1. Perceptual Development
Chapter 6
Perceptual Development

2. Perceptual Development
Overview
Information processing model
Perceptual mechanisms
Perceptual development theory

3. Perception  Action
What theories explain the processes and development involved in perceiving and acting (motor) on information?

4. Basic Terms
Perception
Gathering, monitoring, and interpreting sensory information
Sensation
Stimulation of sensory receptors
Perceptual-motor (?)

5. Information-Processing (Perceptual-Motor) Model
Figure 6.1

6. Visual Perception
Approximately 80% of all sensory information is derived via the visual system.
Visual information aids in:
Formulating a motor program
Monitoring movement activity
Providing feedback

7. The Visual Process Eyes receive light and generate messages.
Three Basic Functions
Eyes receive light and generate messages.
Visual pathways transmit those messages.
Visual centers interpret those messages.

8. Visual Structures
All visual structures are intact at birth though several are immature.
Adult vs. newborn eye
Figure 6.2

9. Visual Function Visual acuity refers to clearness of vision
Static visual acuity
Newborn: 20/200 to 20/600 (Snellen)
3 months = Focus
6 months = 20/100
12 months = Adult-like
Dynamic visual acuity
Ability to perceive detail in a moving object
Figure 6.3

10. Visual Function Object Permanence
Objects continue to exist when they are no longer in view.
< 4 months – no interest in object
4 to 8 months – interest if partially visible
8 to 12 months – signs of object permanence emerges
A-not-B error
18 months to 2 years – capable of integration
Figure 6.4

11. A-Not-B Error Phenomenon
Figure 6.5

12. Visual Function Perceptual Constancy Size, shape, and color constancy
Perceived size is scaled
Spatial Orientation
Ability to recognize an object’s orientation or position in 3-dimentional space
Figure – Ground Perception
Ability to distinguish an object from its surrounding background

13. Visual Function Depth Perception
Ability to judge the distance of an object from the self
Visual cliff (6 months)
Evidence (2 to 4 months)
Adult-like (12 years)
Figure 6.6

14. Visual Function Field of Vision
Refers to the entire extent of the environment that can be seen without changing the fixation of the eye
Peripheral vision
Basic (12 months)
Adult-like (5 years)

15. Visual Function Perception of Movement
Detection, tracking, and interception of moving objects
Saccadic eye movements
Visual-motor, 4 months
Reaching, 14 months
Fine-motor, 3 to 8 years

16. Visual-Motor Coordination
Ability to coordinate visual information with body
Coincident timing (speed and accuracy) 6 to 12 years
Visual-motor coordination (task dependent)

17. Table 6.1

18. Table 6.2

19. Kinesthesis Structure and Function
Awareness of movement and body position
“To move” and “sensation”
Somatosensory system
Cutaneous / proprioceptors
Receptors
Vestibular apparatus
Muscle spindle receptors
Joint receptors
Golgi tendon organs

20. Kinesthetic Perception
Kinesthetic (discrimination) Acuity
Refers to the ability to detect differences and match quantities (8 years)
Kinesthetic Memory
Involves reproduction of movements (12 years)

21. Basic Movement Awareness
Body awareness
Spatial awareness
Objective
Egocentric
Directional awareness
Laterality
Directionality
Vestibular awareness
Postural
Static
Dynamic
Rhythmic (temporal) awareness
Coincident timing
Rhythmic basic function 5 to 7 years

22. Table 6.3

23. Postural Control Experiment
Figure 6.7

24. Auditory Perception
Ability to detect, discriminate, associate, and interpret auditory stimuli
Hearing present before birth
Refinement from birth to 6 months—almost as sensitive as adults
Ability to localize occurs by age 3
Significant improvement occurs into early teens

25. Tactile Perception
Refers to the ability to detect and interpret sensory information cutaneously (of or on the skin)
First responses to touch are on the facial area (fetus – newborn).
Well developed by 5 to 8 years
After the age of four, visual dominance is present

26. Perceptual Integration
Intrasensory (individual sensory system)
Intersensory (perceptual integration)
Simultaneous use of more than one sensory system

27. Intermodal perception
Ability to translate (perceive) information from one modality to another
Recognition of a stimulus as an equivalent (match) when they are presented to two different modalities
Visual–Kinesthetic
2 to 3 weeks (imitate) 5 years, recognition of objects touched
Visual–Auditory
By 4 months infants can link VA information
Auditory-Kinesthetic (limited)
Child selects tactually by name, adult-like by 11 to 12 years

28. Changes with Advanced Aging
Visual Perception
Acuity  40 >
Sensitivity to light 
Depth (little change)
Visual information processing 
Perception of movement 
Kinesthetic Perception
Touch sensitivity 
Sense of body position (little change)
Weight discrimination 
Balance  70 >

29. Table 6.4

30. Gibson’s Ecological Perspective
Infants directly perceive and act on information.
Perceiving is exploratory (for invariant features).
Perception is an active cognitive process.

31. Gibson’s Ecological Perspective
Affordances
Opportunities for action
Seek invariant features
Differentiation (distinctions)
Action depends on:
Developmental level
Past experiences
Present need
Cognitive awareness = ecological fit

32. Ecological Perspective
Karen Adolph’s slopes experiment
Crawlers and walkers
Figure 6.8

33. Embodiment
Based on the idea that cognition is largely influenced by bodily (sensorimotor) actions
Also referred to as embodied cognition

34. Perceptual-Motor Training Programs
Direct link between perceptual-motor and cognitive functioning?
Is there a training effect?

35. Summary
Both perception and the perceptual motor-process are related to information processing, which involves monitoring and interpreting sensory information, and deciding on and organizing a motor response.
Visual perception and kinesthetic perception are both key concepts important to understanding modality, awareness of movement, and body position.
Gibson’s ecological perspective provides insight into our understanding of how infants perceive and act on information in the environment.