04 Prenatal-Infancy MotSenPerDev

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Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual Development

Chapter 5 Outline
Motor Development
The Dynamic Systems View

Reflexes
Gross Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills
Sensory and Perceptual Development
What are Sensations and Perception?

The Ecological View
Vision
Other Senses
Intermodal Perception
Perceptual-Motor Coupling
McGraw-Hill
Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chapter 5
Preview
Think about what is required for children to nd their way around

their environment, to play sports, or to create art.
These activities require both active perception and precisely
timed motor actions.
Neither innate, automatic movements nor simple sensations are
enough to let children do the things they do every day.
How do children develop perceptual and motor abilities?
In this chapter, we will focus rst on the development of motor

skills, then on sensory and perceptual development, and
finally on the coupling of perceptual-motor skills.
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Motor Development
The Dynamic Systems View
Arnold Gesell
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developmentalist (1934)
revealed how people develop their motor skills
through observations
Children develop motor skills in a xed order and
within specic time frames.
Motor development comes about through the
unfolding of a genetic plan or maturation.
Motor Development (cont.)

The Dynamic Systems Theory (continued)
Infants assemble motor skills for perceiving and acting.

Perception and action are coupled according to this
theory (Smith & Breazeal, 2007; Thelen, 1995, 2001; Thelen & Smith, 1998, 2006).
To develop motor skills, infants must perceive something

in the environment that motivates them to act and use
their perceptions to ne-tune their movements.
Motor skills represent solutions to the infants goals.
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When infants are motivated to do something, they create

a new motor behavior.
The new behavior is the result of many converging
factors:
- development of the nervous system
- the bodys physical properties and its possibilities for
movement
- the goal the child is motivated to reach
- the environmental support for the skill
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Mastering a motor skill requires the infants

active efforts to coordinate several components
of the skill.
Infants explore and select possible solutions to

the demands of a new task.
Infants assemble adaptive patterns by modifying

their current movement patterns.
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Universal milestones, such as crawling, reaching, and walking, are

learned through the process of adaptation:
Infants modulate their movement patterns to t a new task by

exploring and selecting possible congurations (Adolph & Joh, 2007,
2008; Thelen & Smith, 2006).
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Motor development is not a passive process in which genes

dictate the unfolding of a sequence of skills over time.
The infant actively puts together a skill to achieve a goal within
the constraints set by the infants body and environment.
Nature and nurture, the infant, and the environment, are all
working together as part of an ever-changing system.

Reflexes
built-in reactions to stimuli

govern the newborns movements, which are automatic
and beyond the newborns control
are genetically carried survival mechanisms

allow infants to respond adaptively to their environment
before they have had the opportunity to learn
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Reflexes (continued)
Rooting reex:
occurs when the infants cheek is stroked or the side of the

mouth is touched
infant turns its head toward the side that was touched in an
apparent effort to nd something to suck
Sucking reex:
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occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in

their mouths
This reex enables newborns to get nourishment before they
have associated a nipple with food.
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The Moro reex
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occurs in response to a sudden, intense noise or

movement
When startled, the newborn arches its back, throws
back its head, and ings out its arms and legs. Then
the newborn rapidly closes its arms and legs.
believed to be a way of grabbing for support while
falling
had survival value for our primate ancestors
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The Grasping reex
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occurs when something touches infants palms

infant responds by grasping tightly
By the end of the third month, the grasping reex

diminishes, and the infant shows a more voluntary
grasp.
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Some reflexes, such as coughing, blinking, and
yawning, persist and continue to be important
throughout life.
Other reflexes disappear several months

following birth as the brain matures and
voluntary control over many behaviors develops.
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Infant Reflexes
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Gross Motor Skills
involve large-muscle activities

moving ones arms
walking
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Gross Motor Skills (continued)
The Development of Posture
dynamic process linked with sensory information from:
proprioceptive cues, which tell us where we are in space
in skin, joints, and muscles
vestibular organs that regulate balance and equilibrium
in the inner ear
vision and hearing
Newborns cannot voluntarily control their posture.
Within a few weeks, infants can hold their heads erect

and soon they can lift their heads while prone.
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The Development of Posture (continued)
By 2 months of age, babies can sit while supported on

a lap or in an infant seat.
sit independently at 6 or 7 months of age
standing develops gradually during the 1st year
By about 8 months of age, infants usually learn to pull
themselves up and hold onto a chair, and many can
stand alone by about 10-12 months of age.
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Learning to Walk
Locomotion and postural control are closely linked,
especially in walking upright (Adolph & Joh, 2007, 2008).
To walk upright, the baby must be able both to
balance on one leg as the other is swung forward and
to shift the weight from one leg to the other.
Most infants do not learn to walk until about the time
of their 1st birthday.
In learning to locomote, infants learn what kinds of
places and surfaces are safe for locomotion (Adolph & Joh,
2007, 2008).
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The Role of Experience in Crawling and Walking Infants Judgments of Whether to Go Down a
Slope
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Milestones in Gross Motor Development
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Development in the 2nd Year
more motorically skilled and mobile; motor activity during the 2nd year
vital to childs competent development
By 13-18 months, toddlers can:
pull a toy attached to a string
use their hands and legs to climb up a number of steps
By 18-24 months, toddlers can:
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walk quickly or run stify for a short distance

balance on their feet in a squat position while playing with objects on the
oor
walk backward without losing their balance
stand and kick a ball without falling
stand and throw a ball
jump in place.
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Development in the Second Year (continued)
Physical tness classes for babies range from passive
fare to programs called aerobic because they
demand crawling, tumbling, and ball skills.
Pediatricians recommend that exercise for infants
should not be the intense, aerobic variety.
Babies cannot adequately stretch their bodies to

achieve aerobic benets.
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Fine Motor Skills
involve nely tuned movements
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grasping a toy
using a spoon,
buttoning a shirt
doing anything that requires nger dexterity
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Fine Motor Skills (continued)
Infants
Infants have hardly any control over ne motor skills at birth.
During the 1st 2 years of life, infants rene their reaching and
grasping (Smitsman, 2004).
Initially, infants move their shoulders and elbows crudely, but
later they move their wrists, rotate their hands, and coordinate
their thumb and forenger.
The infants grasping system is very exible.
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Fine Motor Skills (continued)
Infants (continued)
Just as infants need to exercise their gross motor
skills, they also need to exercise their fine motor skills
(Barrett, Davis, & Needham, 2007; Keen, 2005; Needham, 2008).
Experience plays a role in reaching and grasping

(Needham, 2008).
Perceptual-motor coupling is necessary for the infant

to coordinate grasping (Keen, 2005).
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Infants Use of Sticky Mittens to Explore Objects
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Sensory and Perceptual Development

What are Sensations and Perceptions?
Sensation
occurs when information interacts with sensory
receptors
the eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, and skin
sensation of hearing:
occurs when waves of pulsating air are collected by outer ear
and transmitted through bones of the inner ear to auditory
nerve
sensation of vision:
occurs as rays of light contact the eyes, become focused on
the retina, and are transmitted by the optic nerve to the visual
centers of the brain
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Sensory and Perceptual Development (cont.)

What are Sensations and Perceptions?
Perception
(continued)
the interpretation of what is sensed

The air waves that contact the ears might be
interpreted as noise or as musical sounds, for
example.
The physical energy transmitted to the retina of the
eye might be interpreted as a particular color, pattern,
or shape.
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The Ecological View
Much of the research on perceptual development in infancy has

been guided by the ecological view of Eleanor and James J.
Gibson (E. Gibson, 1969, 1989, 2001; J. Gibson, 1966, 1979).
They argue that we do not have to take bits and pieces of data
from sensations and build up representations of the world in our
minds.
Instead, our perceptual system can select from the rich

information that the environment itself provides.
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The Ecological View (continued)
We directly perceive information that exists in the world

around us.
Perception brings us into contact with the environment in
order to interact with and adapt to it.
Perception is designed for action.
In Gibsons view, all objects have affordances:
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opportunities for interaction offered by objects that are necessary

to perform activities
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Research in Child Development
Studying the Newborns Perception
Visual Preference Method
Robert Fantz (1963) was pioneer
Fantz made an important discovery that advanced the ability of
researchers to investigate infants visual perception:
infants look at different things for different lengths of time
infants only 2 days old look longer at patterned stimuli, such as
faces and concentric circles, than at red, white, or yellow discs
Infants 2 to 3 weeks old prefer to look at patternsa face, a
piece of printed matter, or a bulls-eyelonger than at red,
yellow, or white discs
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Frantzs Experiment on Infants Visual Perception
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Research in Child Development (continued)
Studying the Newborns Perception (continued)
Habituation and Dishabituation

another way that researchers have studied infant
perception
Habituation: name given to decreased
responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated
presentations of the stimulus
Dishabituation: the recovery of a habituated
response after a change in stimulation
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Habituation and Dishabituation
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High-Amplitude Sucking
used to assess infants attention to sound
Infants are given a nonnutritive nipple to suck, and
the nipple is connected to a sound generating
system.
Each suck causes a noise to be generated and the
infant learns quickly that sucking brings about this
noise.
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The Orienting Response
used to determine if an infant can see or hear
involves turning ones head toward a sight or sound (Keen,
2005).
Tracking
consists of eye movements that follow (track) a moving
object
used to evaluate infants early visual ability or a startle
response
can be used to determine an infants reaction to a noise
(Bendersky & Sullivan, 2007)
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Equipment
Technology can facilitate the use of most methods for investigating
the infants perceptual abilities:
videotape
high-speed computers
other equipment provide clues to what the infant is perceivingit records:
- respiration
- heart rate
- body movement
- visual xation
- sucking behavior
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Vision
Infancy
Visual Acuity and Human Faces
newborn perceives world with some order

cannot see small things that are far away
vision is estimated to be 20/600
At birth, the nerves, muscles, and lens of the eye are still
developing.
By about the 1st birthday, the infants vision approximates
that of an adult (Banks & Salapatek, 1983).
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Visual Acuity During the First Months of Life
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Visual Acuity and Human Faces (continued)
By 3 months of age, infants:
match voices to faces
distinguish between male and female faces
discriminate between faces of their own ethnic group and
those of other ethnic groups (Kelly & others, 2007, a, b)
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How 1 and 2 Month-Old Infants Scan the Human Face
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Color Vision
By 8 weeks, infants can discriminate some colors (Kelly,
Borchert, & Teller, 1997).
By 4 months, they have color preferences.

Changes in vision reflect maturation.
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Color Vision (continued)

Early experience is essential for the normal development of
the ability to use the cues to depth and distance that come
from binocular vision.
Binocular vision: combines into one image
Newborns do not have binocular vision; it develops at about
3 to 4 months of age (Slater, Field, & Hernandez-Reif, 2007).
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Perceiving Patterns
Infants look at different things for different lengths of time
(Fantz, 1963).
2-3 month-old infants prefer to look at patterned displays

rather than non-patterned displays. For example:
prefer to look at a normal human face rather than one
with scrambled features
prefer to look at a bulls-eye target or black-and-white
stripes rather than a plain circle
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Perceptual Constancy
sensory stimulation is changing, but perception of physical
world remains constant
allows the infant to perceive its world as stable
size constancy and shape constancy
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Size Constancy
recognition that an object remains the same even though the
retinal image of the object changes
Shape Constancy
recognition that an object remains the same shape even
though its orientation to us changes
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Depth Perception
recognition that an object remains the same even though the
retinal image of the object changes
Gibson and Walk (1960) explored whether young children
perceive depth using the visual cliff.
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Examining Infants Depth Perception on the Visual Cliff
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Vision (continued)
Infancy (continued)
Visual Expectations
Infants develop expectations about future events in their
world by the time they are 3 months of age.
As infants develop, their experiences with objects help them
to understand physical laws.
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Hearing
The Fetus, Infant, and Child
During the last 2 months of pregnancy, the fetus can

hear sounds; newborns are sensitive to the sounds of
human speech.
Hearing changes in infancy involve a sounds
loudness, pitch, and localization.
Infants cannot hear soft sounds well and are less
sensitive than adults are to pitch: the perception of
the frequency of a sound
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Hearing in the Womb
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Hearing (continued)
The Fetus, Infant, and Child (continued)
Newborns show a preference for certain sounds:
(Saffran, Werker, & Werner, 2006).
recording of their mothers voice to the voice of an unfamiliar

woman
mothers native language to a foreign language
classical music of Beethoven to rock music of Aerosmith (Flohr &
others, 2001)
Changes during infancy involve a sounds loudness,

pitch, and localization.
Newborns are especially sensitive to the sounds of
human speech (Hollich & Houston, 2007).
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Hearing (continued)
Babies are born into the world prepared to respond to

the sounds of any human language.
In the 2nd half of the 1st year of life, infants become
native listeners- especially attuned to the sounds of
their native language (Jusczyk, 2002).
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Hearing (continued)
About 1 in 1,000 newborns are deaf (Mason & Hermann, 1998).
Hearing aids or surgery can improve hearing (Davids & others, 2007).
1/3 of all U.S. children from birth-3 years of age have 3 or more
episodes of otitis media, a middle-ear infection that can impair
hearing temporarily (Renouf, 2007; Viastos, Hajiioannou, & Houlakis, 2007).
The infection can develop into a more chronic condition in which
the middle ear becomes lled with uid; this can seriously impair
hearing.
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Other Senses
Touch and Pain
Touch
Newborns respond to touch.
Pain
Newborns can feel pain.
Smell and Taste

Newborns can differentiate odors.
Taste
Sensitivity to taste might be present before birth.
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Newborns Preference for the Smell of Their Mothers Breast Pad
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Newborns Facial Responses to Basic Tastes
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Intermodal Perception
Involves integrating information from 2 or more sensory
modalities, such as vision and hearing.
Crude exploratory forms of intermodal perception exist
in newborns.
These exploratory forms of intermodal perception
become sharpened with experience in the rst year of
life (Banks, 2005; Hollich, Newman, & Jusczyk, 2005).
Babies are born into the world with some innate
abilities to perceive relations among sensory
modalities, but their intermodal abilities improve
considerably through experience (Bahrick & Hollich, 2008).
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Perceptual and motor development do not occur in
isolation from one another; instead, they are coupled.
Babies coordinate their movements with perceptual
information to learn how to maintain balance, reach for
objects in place, and move across various surfaces.
Action educates perception.
Perceptual and motor development do not occur in
isolation from each other but instead, are coupled.
McGraw-Hill

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1

Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual Development

The Dynamic Systems View

Sensory and Perceptual Development

What are Sensations and Perception?

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Think about what is required for children to nd their way around

In this chapter, we will focus rst on the development of motor

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Infants assemble motor skills for perceiving and acting.

To develop motor skills, infants must perceive something

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

When infants are motivated to do something, they create

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Mastering a motor skill requires the infants

Infants explore and select possible solutions to

Infants assemble adaptive patterns by modifying

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Universal milestones, such as crawling, reaching, and walking, are

Infants modulate their movement patterns to t a new task by

Motor development is not a passive process in which genes

Motor Development (cont.)

built-in reactions to stimuli

are genetically carried survival mechanisms

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

occurs when the infants cheek is stroked or the side of the

occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in

Motor Development (cont.)

occurs in response to a sudden, intense noise or

Motor Development (cont.)

occurs when something touches infants palms

By the end of the third month, the grasping reex

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Other reflexes disappear several months

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

involve large-muscle activities

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Newborns cannot voluntarily control their posture.

Within a few weeks, infants can hold their heads erect

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

By 2 months of age, babies can sit while supported on

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

Copyright 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Motor Development (cont.)

By 18-24 months, toddlers can:

walk quickly or run stify for a short distance

Motor Development (cont.)

Babies cannot adequately stretch their bodies to