Chapter 5 – Sensation & Perception Sensation = reception of stimuli Perception = interpretation of those stimuli
I.Smell & Taste Sensitive by birth Activity level - internal - external
Facial expression Orientation Preference Habituation
Discriminate odors/tastes - all 4 taste categories (prefer sweet) - many odors Importance - prefer stimuli related to breastfeeding - enhances survival
II.Touch Reflex responses shows tactile perception from birth Pain perception grows born with poor pain perception develops rapidly
No experience of pain in the womb Softens birth experience Heart rate increases in response to pain Crying specific pain cry or just more & louder
Importance Attachment - tactile contact with parent helps build relationship - orphans/preemies with little tactile stimulation fail to develop properly
Learning - by handling object, learn about world - brain structures & body develop
III.Hearing Good at birth; excellent by 6 months - perfected through exposure to sounds Head orientation Activity level
4 Factors infants can discriminate Pitch - better at higher pitches “motherese” Duration - differentiate between sounds of similar duration - helps learn language
Location - improve with experience - test via sound in darkened room Distance - tell how far something is - reach for noisy object in dark?
Importance Locate objects Perceive human speech Perceive danger
IV.Sight Fuzzy at birth - improves quickly
Testing Vision Tracking - following objects with eyes
Optokinetic nystagmus - eye movements when watching a moving object - shows acuity
Scanning - looking at different parts of object Habituation - look longer at novel stimuli
4 Factors infants can discriminate Brightness Movement Pattern/rules Contrast/edges
Importance Bonding via eye contact Perceive face pattern Recognize parents
Color Rods & cones - rods on periphery: night vision - cones in center: color & day vision Poor at birth - see black, white, some red - good at 2-3 months
Depth Sensitive by 2 months - visual cliff 4 visual cues to depth Kinetic - movement - by 5 months
Binocular - difference in images in left & right eyes - by 7 months Perspective - lines moving together indicate distance
Texture - less detail & space between objects indicates depth “Texture gradient” - by 7 months
Integration of senses Vision & touch - if touched hidden object, recognize it visually - by < 6 months Vision & hearing - look at location of noisy object in dark room - ~ 3 weeks
Ways of Learning I.Habituation React to new a stimulus Reaction dulls ->Learn the stimulus = habituation & discriminate from others Importance - attention to significant threats
II.Classical Conditioning - Pavlov Unconditioned stimulus & response - US = stimulus that naturally evokes a reaction - UR = the natural reaction Conditioned stimulus & response - something always occurs just prior to the US (temporal proximity — cue)
- learn the association between the cue and the US - same reaction to the cue (the CS) Superstitious behavior - perceiving a temporal link that is coincidental - fears, prejudice, phobias
Extinction - to eliminate the CR - present CS many times with no US - people eventually quit responding - but: people resist extinction - violates rules/patterns
Importance - survival behaviors can be classically conditioned - preparedness
III.Operant Conditioning - Skinner Rewards & punishments ->behavior Use operant conditioning to measure infants’ perceptions & what infants can learn
IV.Observational Learning - Bandura Learn by imitating models Integration of 2+ senses - use of games Skills, socialization, & language
Do newborns imitate? - newborns sticking out tongue - or not until ~ 8 weeks