1. Chapter 4-6 Psyc311 Dr. Jen Wright
Infancy
Chapter 4-6
Psyc311
Dr. Jen Wright

2. infant brain

3. one of the last organs to develop…

4. difference between speciesEQ
Human
7.4
Cat
1.0
Dolphin
5.3
Horse
0.9
Chimpanzee
2.5
Sheep
0.8
Rhesus Monkey
2.1
Mouse
0.5
Elephant
1.9
Rat
0.4
Whale
1.8
Rabbit
Dog
1.2
 Parrot
Humans do not have the largest brain – but they have the largest EQ.
Encephalization Quotient (EQ)
Average brain mass/body weights for a species.
Average for species/average mammalian value.
EQ+IQ

5. brain development
Most brain development happens outside (instead of inside) the womb
Monkey newborn 70% adult size
Human newborn 25% adult size
Most growth occurs in first 3 yrs
3 yrs old 80% adult size
5 yrs old 90% adult size

6. developmental processes
Neurogenesis – proliferation of neurons through cell division
250,000 cells “born” every minute
Synaptognesis – formation of connections
Each neuron forms 1000’s of connections
Axons elongate towards specific targets
Dendritic “trees” increases in size and complexity
By 6 months 2 x more synaptic connections

7. developmental processes

8. developmental processes
Synaptic pruning – elimination of excess synapses
Streamlines neural processing
Without synaptic pruning, children wouldn't be able to walk, talk, or even see properly.
Myelination – insulating sheath
Happens at different rates into adolescence
Certain areas are myelinated first

9. patterns of brain growth

10. importance of experience
Plasticity – brain’s ability to change w/ experience
Experience-expectant plasticity (experiences present throughout evolution)
Economizes on material encoded in genes
Development will occur within a normal range of environments
Level of vulnerability in timing
Sensitive periods
Examples?
vision
language

11. announcements Psychology Club Event Feedback for in-class debate
Volunteering in the Community
9/29 (next Weds) 5:15pm, ECTR 116
Feedback for in-class debate
Group write-ups – pick up after class.
Study session for Exam 01
9/29 (next Weds) 7:00pm, ECTR 113
35 MC/TF questions (2pts each)
2 essay q’s (20 pts + 10 pts) – I will give you potential q’s in advance

12. production
comprehension

13. both languages
2nd language
native language

14. importance of experience
Experience-dependent plasticity (experiences of individual)
Brain sculpted by idiosyncratic experiences
Responsive to richness of environmental stimuli
Important in development of expertise
More brain resources dedicated to processing
E.g. musicians’ cortical representation of hands

15. effect of deprivation 15

16. effect of deprivation

18. importance of sleep
Regular and ample sleep correlates with normal brain maturation, learning, emotional regulation, and psychological adjustment in school and within the family.

19. importance of sleep

20. importance of sleep
REM sleep – critical for neural development in brain, esp. for activity-dependent development
E.g. visual system
Facilitates learning/memory
Sleep deprivation linked with later problems
E.g. ADHD, learning disabilities
Babies most at risk of disruption
Premature infants in IC units

21. stress and brain development
Exposure to excessive stress hormones is bad for brain development.
Early symptoms of PTSD
The brain can become incapable of producing normal stress responses.
Hyper-vigilance (Ghosts in the Nursery)
Emotional flatness
Physical/emotional abuse and neglect can be equally damaging.

22. what is attachment?

23. attachment theory
Attachment refers to the close, emotional bond between an infant and his/her primary caregiver.
Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)
Driven by oral needs during the first year
Emphasized early experiences on later outcomes
Behaviorist Perspective (Skinner)
Driven by the need for food
Learns to associate contact with mother with food
Mother’s closeness continually reinforced

24. attachment theory Ethology (Lorenz)
Rooted in Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory
Focused on the adaptive value of behavior
Bond necessary for survival
Imprinting

25. primary criticisms
Love (i.e., attachment) seen as secondary to instinctive or survival needs
Harlow believed that the need for love and affection was necessary for survival

26. announcments Psyc Club – Volunteering in the Community
Exam study session
Weds, 7-9pm, ECTR113
Friday – Ch 4-6 Ask yourself Q’s due
How do you want to spend Friday?
A) lecture
B) ask yourself q’s and study guide!
Exam 01- Monday!

27. Harlow’s monkeys (1958) Early work with monkeys Cloth & wire mother
Only one equipped with feeding apparatus
Monkeys randomly assigned
Observed for 5 months
Both groups preferred cloth mother

28. Contact Time with Wire and Cloth Surrogate Mothers
Infant monkey fed on cloth mother 24 .
Infant monkey fed on wire mother . . . . 18 . .
Hours per day spent with cloth mother . 12
Contact Time with Wire and Cloth Surrogate Mothers .
Mean hours per day . 6 . . . . . . . . . .
Hours per day spent with wire mother
1-5
11-15
21-25
6-10
16-20
Age (in days)

29. Harlow’s monkeys (1958) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsA5Sec6dAI

30. attachment theory John Bowlby
Observations of children in institutionalized care
Infant has built-in behaviors to keep parent close
Gives way to true affectionate bond
Serves 2 purposes
Secure base
Internal working model

31. attachment theory Mary Ainsworth (1979)
Developed Strange Situation
Work revealed 4 types of attachment behavior
Securely Attached
Insecure Avoidant
Insecure Resistant
Insecure Disorganized

32. internal working model

33. cultural variation

34. social learning

35. facial recognition

37. mirror neurons Found in the frontal and parietal lobes Fire when you
You engage in an activity (reaching out one’s hand)
You observe someone else engaging in the same activity.
Fire more strongly when action has some purpose or content
reaching out one’s hand for a cup.
MN’s play a clear role in learning/imitation.
May also play a role in “mind-reading”
grasping intentions, goals, desires.

39. emotional communication

40. crying Crying –communication of emotion Response to distress Soothing
Development of emotional self-regulation
Mastery of environment – agency
Biofeedback loop
Soothing
Swaddling – tight wrapping of baby in cloth
Touch
Sweet taste
Soft, rhythmic sounds
Vibration

41. crying disorders Colic (1 in 10 infants; birth – 12 weeks)
Extended periods of intense crying
Cause unknown
Immature nervous system
Hyper-sensitivity
Digestive problems
Prolonged crying (beyond 12 weeks)
Exhibit developmental and behavioral disorders

42. crying disorders
Prolonged crying expose the brain to high levels of cortisol, adrenaline, and other damaging chemicals.
Damage to hippocampus
Reduced levels of vasopressin and serotonin
Reduced levels of emotional regulation
Impaired memory
Increased levels of aggression/violence/bullying
Increased levels of anxiety disorders

43. early emotional expression
Earliest emotion
global arousal states of attraction and withdrawal
set the stage for further development
develop into well-organized, sustained signals
Basic emotions
emotions that can be directly inferred from facial expressions.
happiness, interest
surprise, fear, anger
sadness, disgust 43

44. Basic emotions:
Universal across all human cultures
Present in other advanced species
Include guilt, shame, embarrassment
A&B
All of the above

45. emotional self-regulation
Strategies for adjusting emotional state to a comfortable (adaptive) level of intensity in order to accomplish goals
Infants: withdrawal, distress, crying -- need soothing
4 mos: shift focus of attention
1 year: approach/retreat from stimulus
Parent response to distress is important
Sympathetic
child more easily soothed, more self-regulated
Non-responsive (wait to intervene)
child enters into rapid, intense distress
harder to soothe
doesn’t develop self-regulation 45

46. emotional self-regulation
When an infant’s needs are met, they can focus on the world around them and explore.
Their brains take in and adapt to stimulation from the external world.
When they aren’t met, they become fixated on trying to get their needs met.
They stop exploring and shut out other stimulation from the external world.

47. emotions of others
Emotional contagion: babies match the emotional expressions of caregiver
7-10 mos: infants perceive facial expressions as organized patterns, can match facial expression to emotion
8-10 mos: social referencing- relying on another person’s emotional reaction to appraise situation (e.g.- visual cliff)
Still face experiment 47

48. Mirror neurons help infants experience others’ emotions:
Yes, because they help them match emotional facial expressions
Yes, because they stimulate a matching internal experience
Yes, because they allow infants to empathize with others.
A&B
No, because mn’s are only involved in imitation of physical behavior

49. social referencing Example of how adults help child regulate emotion
Permits toddlers to compare their assessments of situations with others
Helps young children move beyond simply reacting to emotional messages
Visual cliff experiment 49

50. temperament Constitutionally based individual differences in
Emotion
Motor function
Attentional reactivity
Self-regulation
Influences the way that children develop, display, and control emotions
Foundation for later personality 50

51. temperament styles Types Differences in sociability
Easy
Difficult
“Slow to warm up”
Differences in sociability
Differences in punishment/reward
Which child will be harder to reward/punish?
Easy child
Difficult child 51

52. temperament styles What else affects the development of temperament?
Gender
Cultural differences
Goodness of fit (with parents/environment) 52

53. 53

54. 54

55. cognitive development

56. theory differences Piaget stage theory Core-knowledge theory
Child as “blank slate” (everything learned)
Focus on learning as a process within individuals
Core-knowledge theory
Child possesses innate knowledge (domains of thought)
Socio-cultural theory
Focus on learning as a social process between individuals

57. Piaget’s theory
Constructivist approach – children actively construct knowledge for themselves in response to their experiences.
Child as scientist:
Generate hypotheses
Perform experiments
Draw conclusions
Children learn many things on their own
without the help of instruction from adults.
Children are intrinsically motivated to learn.
Discontinuous (qualitative) change
different ages think differently.

58. conservation of quantity (1)

59. conservation of quantity (2)

60. Information processing
Computational approach – cognitive development as a passive maturation process that occurs over time.
Child as a computational system
Children undergo continuous (quantitative) cognitive change
Development through increasingly sophisticated hardware and software
Faster and more efficient processing, larger memory bank, better learning “algorithms”
More content knowledge (learned facts) to draw upon

61. Core-knowledge theories
Child as well-adapted product of evolution
Emphasis on sophistication of children’s thinking in areas that have had evolutionary importance.
Eg. environment navigation, face recognition, language
Naïve physics, psychology, biology
Some advanced capacities already present (innate)
Move from “general” to “domain specific” specialized learning mechanisms

62. Naïve physics
Infants have a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of how the physical world works.

64. understanding intentions
They also have a pretty sophisticated understanding of how the psychological world works
e.g., they understand that there are goals and intentions and that only certain creatures can have them.

65. primitive morality ?