DEP 3115 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Synaptic Pruning, Eye Tracking, Spurious Relationship
Document Summary
Specially tailored to provide all necessary nutrients for infant and health and development. Increases immunity to respiratory illnesses, ear infections, diarrhea, and allergies. Associated with greater cognitive functioning in later life. Stimulates oxytocin production in mothers, engenders maternal behavior. Associated with greater cognitive functioning in later life (but correlation does not equal causation). Other possible expectations: smarter babies demand breastfeeding (probably not), third variable (spurious relationship) such as maternal iq. Breastfeeding does contribute to better cognitive functioning because it contains long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids related to brain growth and development. Newborns: show no facial preference either based on race or gender. 3 months: prefer faces of own race, faces of the gender of the primary caregiver, able to distinguish differences (animal faces, e. g. lemur) and with different races" faces. 9 months: better at detecting differences in faces of own race, diminished ability to distinguish differences because of uncommon stimuli-lose ability to discriminate amongst stimuli not regularly experienced.