Question 1

____ is when infants begin to notice what others around them are attentive to and they focus their attention to the same event.

Accepted Answer

Joint attention is when infants begin to notice what others around them are attentive to and they focus their attention to the same event. This is an important step in the development of social communication skills.

Question 2

What is joint attention?

Accepted Answer

Joint attention refers to when an infant follows the gaze or attention of another person towards a particular object or event. It involves the infant paying attention to what others are attending to, rather than just focusing on their own interests.

Question 3

What is one criticism mentioned in the text regarding Piaget's explanation of object permanence? Infants' mistakes were due to ____.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is one criticism mentioned in the...

Question 4

To test the hypothesis that infants often fail object permanence tasks because their motor development is immature,Renée Baillargeon and colleagues designed the _____ method.

Accepted Answer

The violation of expectation method involves presenting infants with a situation that violates their expectations based on their understanding of object permanence, and observing whether they show surprise or increased attention as a result. Baillargeon and colleagues used this method to test their hypothesis about infants' motor development and object permanence.

Question 5

You and your sister are watching your nephew.Initially he seems to be very interested in a recently appeared stimulus,but seems not to be very interested in it after a few seconds.Your sister thinks that he might not have a very long attention span.What do you tell her? Your nephew is actually displaying ____.

Accepted Answer

The nephew is displaying habituation, which is the gradual decrease in response to a repeated stimulus. This is a normal process of learning and adapting to the environment. It does not necessarily indicate a short attention span or boredom.

Question 6

Between ____,an infant's attention becomes more socially driven.

Accepted Answer

Between 6-12 months, an infant's attention starts to become more socially driven, as they begin to show more interest in human faces and start to engage in social interactions like smiling, babbling, and imitating.

Question 7

During the second half of an infant's first year,he or she directs his or her attention not just to whatever is most stimulating,but also to ____.

Accepted Answer

During the second half of an infant's first year, they begin to understand and pay attention to what others around them are attending to, including their gaze, facial expressions, and pointing gestures. This is known as joint attention and is an important developmental milestone in social communication.

Question 8

Dishabituation is defined as ____.

Accepted Answer

Dishabituation is when there is a revival of attention when a new stimulus is presented following several presentations of a previous stimulus. This means that the previous stimulus was no longer causing the same level of attention, but when a new stimulus is introduced it causes a change in behavior indicating that the baby is able to distinguish between the two.

Question 9

Renée Baillargeon and colleagues' method of violation of expectations assesses object permanence without requiring _____ from infants.

Accepted Answer

Renée Baillargeon's method of violation of expectations to assess object permanence relies on infants' surprise or interest when witnessing events that violate physical laws, such as an object's continuity or solidity, without requiring them to physically interact with or manipulate objects, thus not requiring motor movement.

Question 10

What term refers to the revival of attention when a new stimulus is presented following several presentations of a previous stimulus?

Accepted Answer

Dishabituation refers to the phenomenon of renewed attention to a previously habituated stimulus when a new, unexpected stimulus is presented.

Question 11

What happens to infant's sucking rate during dishabituation?

Accepted Answer

Dishabituation refers to the process of restoring the attention of an infant to a stimulus that was previously habituated. During dishabituation, the infant shows an increased sucking rate indicating renewed interest in the stimulus. Hence, the infant's sucking rate increases during dishabituation.

Question 12

You are watching your next-door neighbor's 8-month-old infant.You notice that he is getting quite a bit more mature.A few months ago,anytime a new stimulus was presented,he would take a close look at it.Now,he seems to be very interested in ____.

Accepted Answer

As the infant is becoming more mature, he is likely becoming more interested in what other people around him are attending to. This is a normal stage of development when infants begin to understand the social world around them and pay more attention to the behavior and reactions of others.

Question 13

Having only used his own children as subjects,Piaget greatly underestimated the influence of ____ on cognitive development.

Accepted Answer

Piaget's research was mainly conducted on his own children and children from similar backgrounds. Therefore, his theory of cognitive development only reflected a particular cultural perspective. He did not fully consider the impact of diverse cultural contexts and experiences on cognitive development. Therefore, he greatly underestimated the influence of culture on cognitive development.

Question 14

What happens to an infant's heart rate when a new stimulus is presented?

Accepted Answer

When a new stimulus is presented, an infant's heart rate typically declines initially as they pay attention to the new stimulus, and then gradually rises as they process or react to it. This response is part of the orienting reflex, indicating the infant's attention and engagement with the new stimulus.

Question 15

Habituation is the gradual _____ in attention to a stimulus after repeated presentations.

Accepted Answer

Habituation involves a decrease in attention or response to a stimulus over time with repeated presentations. Option A is incorrect because there is a decrease, not an increase, in attention. Option C (accumulation) and Option D (intensification) do not accurately describe the process of habituation.

Question 16

A key assumption to the violation of expectations method is that ______.

Accepted Answer

The key assumption of the violation of expectations method is that infants will look longer at an event when their expectations are violated. This suggests that they are surprised or intrigued by the unexpected outcome, and this increase in looking time can be used as an indicator of their cognitive processing.

Question 17

Baillargeon concluded that infants as young as _____ were capable of understanding object permanence,by showing their surprise when a drawbridge passed through the path where they previously saw a box.

Accepted Answer

Baillargeon's research indicated that infants as young as 3 ½ to 4 ½ months old have a basic understanding of object permanence. This was demonstrated through experiments where infants showed surprise when a solid object appeared to pass through the space where another object was expected to be, suggesting they understood that the object continued to exist even when it was out of sight.

Question 18

What measure positively predicts memory ability on other tasks in infancy?

Accepted Answer

Speed of habituation is a measure that positively predicts memory ability on other tasks in infancy. Habituation refers to the process by which an individual becomes accustomed to a stimulus after repeated exposure, and the speed at which this occurs can indicate cognitive efficiency and memory capacity.

Question 19

Other than using an infant's gaze during a habituation-dishabituation study,researchers can also monitor an infant's ____.

Accepted Answer

Monitoring an infant's heart rate and rate of sucking on a pacifier can both provide valuable information in habituation-dishabituation studies. Heart rate can indicate changes in arousal or attention, while the rate of sucking can indicate interest or boredom. Monitoring reflexes and fine motor movements may be useful in other types of studies, but not specifically in habituation-dishabituation studies. Blood pressure and capillary refill are not typically monitored in infant studies, as they can be invasive and difficult to measure accurately. While fMRI and CT scans can provide detailed images of the brain, they are not commonly used in studies with infants due to concerns about safety and potential negative effects on brain development.

Question 20

Which of the following correlates with an infant's ability to habituate to a new stimulus very quickly?

Accepted Answer

Habituation to a new stimulus is a cognitive process that reflects an infant's ability to learn and adapt to their environment. Research has shown that the speed at which an infant habituates to new stimuli is positively correlated with performance on intelligence tests later in life. This is because both involve cognitive processing skills, such as attention, memory, and learning.

Quiz 4: Infancy