. Avoidant with peers and teachers. Off in areas by themselves rather than playing with others.  Resistant: disruptive and difficult childhood. Ambivalent group in toddler years. Show significant levels of behavior that disrupts classrooms and other children. Do not know how to self regulate and calm themselves down.  Disorganized: high hostility and aggression. Associated with the least healthy outcomes. Also coincides with abuse. Antisocial behaviors.