Dynamic Systems Theory
Dynamic Systems Theory: infants develop motor skills by perceiving something and having the motivation to act on it
new motor skills = nervous system development + body’s physical properties + goal the child is motivated to reach + environment support (ex: walking)
what are reflexes? give four examples.
Reflexes: built in reactions to stimuli
Rooting: cheek is stroked & infant turns its head and tries to find something to suck
Sucking: occurs when infants suck an object placed in their mouth
Moro: startle response to sudden, intense noise or movement
Grasping: infants tightly grasp any object placed in their palm
Gross Motor Skills
infancy +
Gross Motor Skills: involve large muscle activities (ex: moving arms & walking)
- requires postural control
- girls walk sooner than boys (10 months - 1 year)
- pull toy by a string and climb steps (13 - 18 months)
- walk quickly or run stiffly, balance on their feet, walk backward, stand and kick, throw a ball, jump in place (18 - 24 months)
Specificity of Learning
no transfer across crawling and walking
- if a baby can crawl well doesnt mean it will walk well
Fine Motor Skills
infant skills +
Fine Motor Skills: finely tuned movements (any task requiring finger dexterity)
Infant - grabbing whole hand at first then by end of first year pincer grasp
Preschool - holding pencil, scribbling, writing big letters improves in elementary
Elementary - musical instruments, better writing like cursive
sensation vs perception
Sensation: reaction that occurs when info interacts with sensory receptors (eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, skin)
Perception: interpretation of what is sensed
Visual Perception
- newborns can’t see things that are far away
- at around 2 months infants can perceive partly hidden objects as whole
- efficient in detecting boundaries between colors @ 3 - 4
- many preschoolers are farsighted
- by kindergarten most kids can focus effectively on close up objects
- size constancy: recognition that an object remains the same even though the image changes as you move toward or away from the object
- shape constancy: recognition that an object remains the same shape even though its orientation to us changes
Hearing
- Fetus can hear sounds outside the womb during last 2 months of pregnancy
- Infants can hear high pitched noises rather than low pitched (why baby talk exists)
- By 6 months they can locate the origin of a sound
Smell
Newborns can differentiate odors
- facial expressions indicate they like pleasant odors but not unpleasant odors
Taste
Sensitivity to taste is present even before birth
- Newborns learn taste through amniotic fluid & in breast milk after birth
- During first several months, they begin to prefer salty tastes
Piaget’s Theory of Development includes … ?
what are the 4 stages?
- Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences
- Assimilation: using existing schemes to incorporate new information
- Equilibration: how children shift from one stage of thought to the next (when things make sense)
Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, Formal Operational
Sensorimotor substages
SS1 Simple Reflexes (0 - 1 month)
SS2 First Habits & Primarily Circular Reactions (1 - 4 months)
SS3 Secondary Circular Reactions (4 - 8 months)
SS4 Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions (8 - 12 months)
SS5 Tertiary Circular Reactions, Novelty, and Curiosity (12 - 18 months)
SS6 Internalization of Schemes (18 - 24 months)
SS1 Simple Reflexes
(0 - 1 month)
- sensation and action are coordinated through reflexive behaviors / involuntary physical reactions
- ex: rooting and sucking
SS2 First Habits & Primarily Circular Reactions
(1 - 4 months)
- do something by chance / accident and if they like it they’ll do it again (motor behaviors)
- Habit: scheme based on a reflex that has separated from its eliciting stimulus
- Primary Circular Reaction: scheme based on an attempt to reproduce an event that initially occurred by chance
SS3 Secondary Circular Reactions
(4 - 8 months)
- actions are repeated because they bring pleasure
- infants become more object oriented
- starts imitating simple actions and gestures
SS4 Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions
(8 - 12 months)
- must coordinate vision, touch, hand, and eye
- actions more outwardly directed
- intentionality is present (ex: knocking over one block to reach and play with another)
SS5 Tertiary Circular Reactions, Novelty, and Curiosity
(12 - 18 months)
- infant purposely explores new possibilities with objects
- continually doing new things to object & exploring the results (ex: kids put blocks together but also know they can take it apart)
SS6 Internalization of Schemes
(18 - 24 months)
develops the ability to use primitive symbols
object permanece?
a not b error?
Object Permanence: understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, touched, or heard
A not B Error: mistake of selecting a familiar hiding place (A) rather than a new hiding place (B)
preoperational substages
SS1 Symbolic Function (2-4 y/o)
- ability to mentally represent objects
- scribbles
- use of simple language
- pretend play
- animism: belief that objects have lifelike qualities
- egocentrism: inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else’s (ex: sky is blue because it’s my favorite color)
SS2 Intuitive Thought (4 - 7 y/o)
kids are trying to reason at a higher level (“why?”)
centration vs conservation
(when does it happen)
Centration: focusing attention on 1 characteristic & excluding all others
Conservation: awareness that altering the appearance of an object does not change its basic properties
develops in Intuitive Though stubstage ages 4-7 (preoperational stage)
Concrete Operational Stage
7 -11 y/o
- can perform concrete operations (mentally manipulate and know they can reverse / undo things)
- can think logically / abstract but needs concrete examples
Horizontal Decalage: similar abilities do not appear at the same time within a stage of development
Seriation: ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as length)
Transitivity: if a relation holds between 1 & 2, and holds between 2 & 3, then it holds between object 1 & 3
Formal Operational Stage
(11+)
- abstract and logical thinking
Hypothetical Deductive Reasoning: develop best guesses and reduce which is the best path to follow in solving the problem
Adolescent Egocentrism: belief that others are as in interested in them as they are
- Imaginary Audience: feeling one is the center of attention
- Personal Fable: sense of personal uniqueness and invincibility
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone but can be learned with guidance
- Lower limit: level of skill reached by a child independently
- Upper limit: needs assistance
