Deck 5: Perceptual Development

Question 1

In studying infant perception, the preference technique

A) assumes that a baby will both habituate and dishabilitate.
B) involves presenting the baby with a particular sight or sound until he stops looking at it.
C) requires training the baby to turn her head when she hears a particular sound.
D) involves presenting a sound that is different from the original to see if the baby shows renewed interest.
E) assumes that infants who look at one picture of a pair prefer that picture.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Who devised the preference technique for studying early perceptual skills?

A) Dennis
B) Fantz
C) Kagan
D) Yonas
E) Gibson

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When researchers use reinforcement to study infant perception, they are using the technique of

A) selectivity.
B) dishabituation.
C) operant conditioning.
D) preference.
E) classical conditioning.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

In research on infant perception, a common research strategy presents an infant with some stimulus until s/he stops responding to it. Then a new stimulus that differs from the first in some specific respect (e.g., color) is presented to see if the infant now responds. This strategy involves the use of what basic process?

A) preference
B) scanning
C) constancy
D) dishabituation
E) conditioning

Question 5

A nativism theorist would believe that perceptual abilities are ________; whereas a empiricism theorist would state that perceptual abilities are ________.

A) learned; inborn
B) inborn; genetic
C) acquired; learned
D) genetic; inborn
E) inborn; learned

Question 6

Mr. Collins is anxious to know what perceptual skills his newborn son has. You can tell him his newborn will have all of the following EXCEPT

A) good auditory acuity.
B) adequate visual acuity.
C) highly efficient depth perception.
D) excellent tactual and taste perception.
E) some color vision.

Question 7

Maria's baby has just started to see colors. Her baby is how old?

A) 12 months
B) 9 months
C) 6 months
D) 3 months
E) 1 month

Question 8

How do auditory acuity and visual acuity compare in the newborn infant?

A) Visual acuity is better than auditory acuity.
B) Auditory acuity is worse than visual acuity.
C) There is no difference.
D) Auditory acuity is better than visual acuity.
E) It depends on the infant.

Question 9

The fact that animals deprived of light show deterioration of the whole visual system and a decease in perceptual abilities is support for what Aslin called

A) attunement.
B) maintenance.
C) maturation.
D) accommodation.
E) facilitation.

Question 10

Because the nativism versus empiricism issue has been so central in studies of perception, the vast majority of the research on perceptual development has focused on

A) young infants.
B) laboratory rats.
C) grade school children.
D) primates.
E) adults.

Question 11

Gina's baby is developing normally and now shows some visual tracking for brief periods if the target is moving slowly. How old is her baby?

A) 3 weeks
B) 10 weeks
C) 15 weeks
D) 20 weeks
E) 24 weeks

Question 12

All of the following are arguments for nativism EXCEPT

A) there are skills present in newborns such as auditory acuity.
B) there are rules for looking, listening, and touching detected at birth.
C) rules seem to change as the nervous system matures.
D) some experience is necessary for development of perceptual systems.
E) infants are capable of making sophisticated discriminations.

Question 13

Which of the following is the best statement of the roles of internal and external influences in the development of perception?

A) The nativists are right: the baby has all the basic perceptual skills at birth, and later experience makes little difference.
B) The nativists are right: the baby comes equipped with all the basic skills, and experience is only necessary to maintain those skills.
C) The empiricists are right: the baby is born with only the weakest perceptual skills, and the vast majority of such skills depend on specific learning.
D) Both nativists and empiricists are partially right: many perceptual skills appear to be inborn or develop through basic maturation, but experience is also essential.
E) The empiricists are right: the baby is born tabula rasa, and all the skills it will ever have are learned.

Question 14

How would you expect a newborn to react to the barking of a nearby dog that is located off to one side?

A) She would ignore it.
B) He would turn his head toward the sound.
C) She would smile and expect to hear more.
D) He would not hear it.
E) She would not be able to locate it at all.

Question 15

Current evidence suggests that full (adult-level) visual acuity is reached by what age?

A) 4 months
B) 2 years
C) 3-4 years
D) 10-11 years
E) puberty

Question 16

Bill watches cars passing him, Marco watches a baseball go into the center field stands, and Lisa watches her friend walk towards her. All these people are using a process called

A) looming.
B) acuity.
C) interpretation.
D) sensation.
E) tracking.

Question 17

The mother of six-month-old Robbie makes a cooing sound to him until he becomes bored and looks away. She then clicks her tongue, which makes him look at her again. Robbie has

A) demonstrated preference.
B) voluntarily delayed his reaction.
C) developed an auditory defect.
D) displayed dishabituation.
E) responded to operant conditioning.

Question 18

In comparison to adult auditory processes, newborns

A) hear nearly as well in the range of pitch and loudness of the human voice.
B) have poorer hearing at some pitches but the same hearing at all loudness levels.
C) have more acuity with high-pitched sounds.
D) have better auditory acuity at all pitches and loudness levels.
E) have less acuity at all pitches and loudness levels.

Question 19

In studying infant perception, the ________ technique involves showing the baby two pictures or two objects and keeping track of how long the baby looks at each one.

A) nativism
B) habituation/dishabituation
C) preference
D) operant conditioning
E) classical conditioning

Question 20

Research by Yonas on six-week-old babies' reactions to looming objects

A) indicates this ability is due to maturational age.
B) indicates this ability is due to experience.
C) supports the views of empiricism.
D) supports a nurture approach to perception.
E) proves that training is required for depth perception.

Question 21

Interposition and linear perspective

A) are both binocular cues.
B) require the use of both eyes.
C) are both monocular cues.
D) are both kinetic cues.
E) depend on motion.

Question 22

What is the youngest age at which babies can tell the difference between body odors?

A) one year
B) six months
C) three months
D) one month
E) one week

Question 23

When moving your head back and forth, objects close to you will seem to move more than objects farther away. What kind of depth perception cue is this?

A) kinetic
B) pictorial
C) monocular
D) objective
E) binocular

Question 24

The visual cliff is an apparatus developed to measure

A) auditory acuity.
B) perception of looming objects.
C) linear perspective.
D) depth perception.
E) visual tracking.

Question 25

Roger knows that Bart is standing in front of Max because he can see all of Bart but only part of Max. Roger is using the depth cue of

A) looming.
B) tracking.
C) linear perspective.
D) motion parallax.
E) interposition.

Question 26

Motion parallax is which type of depth cue?

A) binocular
B) kinetic
C) monocular
D) pictorial
E) sensational

Question 27

Interposition is an example of a

A) kinetic cue.
B) binocular cue.
C) monocular cue.
D) pictorial cue.
E) motion cue.

Question 28

Jillian is four months old. She can use all of the depth cues EXCEPT

A) binocular and kinetic.
B) monocular and kinetic.
C) interposition and linear perspective.
D) kinetic and pictorial.
E) binocular and motion parallax.

Question 29

A judgment of depth based on a slightly different visual image reaching each eye is based on ________ depth cues.

A) binocular
B) monocular
C) pictorial
D) kinetic
E) perceptual

Question 30

Studies of babies' responses to the "visual cliff" are designed to explore what aspect of perceptual development?

A) linear perspective
B) object constancy
C) object permanence
D) depth perception
E) auditory acuity

Question 31

Which two senses have been studied the least in human infants?

A) vision and hearing
B) vision and touch
C) touch and motion
D) hearing and taste
E) smell and taste

Question 32

By what age can infants first discriminate sounds at a four-degree shift from midline, which is nearly at an adult skill level?

A) 3 months
B) 6 months
C) 12 months
D) 18 months
E) 24 months

Question 33

The best developed sense in infants is

A) hearing.
B) smell.
C) touch.
D) vision.
E) taste.

Question 34

Depth perception based on kinetic cues and cross-modal transfer, especially coordination of binocular cues, FIRST became evident at what age?

A) 2 weeks
B) 1 month
C) 6 weeks
D) 2 months
E) 4 months

Question 35

Gibson and Walk used six-month-old or older babies in their research with the visual cliff, because

A) babies younger than six months old do not yet have depth perception.
B) the babies had to be able to crawl across the visual cliff.
C) younger infants are not yet attached to their mothers.
D) research ethics do not permit this kind of research with younger infants.
E) younger infants are unable to use kinetic cues.

Question 36

Which of the following depth cues does an infant learn first?

A) pictorial
B) binocular
C) kinetic
D) monocular
E) interposition

Question 37

All of the following terms are related EXCEPT

A) interposition.
B) binocular cues.
C) pictorial cues.
D) monocular cues.
E) linear perspective.

Question 38

Kelly is able to track an object smoothly, but she still lacks the ability to perceive depth. How old is Kelly?

A) 1 month
B) 2 months
C) 4 months
D) 6 months
E) 7 months

Question 39

According to Steiner's research, children can first respond differentially to sweet, sour, and bitter flavors at

A) birth.
B) one month.
C) six months.
D) nine months.
E) one year.

Question 40

When an artist portrays depth by putting buildings partially behind other buildings, the artist is using the depth cue of

A) motion parallax.
B) accommodation.
C) interposition.
D) visual kinesis.
E) assimilation.

Question 41

Babies lose the ability to distinguish vowels that do not occur in the language they are hearing by ________ of age and the ability to discriminate nonheard consonant contrasts by ________ of age.

A) three months; six months
B) nine months; one year
C) six months; nine months
D) six months; one year
E) one year; two years

Question 42

Monique is three months old. If she is developing normally, she has switched from a visual strategy designed to ________ things to a strategy designed to ________ things.

A) identify; find
B) judge; ignore
C) find; identify
D) ignore; judge
E) judge; identify

Question 43

Researchers have established that as early as ________ month(s) of age, babies can discriminate between speech sounds such as "pa" and "ba."

A) 18
B) 12
C) 6
D) 3
E) 1

Question 44

By age 2, Tyler's visual attention is focused on the ________ of objects in his world.

A) size
B) meaningful patterns
C) shape
D) texture
E) color

Question 45

Researchers interested in infant perception of faces have found that

A) infants prefer to look at faces over other complex objects.
B) faces are uniquely interesting to infants.
C) when looking at faces, babies have no preference for type of face.
D) babies prefer to look at male faces.
E) babies prefer their mother's face.

Question 46

Marge's one-month-old baby seems to be looking at Marge's face. What part of her face is the baby most likely to be looking at?

A) chin
B) eyes
C) nose
D) mouth
E) hair

Question 47

Researchers have found that babies begin to focus on the internal features of a face, especially the eyes, at about

A) one month.
B) two to three months.
C) three weeks.
D) nine to ten months.
E) one year.

Question 48

Dexter calls his newborn son by name, but as yet the baby does not respond to that name. At what age will his baby first recognize his own name?

A) one month
B) two months
C) three months
D) four months
E) five months

Question 49

Olivia wants her baby to be able to speak her native language as well as English. She should introduce her baby to her native language before six months because in the first six months, babies.

A) can learn at least three languages at one time.
B) have not learned their native language.
C) can accurately discriminate all sound contrasts found in any language.
D) think all languages are part of a universal world language.
E) are able to memorize words efficiently.

Question 50

At about two to three months of age, a baby is more likely to look at his mother's

A) chin.
B) hairline.
C) eyes.
D) ears.
E) nose.

Question 51

Langlois's research has shown that babies as young as two months old will look at

A) non-face objects longer than at faces of any kind.
B) attractive faces longer than unattractive faces.
C) curves longer than straight lines.
D) unattractive faces just as long as they will look at attractive faces.
E) male faces longer than at female faces.

Question 52

Gabrielle can discriminate between two-syllable sounds. It is most likely that she acquired this ability at what age?

A) one month
B) three months
C) four months
D) six months
E) twelve months

Question 53

Three-month-old Will spends more time looking at his mother's ________ than any other feature.

A) hair
B) mouth
C) nose
D) chin
E) eyes

Question 54

Between two and three months of age, a baby's visual attention shifts in focus. What is thought to be the nature of that shift?

A) from WHERE an object is to WHAT it is
B) from HOW MANY things there are to WHERE they are
C) from WHAT an object is to WHERE it is
D) from HOW BIG objects are to WHERE they are
E) from WHERE objects are to HOW MANY there are

Question 55

Combining information from more than one sense is called

A) cross-modal transfer.
B) cross-modal integration.
C) assimilation.
D) sensory transfer.
E) intermodal perception.

Question 56

A three-month-old infant is shown a series of drawings, each of which shows a small object above a larger object of the same shape. After a while, the baby looks for shorter periods of time at each new version of the small-above-large pattern. Then, a test figure is shown consisting of the opposite pattern and the baby shows renewed interest. These results indicate that the baby

A) was able to notice the patterns among objects, not just the shapes of objects.
B) cannot yet habituate to "old" patterns and dishabituate to "new" patterns.
C) is very intelligent, as the skills for this task are not present until 18 months of age.
D) habituated to the specific objects that were shown, but not to the arrangement.
E) paid attention to specific stimuli rather than patterns.

Question 57

Whose research used habituation to determine that 3- and 4-month-old infants pay attention to patterns, not just to specific stimuli?

A) Piaget
B) Gibson
C) Langlois
D) Pascalis
E) Caron and Caron

Question 58

Caron and Caron showed babies pictures with small objects on top of large objects until they had habituated. Later the babies looked longer at a different picture than at a new instance of a small-over-large. Which of the following would be a reasonable conclusion from this study?

A) Babies have a built-in preference for looking at large things over small things.
B) Babies respond to patterns of arrangements of objects, not just to the specific objects.
C) Babies pay little attention to patterns, responding instead only to the specific objects.
D) Habituation wipes out infants' ability to notice a pattern of small-over-large.
E) Habituation lasts for a limited period of time.

Question 59

Greg is one month of age. He should be able to discriminate between speech sounds

A) from female voices but not male voices.
B) such as "pa" and "ba."
C) that are actually two-syllable words.
D) that are nouns but not verbs.
E) hidden in longer sounds.

Question 60

Langlois's studies of babies visual preferences found that infants as young as 2 months

A) could not distinguish between attractive and unattractive faces.
B) could distinguish between attractive and unattractive faces but showed no preference.
C) could distinguish between attractive and unattractive faces and preferred the unattractive face.
D) could distinguish between attractive and unattractive faces and preferred the attractive face.
E) only chose to look at their mother's face.

Question 61

At what age do babies begin to show signs of object constancies?

A) at birth
B) two or three weeks
C) one month
D) two or three months
E) three or four months

Question 62

Jack can take something away from his baby and the baby loses interest. His baby is probably

A) less than six months old.
B) between six and ten months old.
C) between eight and twelve months old.
D) between ten and sixteen months old.
E) over eight months old.

Question 63

Object permanence has been extensively researched because it is an important part of the theory of

A) Baillargeon.
B) Gibson.
C) Piaget.
D) Spelke.
E) Flavell.

Question 64

The love that infants 6 months and older have for playing "dropsy" (e.g., dropping items while sitting in the high chair) best demonstrates the concept of

A) size constancy.
B) object permanence.
C) shape constancy.
D) color constancy.
E) object constancy.

Question 65

Andy derives great pleasure from dropping his spoon and waiting for his mother to pick it up. He is at least how old?

A) two months
B) three to four months
C) four months
D) five to six months
E) six to eight months

Question 66

Spelke's research on object perception has shown that two month olds

A) cannot habituate easily.
B) are aware of movements objects are capable of.
C) have no idea of the trajectory of an object.
D) believe that solid objects can pass through other solid objects.
E) have very little object perception.

Question 67

Understanding that an object is the same height even when seen from a distance is

A) visual acuity.
B) depth perception.
C) visual accommodation.
D) size constancy.
E) shape constancy.

Question 68

Devon has seen a football many times but never held one. When he is blindfolded and a football is handed to him, he has no trouble identifying it. This is an example of

A) cross-modal transfer.
B) shape constancy.
C) intersensory integration.
D) object constancy.
E) perceptual constancy.

Question 69

According to the research by the Gibsons, intermodal perception is possible as early as

A) one month.
B) one week.
C) eight weeks.
D) three months.
E) ten weeks.

Question 70

When a baby understands that her bottle still exists even when she throws it down and it disappears under the sofa, she is demonstrating

A) size constancy.
B) shape constancy.
C) object identity.
D) object permanence.
E) object constancy.

Question 71

When Lisa sees her father walking away from her, the image of her father on her retina actually becomes smaller, although Lisa will perceive her father as the same size. This is because Lisa has mastered

A) shape constancy.
B) color constancy.
C) size constancy.
D) dimension constancy.
E) intermodal perception.

Question 72

When Pete recognizes his red sweater, even though the room is quite dark, Pete is showing

A) 20/200 vision.
B) color constancy.
C) visual acuity.
D) cross-modal transfer.
E) intersensory integration.

Question 73

Researchers have found that intermodal transfer is possible as early as one month. Which of the following statements is the MOST accurate conclusion from these studies?

A) The empiricist approach is most accurate.
B) Infants are not really transferring anything.
C) The demonstration of this ability is an argument for the nativist approach to perception.
D) The studies offer proof that this skill is learned after six months of age.
E) Piaget was correct; the Gibsons were not.

Question 74

Research by Spelke as well as that of Pickens confirms that infants four months or older can

A) recognize familiar faces.
B) extend cross modal transfer to all senses.
C) match sounds with appropriate movements.
D) display excellent depth perception.
E) integrate information from all senses.

Question 75

In Bower's study, two-month-old infants responded to tilted or slightly turned rectangles as if they were the same as the original rectangle, even though the retinal images caused by the tilted rectangles were actually trapezoids. This demonstrates that two-month-olds have some

A) color constancy.
B) size constancy.
C) transmodal perception.
D) shape constancy.
E) intersensory perception.

Question 76

Piaget and the Gibsons differ in their ideas about intersensory integration and transfer. Which of the following statements is accurate?

A) Piaget believed both skills were present at birth.
B) The Gibsons believed that integration was inborn but transfer was learned.
C) Piaget believed that cross-modal transfer was evident by three months of age.
D) The Gibsons believed that some amount of both skills were built-in from birth.
E) Research has consistently supported Piaget's views.

Question 77

Spelke believes that infants are born with certain built-in assumptions about the nature of objects. One such assumption is what she calls the

A) connected surface principle.
B) A not B principle.
C) cross-modal transfer principle.
D) interpersonal perception principle.
E) intersensory integration principle.

Question 78

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be directly perceived is object

A) continuance.
B) transfer.
C) modality.
D) concept.
E) permanence.

Question 79

Which constancy includes the other four?

A) color
B) perceptual
C) shape
D) size
E) object

Question 80

No matter how her mother hands her bottle to her, Ginny still reaches for it, demonstrating that she has acquired

A) size constancy.
B) depth perception.
C) shape constancy.
D) object permanence.
E) color constancy.