1. ©Gallahue, D.L., & Ozmun, J.C.. Understanding Motor Development.
Chapter 9
Infant Perception
©Gallahue, D.L., & Ozmun, J.C.. Understanding Motor Development.
McGraw-Hill

2. Key Concept
Infant Perceptual and Motor Development Are Intricately Intertwined, Resulting in an Interdependent System

3. Perception
“Perception”: The process by which we gain immediate awareness of what is happening externally.
The perceptual modalities
- Visual
- Auditory
- Olfactory
- Tactile/kinesthetic
- Gustatory

4. The Perceptual-motor Process
Perception is the process of:
Combining new data (sensory input)
With stored data (cortical organization)
That leads to (sensory integration)
An overt act (motor output)

5. Methods of Studying Infant Perception
Comparing infant’s state (head turn, blinking, tracking, crying)
Film analysis
Heart & respiration rates
Nonnutritive sucking
Habituation—dishabituation (to stimuli)
Evoked potentials (electrical brain responses)

6. Visual Perception (Table 9.1)
Sensitivity to light (consensual pupillary reflex, strabismus, turns head to light source, more active in dim light)
Visual acuity (organically complete-functionally immature, rapid focal distance increases to adult-like by 6-12 months)

7. Infant Visual Perception (cont.)
Accommodation (retinal image focusing, rapid improvement in first 2-3 months)
Peripheral vision (rapid improvement 15, 30, 40 degrees from center by 6 months)

8. Infant Visual Perception (cont.)
Fixation (bifoveal – fusion – stereopsis, monocular - binocular, fixates on bright objects - follows bright light)
Tracking (saccadic - smooth pursuits, horizontal – vertical – diagonal - circular)

9. Infant Visual Perception (Cont.)
Depth perception (static – dynamic, monocular- binocular, Figure 9.1: the visual cliff)
Color perception (rhodopsin & iodopsin, chromatic intensity, prefers shape to color, discriminates colors)
Form perception (prefers complex objects, imitates facial expressions, prefers human face, discriminates between 2 and 3 dimensional objects)

10. Other Perceptual Modalities (Table 9.2)
Auditory (prenatal responses, localizes sound, tonal responses, discriminates among voices)
Olfactory (responds to – distinguishes among odors, prefers mother’s order, discriminates odors
Gustatory (preferences: sweet to sour, sour to bitter)

11. Concluding Concept
The Hyphen in the Term “Perceptual-motor” Signifies the Important Reciprocal Relationship Between These Two Processes