PS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Evoked Potential, Habituation, Observational Learning
Newborn
● Ill equipped or equipped to survive?
● Comes equipped to survive and learn
● Hear, smell, taste, touch, see (somewhat)
● Communicates
● How do we know when a newborn “knows” something?
● Habituation (paradigms - something becomes habitual stimulus and they are no longer
interested)
● Preferential looking (infant habituated to some stimulus, shown a second stimulus that
has a specific difference, if infant looks longer at second, suggests they can
discriminate)
● Evoked potentials (gel cap)
● Can discriminate different speech sounds
● Can acquire classically conditioned responses
● Can do simple observational learning
○ Imitate adult facial expressions
Physical Development
● Maturation
○ Biologically programmed
● Cephalocaudal principle
○ Development proceeds from head to foot
■ Head is large - growth proceeds towards lower body
● Proximodistal principle
○ Development proceeds from innermost to outer
■ Arms before fingers
Motor Development
● Reflexes
○ Innate behaviours
● Most skills follow stage-like sequences
○ Age of acquiring skill varies
○ Sequence does not
○ Some have u-shaped function
■ Stepping reflex (moro)
Cognitive Development
● Piaget
● Children are not “adults in miniature”
○ Thinking changes “qualitatively”
○ Natural-born “scientists”
○ Actively explore and seek to understand their world
● Said you think in fundamentally different way when you get older
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Document Summary
Habituation (paradigms - something becomes habitual stimulus and they are no longer interested) Preferential looking (infant habituated to some stimulus, shown a second stimulus that has a specific difference, if infant looks longer at second, suggests they can discriminate) Head is large - growth proceeds towards lower body. Actively explore and seek to understand their world. Said you think in fundamentally different way when you get older. Schemas are modified to create equilibrium between environment and understanding. New experiences cause existing schemas to change. Understand world through sensory experiences/physical interactions with objects. Object permanence: understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can no longer be seen (about 8 months) World represented symbolically through words and mental images. Easily perform basic mental operations involving tangible problems and situations. Often have difficulty with problems that require abstract reasoning. Can think logically about concrete and abstract problems. Cognitive growth occurs as information processing abilities gradually become more efficient.
