Deck 5: Perception, Action, and Learning in Infancy

Question 1

The use of preferential looking to measure infants' visual acuity draws from research demonstrating that infants consistently prefer to look at _____ over _____.

A)simple designs; complex designs
B)the colour red; the colour blue
C)their mothers' faces; their fathers' faces
D)a pattern; a grey block

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Most research examining the development of motor milestones has been conducted with Western children, making results

A)inaccurate.
B)misleading.
C)both inaccurate and misleading.
D)neither inaccurate nor misleading.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Light-sensitive neurons that are highly concentrated in the fovea are referred to as

A)cone cells.
B)the retina.
C)cubes.
D)acuity neurons.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

An infant's sibling always jumps off his bed with a loud bang after he wakes up from his nap. He then comes downstairs and greets the infant with a tickle, making the infant laugh and cough reflexively. Eventually, the infant begins to laugh and cough reflexively when he hears the bang, even before he sees his brother. In this scenario, the laugh and cough in response to the bang are a(n)

A)conditioned stimulus.
B)unconditioned stimulus.
C)conditioned response.
D)unconditioned response.

Question 5

Perceptual learning is necessary for

A)exhibiting differentiation.
B)the development of intermodal perception.
C)statistical reasoning.
D)the effectiveness of classical conditioning.

Question 6

Which statement about the association between speed of habituation in infancy and general cognitive ability is TRUE?

A)There is no association between habituation in infancy and general cognitive ability.
B)There is a small association between habituation in infancy and general cognitive ability in early childhood, but this association disappears later in life.
C)There is a large association between habituation in infancy and general cognitive ability in early childhood, but this association disappears later in life.
D)There is a substantial association between habituation in infancy and general cognitive ability even into adulthood.

Question 7

The preferential-looking method enables researchers to assess

A)contrast sensitivity.
B)visual acuity.
C)visual scanning.
D)habituation.

Question 8

Cousins Bailey, Sofia, and Zola are playing at an indoor baby gym. Bailey has recently begun to crawl, Sofia has been crawling for a while, and Zola has recently begun to walk. The three cousins' attention is suddenly grabbed by the pleasing sounds of a familiar toy that has rolled down a too-steep incline. Which cousin(s) is/are likely to attempt to go down the incline?

A)Zola
B)Bailey and Sofia
C)Bailey and Zola
D)Sofia

Question 9

Of sensation and perception, _____ involve(s) the processing of basic information by the receptors in the eyes, ears, and skin as well as the brain.

A)both sensation and perception
B)sensation
C)perception
D)neither sensation nor perception

Question 10

Regarding infants' perception of pictures, infants do NOT

A)perceive pictures as depictions of real objects.
B)have the visual acuity to perceive the differences between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects.
C)understand that the nature of two-dimensional objects means that they cannot be picked up.
D)interpret the pictured objects as real because their poor perceptual constancy inhibits them from doing so.

Question 11

The study by Langlois and colleagues discussed in the text in which infants interacted with a woman wearing either an attractive face mask or an unattractive face mask demonstrated that infants

A)cannot perceive differences between attractive and unattractive faces.
B)were more positive and played more with the woman when she was attractive than when she was unattractive.
C)don't care whether people are attractive or unattractive; they derive the same amount of pleasure from playing with an attractive or an unattractive person.
D)were calmer and more attentive when interacting with the woman when she was unattractive than when she was attractive.

Question 12

By approximately what age can infants smoothly track slow-moving objects?

A)at birth
B)4 months
C)10 months
D)17 months

Question 13

Learning the relations between one's own behaviour and its consequences is

A)statistical learning.
B)instrumental conditioning.
C)classical conditioning.
D)perceptual learning.

Question 14

A recent study by Cole and colleagues found that infants' walking patterns are affected by

A)how frequently they walk naked.
B)whether they typically wear cloth diapers or disposable diapers.
C)whether they are naked or wearing a diaper when they walk.
D)all of these factors.

Question 15

The types of patterns that infants appear to prefer are those

A)with which they are very familiar.
B)that provide maximum new information.
C)that are unpredictable.
D)that are simple.

Question 16

An infant plays with a toy block in the dark, so he cannot see it. Later, he is shown a ball as well as the block. He realizes that it was the block, not the ball, that he played with in the dark through

A)intermodal perception.
B)bimodal distribution.
C)visual localization.
D)interobject recognition.

Question 17

Research examining young infants' reaching for small and large objects in a darkened room demonstrated that young infants

A)have excellent night vision.
B)do not have an innate learning mechanism for object size.
C)have poor night vision.
D)are able to think about the characteristics of invisible objects.

Question 18

The other-race effect refers to

A)preference for own-race faces over other-race faces.
B)superior discrimination between own-race faces than between other-race faces.
C)superior discrimination between human faces than between other primate faces.
D)the combination of all of these.

Question 19

Current theorists emphasize that early motor development does NOT result from

A)developing neural mechanisms.
B)posture control.
C)perceptual skills.
D)an increase in infants' weight.

Question 20

Newborns' bias toward _____ is an underlying factor in their attraction to human faces.

A)oval-shaped objects
B)arrangements with more elements in the upper half than in the lower half
C)objects with irregularities around the perimeter
D)configurations with some dark elements and some light elements

Question 21

Of sensation and perception, _____ involve(s) the organization and interpretation of information.

A)both sensation and perception
B)sensation
C)perception
D)neither sensation nor perception

Question 22

Individual differences in motor maturity at _____ months of age predict children's academic achievement at the age of 14 years.

A)4
B)5
C)10
D)24

Question 23

Newborns prefer which taste?

A)salty
B)spicy
C)sweet
D)sour

Question 24

The developmental maturity of infants' cones contributes to their

A)excellent visual acuity.
B)rapid visual scanning.
C)slow pattern perception.
D)poor contrast sensitivity.

Question 25

Closing the fingers around an object that is pressed to the palm demonstrates the _____ reflex.

A)rooting
B)sucking
C)swallowing
D)grasping

Question 26

This is a reward that reliably follows a behaviour and increases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.

A)positive reinforcement
B)negative reinforcement
C)positive punishment
D)negative punishment

Question 27

When comparing how young children learn from in-person interactions and noncontingent interactions, which statement is TRUE?

A)Young children learn better from noncontingent interactions compared to in-person interactions.
B)The way in which young children learn from in-person and noncontingent interactions is directly related to their gender.
C)There is no real difference in how young children learn when comparing in-person interactions to noncontingent interactions.
D)Young children learn better from in-person interactions compared to noncontingent interactions.

Question 28

A 6-month-old infant watches as his sister hides behind a door. While the infant is turned away from his sister for a moment, the sister moves from behind the door and hides under a bed. Suddenly, the wind pushes the partially open door even farther open, until it touches the wall. The 6-month-old is MOST likely to

A)stare at the fully open door, expecting his sister to appear from behind it.
B)stare at the fully open door, surprised that the door was able to fully open with his sister behind it.
C)turn away from the door, demonstrating no surprise that the door was able to fully open with his sister behind it.
D)turn to his mother and ask where his sister went.

Question 29

Which statement about infants' colour vision is TRUE?

A)By the end of the 1st month, infants' colour vision is similar to that of adults.
B)Four-month-olds prefer more complex colours to basic colours.
C)Two-month-olds respond similarly to two different shades of blue.
D)All of these statements are true.

Question 30

The development of _____ is an example of experience-expectant plasticity.

A)stereopsis
B)tonic neck
C)perceptual narrowing
D)strabismus

Question 31

Changes in the ability to perceive differences in stimuli that happen with experience are referred to as

A)perceptual narrowing.
B)sensory decay.
C)perceptual decline.
D)sensory contraction.

Question 32

Which depth perception cue is the LAST to develop?

A)binocular disparity
B)auditory localization
C)optical expansion
D)monocular depth cues

Question 33

Who will fare worst at determining the spatial location of a sound?

A)Angela, who is 3 days old
B)Sam, who is 6 months old
C)Thomas, who is 18 months old
D)Brenda, who is 2 years old

Question 34

Infants FIRST become capable of self-locomotion at approximately _____ months of age.

A)4
B)6
C)8
D)10

Question 35

Studies in which young infants were given "sticky mittens" demonstrated that

A)disrupting the necessity of reaching disrupted the natural maturation process.
B)increased ability to interact with objects was associated with decreased interest in social partners.
C)object exploration led to earlier reaching.
D)pre-reaching behaviours emerged prior to 4 months of age.

Question 36

The relationship between early musical experiences and the development of language and literacy is related to

A)perceptual narrowing.
B)sensory decay.
C)perceptual decline.
D)sensory contraction.

Question 37

An infant learns a new way to climb up on the living room sofa by watching his older sibling through which type of learning?

A)classical conditioning
B)statistical learning
C)observational learning
D)instrumental conditioning

Question 38

This form of depth perception emerges around 4 months of age and is complete within just a few weeks.

A)optical expansion
B)stereopsis
C)binocular disparity
D)monocular vision

Question 39

The cue that is MOST important for object segregation is common

A)movement.
B)colour.
C)texture.
D)distance.

Question 40

An infant randomly makes many vocalizations throughout the day. Some of her vocalizations elicit no response from her parents, but several elicit laughter and hugging from her parents. Eventually, she increases how frequently she makes those vocalizations in order to elicit laughter and hugs through which type of learning?

A)classical conditioning
B)perceptual learning
C)observational learning
D)instrumental conditioning

Question 41

Research by Meltzoff and colleagues indicates that very young children are able to learn from what kinds of models?

A)adults but not children
B)children but not adults
C)both children and adults
D)neither children nor adults

Question 42

Two infants of different ages, Diego and Hannah, are tested with the preferential-looking technique to determine their visual acuity. A series of black and white striped patterns are presented individually next to a grey square. Diego can distinguish stripes that are narrower than the stripes Hannah can distinguish. Compared with Hannah, Diego has

A)a smaller retina.
B)better object segregation.
C)more cones.
D)better contrast sensitivity.

Question 43

Pictorial cues are also referred to as _____ depth cues.

A)perceptive
B)binocular
C)stereotypical
D)monocular

Question 44

Which statement about self-locomotion is NOT true?

A)All infants begin self-locomotion with belly crawling.
B)Infants typically begin to walk independently at approximately 11 to 12 months.
C)Most belly crawlers shift to hands-and-knees crawling.
D)Infants adjust their mode of self-locomotion according to their perception of the surface.

Question 45

Rebecca suffers from strabismus and as an adult experiences pervasive challenges in binocular vision. By what age could she have received treatment that would have been effective in treating the disorder?

A)6 months
B)1 year
C)2 years
D)3 years

Question 46

Piaget developed his concept of object permanence by observing young

A)infants' expectation that objects continue to exist even when hidden.
B)infants' failure to search for hidden objects.
C)children's expectation that objects continue to exist even when hidden.
D)children's failure to attempt to move permanently attached objects.

Question 47

Young children who are given the opportunity for increased self-directed visual experiences also experience a(n)

A)increase in their vocabularies.
B)increase in their motor skill progression.
C)decrease in self-locomotion.
D)decrease in visual perception.

Question 48

Which theme has been contentious within developmental psychology since the inception of the field?

A)nature versus nurture
B)continuity versus discontinuity
C)stability versus instability
D)active versus passivity

Question 49

An infant's sibling always jumps off his bed with a loud bang after he wakes up from his nap. He then comes downstairs and greets the infant with a tickle, making the infant laugh and cough reflexively. Eventually, the infant begins to laugh and cough reflexively when he hears the bang, even before he sees his brother. In this scenario, the loud bang is a(n)

A)conditioned stimulus.
B)unconditioned stimulus.
C)conditioned response.
D)unconditioned response.

Question 50

This is a dramatic demonstration of auditory-visual blending.

A)the McGurk effect
B)contrast sensitivity
C)visual scanning
D)perceptual constancy

Question 51

Experience shapes preference for

A)own-race faces over other-race faces.
B)top-heavy stimuli over bottom-heavy stimuli.
C)attractive faces over unattractive faces.
D)all of these.

Question 52

These early researchers concluded that infants' motor development was governed by brain maturation.

A)Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson
B)Abraham Maslow and Sigmund Freud
C)Arnold Gesell and Myrtle McGraw
D)Mary Ainsworth and Sigmund Freud

Question 53

To examine whether infants can perceive a difference between a square of uniform colour and a square with a pattern on it, a researcher displays the two squares side by side. The researcher records the number of seconds infants look at each square. This method is called the _____ technique.

A)habituation
B)preferential-looking
C)contrast-sensitivity
D)pattern-recognition

Question 54

By _____, toddlers are as good at learning labels from objects via video chat as they are from in-person interactions.

A)6 months
B)12 months
C)2 years
D)3 years

Question 55

Research on the music perception of infants has NOT demonstrated that North American infants

A)have preferences for some musical sounds over others.
B)can remember the key of songs they have heard previously.
C)are able to perceive note changes that adults are unable to perceive.
D)are less able to detect changes in complex rhythm than are adults.

Question 56

Infants can detect changes in music that adults cannot. This phenomenon is thought to demonstrate

A)perceptual narrowing.
B)sensory decay.
C)perceptual decline.
D)sensory contraction.

Question 57

Infant pre-reaching movements generally emerge before _____ months of age.

A)2 to 3
B)3 to 4
C)4 to 5
D)5 to 6

Question 58

The "visual cliff" was designed to evaluate

A)self-locomotion skills.
B)depth perception.
C)scale errors.
D)stereopsis.

Question 59

_____ drives the other-race effect in infants.

A)Frequent exposure to faces of a similar race
B)The race of the infant
C)The inherent racism of the infant
D)Minimal exposure to faces of a similar race

Question 60

The result that infants of depressed mothers tend to smile less than do other infants is thought to be caused, at least in part, by

A)operant conditioning.
B)statistical learning.
C)classical conditioning.
D)habituation.

Question 61

The change in retinal image size as a moving object gets closer, causing more and more of the background to be occluded, is referred to as

A)retinal enlargement.
B)perceptual constancy.
C)optical expansion.
D)relative size.

Question 62

Infants' use of prior experience to make inferences about the future is referred to as

A)observational learning.
B)instrumental conditioning.
C)habituation.
D)rational learning.

Question 63

Beginning at what age do infants use common movement as a cue for object segregation?

A)at birth
B)2 months
C)5 months
D)8 months

Question 64

By what age does a developing child's visual acuity approach that of adults?

A)8 weeks
B)8 months
C)2 years
D)6 years

Question 65

Research by Baillargeon in which infants looked longer at a screen that rotated 180 degrees than at a screen that rotated up and stopped at the top of a box used the _____ paradigm in the test of whether the infants were able to mentally represent the box.

A)visual preference
B)violation-of-expectancy
C)habituation
D)preferential-looking

Question 66

Research by Meltzoff in which 18-month-olds observed either an adult or a mechanical device pull at two ends of a dumbbell demonstrated that children can learn by imitating what?

A)the behaviour of adults
B)both the behaviour and intentions of adults
C)the behaviour of adults and inanimate objects
D)both the behaviour and intentions of adults and inanimate objects

Question 67

_____ was first discovered by Pavlov in his research with dogs.

A)Observational learning
B)Classical conditioning
C)Perceptual learning
D)Operant conditioning

Question 68

Piaget's observation that young infants do not manually search for hidden objects

A)has been proven to be false.
B)has been supported by research.
C)has been refuted by research.
D)cannot accurately be examined.

Question 69

Bree is an 11-month-old baby girl who insists on trying to walk in order to explore and navigate her environment. However, she is not very good at walking and does much better at crawling. Yet she refuses to crawl. This demonstrates the vital role of

A)balance.
B)motivation.
C)posture control.
D)perceptual skills.

Question 70

Research on the music perception of infants has demonstrated that, with experience, humans

A)become less sensitive to differences in musical stimuli.
B)become more sensitive to differences in musical stimuli.
C)come to prefer consonant music over dissonant music.
D)come to prefer dissonant music over consonant music.

Question 71

The development of _____ is a classic example of experience-expectant plasticity.

A)optical expansion
B)stereopsis
C)binocular disparity
D)monocular vision

Question 72

Which culture does not actively encourage motor development in infants?

A)Gusii
B)Wolof
C)Kung San
D)urban China

Question 73

At what age can infants learn through instrumental conditioning?

A)at birth
B)6 months
C)10 months
D)15 months

Question 74

When two segments always move together in the same direction and at the same speed, _____ has occurred.

A)common movement
B)common texture
C)knowledge about the world
D)all of these

Question 75

Which scenario is the BEST example of an infant's discovery of an affordance?

A)Roger learns that the beep of a microwave often means he will soon be given his bottle.
B)Xena learns to bang on a drum by watching her brother bang on it.
C)Henry learns that his grandma kisses him whenever she holds him.
D)Leah learns that she can sit in chairs that are low to the ground.

Question 76

The study discussed in the text in which infants were first presented with a cube and then were presented with the same cube and a larger cube that was placed farther away demonstrated that infants

A)are unable to form memories about the relative size of objects.
B)do not need visual experience for the development of size constancy.
C)are influenced by the retinal size of an image to a greater extent than are adults.
D)fail to differentiate between objects that are located at varying distances.

Question 77

Which groups of infants would know their own limitations if placed at the top of a steep incline?

A)beginning and experienced crawlers but not walkers
B)beginning and experienced walkers but not crawlers
C)experienced crawlers and experienced walkers
D)experienced crawlers and all walkers

Question 78

Infant Greta hears a bell that she cannot see and immediately turns toward the sound. This is an indication that Greta has which ability?

A)auditory localization
B)auditory segregation
C)pattern perception
D)music perception

Question 79

An infant who is using social referencing would learn

A)not to crawl down a steep incline by seeing another infant fall.
B)to crawl around an obstacle by seeing an adult crawl around the obstacle.
C)to avoid crawling off the side of a bed by seeing an adult's fearful facial expression.
D)to crawl sooner than other infants do because her parents provide a lot of encouragement.

Question 80

Among infant-directed speech, adult-directed speech, infant-directed singing, and adult-directed singing, 6-month-old infants show a preference for

A)any singing over any speech.
B)any speech over any singing.
C)infant-directed singing over infant-directed speech.
D)infant-directed speech over any singing.