1. Infant Physical Development: Perceptions – Learning Infant Health

2. Exam 2 (Ch. 3-4) Results Mean = 16.40 Max = 20 Min = 8 Mode = 17.5
Median = 17

3. Perceptions: Building blocks of learning
Perceptions: Body-Brain Development
Visual, auditory, tactile, Linked to brain development
Auditory Synaptic pathways begin prenatal period, complete by age 4
Tactile Synaptic pathways myelinated at birth
Visual Synaptic pathways myelinated last, first five months of life
Mechanisms for exploration
Newborns able to recognize, distinguish, prefer specific Auditory, Visual, Tactile stimuli
Start here on Monday

4. Auditory Perception Do newborns hear like we do? Auditory Localization
Yes and No.
Evidence that fetus can hear sounds
Differentiate auditory intensity, frequency, duration and timing.
However, newborns have a higher sensory threshold
Auditory Localization
Reflexive localization at birth, but very primitive
4-5 months localization is quite accurate
Auditory recognition prenatal to neonatal
DeCasper & Spence (1986) Cat in the Hat Study (Dog in the FoG) Maternal 7.5 mos gestation, Read 2X Day until Birth, 2 Day-olds Change Sucking rate to elicit Recording of Familiar Book
Detection: ability to perceive differences in sounds
Localization: ability to turn towards source of sounds
Cat in Hat Study: DeCasper & Spence (1986)
16 pregnant women read either the Cat in the Hat or The King, the Mice and the Cheese to their fetuses twice a day for the last six weeks of pregnancy.
Neonates were given choice of listening to two stories using sucking rates (e.g. slow suck = CnH, fast suck = KMnC) Newborns who heard CnH more frequently prenatally showed preference for it as newborns.
Neonates also show preferences for their mother’s voice over other women’s voices only hours after birth indicating a recognition of their mothers voice from prenatal experience.

5. Visual Perception Do newborns see the way Adults do? No.
Visual acuity
Newborn 20/400
6 mos. 20/100
1 year 20/20
Color vision
Newborn: Red/White
2 mos. Red/Green/Blue
4 mos. Adult-like color vision
Visual learning
Tracking: following object with eyes
Scanning: scan features of object to get a complete picture
How do we know what infants can and cannot perceive?

6. Dixon’s Review of Fantz (1961): The Eyes Have It
Group 1 – Experiment 1
Group 2 – Experiment 2
Group 3 – Experiment 3
Group 4 – Experiment 4
Briefly describe the Method
Briefly describe the results
Explain why Fantz’s research (methods and/or results) was revolutionary, or “so cool,” as Dixon puts it.
Start here Tuesday

7. Quiz on Supplemental Reading
Dixon’s “The Eyes Have It” on Fanz’s research on infant perceptions

8. New variations to fantz’s methods
Methods and Measures
Observation
behavioral response (head turn)
visual response (looking time)
physiological response
sucking rate
heart rate
habituation/dishabituation technique
Dishabituation: Reactive Response to stimuli (looking, sucking, head turn, heart rate)
Habituation: reactive responses to familiar stimuli reduces or disappears

9. Intermodal Perception
Auditory/Visual
Localizing object making sound with shift in eye gaze and head turn
Visual/touch (body movement)
ex. Newborn imitation of facial movements
Auditory/visual intermodal perception:
ex. Localizing and following an object making sounds (like a rattle)
Meltzoff & Moore (1989) found that infants less than 2 days old would mimic facial expressions of an adult researcher. This ability demonstrates a coordination of visual and motor skills, and suggest that such imitation is an early learning mechanism. This study has not been well replicated by others. Some argue that this ability is not true imitation but some sort of reflexive response triggered by the behavior of the other person.
Meltzoff & Moore, 1989

10. Visual Perception and motor skills  Learning
Depth perception: Do infants need motor experience?
Visual cliff study (Gibson & Walk, 1960)
Children 6-14 mos. reluctant to cross even with mom coaxing them
Heart rate and visual cliff (Campos et al 1978)
9 mo. olds placed on deep side of visual cliff had faster heart rate (fear)
2-5 mo. olds placed on deep side had slower heart rate (interest)
Depth perception may or may not be innate (as it is in many animal species)
Concept of “long way down” as an experience to avoid - product of perceptual learning and experience
Visual Cliff (Campos et al )
The ability to respond to drop offs seem to appear around 7 monhts (around the same time that infants begin crawling). Most babies will avoid the deep side of the visual cliff even when their mothers coax them to cross to the other side. Seems to suggest that depth perception is developed fairly early, but is it innate?
In another study, 2-4 month old infants placed on deep side of visual cliff did not show a fear response (accelerated heart rate), but rather showed interest or attentiveness (decelerated heart rate). Does this indicate depth perception? Perhaps the young infants show interest because they notice a difference is their visual field, but the development of depth perception, or at least the fear of falling off depths, is a learned response given experiences once locomotion is possible.

11. Dixon’s Review of Fantz (1961): The Eyes Have It
Suggestion preparation for quiz on supplemental reading:
1. For each Experiment described in the Review (Experiment 1, Experiment 2, Experiment 3, Experiment 4):
Briefly describe the Method
Briefly describe the results
2. Explain why Fantz’s research (methods and/or results) was revolutionary, or “so cool,” as Dixon puts it.

12. Infant Health

13. Infant Mortality Good news? Rates have Fallen Bad News? Causes
Preventable

14. Causes of Infant Mortality World Wide
Poverty
Infectious Diseases
Low Quality and limited accessibility of health care

15. Causes: Poverty
infant mortality rates with per capita GDP in 178 of the world's 193 countries

16. Poverty and Infant Mortality across nations
img.tripatlas.com

17. Infectious Diseases Good News? Bad News?
2 Million child deaths prevented in 2003
70-78% children under 2 yrs immunized worldwide
90% U.S. and European Children
Bad News?
All Children are not immunized
is the infectious (intestinal) form of botulism, which results when swallowed spores of a particular bacterium (Clostridium botulinum) colonize the baby's large intestine and produce botulinum toxin in it. Botulinum toxin causes weakness and loss of muscle tone because it blocks the nerve ending's ability to signal the linked muscle to contract. The illness often begins with constipation but is usually first noticed as difficulty feeding (sucking and swallowing), a weak and altered cry and diminished facial expression.

18. Infant Mortality How Do U.S. babies compare?
creativedestruction.wordpress.com/

19. creativedestruction.wordpress.com/ www.savethechildren.org

20. Causes of Infant Mortality in U.S.
Poverty - differential impact
Infectious Diseases - differential impact
Low Quality and limited accessibility of health care - differential impact
puzzling case of SIDS
Tragedy of abusive Parenting Behaviors

21. Differential Impact in U.S.
cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus05.pdf

22. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Leading cause of post neonatal death in u.s.
Causes? Puzzling.
Not completely clear, probably combination of causes
Smoking parents/family members
Sleeping position - stomach sleeping
Brain disturbance that relates to breathing, brain’s use of serotonin
Genetic mutation - heart rhythms

23. SIDS over 15 Years in U.S.

24. SIDS Vulnerability 0-6 Mos.

25. Special Guest Speaker Natalie lujan- Silva, RN
Infant Health and Nutrition