Question 1

According to the Gestalt theory of perception, infants' perceptual skills would result in

Accepted Answer

Gestalt theory suggests that humans, including infants, have an innate ability to organize visual stimuli into meaningful patterns, which means infants can perceive whole forms rather than just a collection of parts.

Question 2

The ecological theory of perception proposed a significant departure from earlier views on infant perceptual development because the theory emphasized the

Accepted Answer

The ecological theory of perception emphasizes the infant's role in actively constructing their understanding of the world through their interactions with the environment.

Question 3

Molly and her mother are playing with several different size balls in their living room. With the small balls, Molly has learned how to grasp them in her hands and throw them back towards her mother. With the larger balls however, when Molly attempts to grasp them, as she touches and tries to hold them, she finds it is too difficult to do. As a result, she switches to rolling them back and forth. Which concept explains Molly's behavior?

Accepted Answer

The perception-action feedback loop explains Molly's behavior. This loop suggests that our actions are influenced by our perception of the environment, and our perception is influenced by our actions. In Molly's case, she perceives the larger balls as being too difficult to grasp, so she switches to rolling them back and forth. This is an example of how our perception can influence our actions.

Question 4

Jackson's mother presented him with a new toy, a colorful rattler. At first, Jackson stared intently at the toy, but after attending to it for a few minutes, he began to look away, and eventually did not show interest in the toy at all. Jackson's behavior would signal that he had

Accepted Answer

Jackson's behavior of losing interest in the toy after initially attending to it indicates habituation, which is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

Question 5

Marcus was just given something new to eat by his mother. Upon tasting it, his lips immediately puckered, and his mouth produced saliva. Marcus' mom likely gave Marcus something that was _______ flavored.

Accepted Answer

Sour flavors typically cause a puckering reaction and increased saliva production, which is consistent with Marcus's response.

Question 6

Laticia loved eating spicy foods when she was pregnant, while Anne preferred foods that were heavily salted. Their interests in these foods continued as they breastfed their babies. Given what you know about the development of infant taste preferences, it is likely that

Accepted Answer

Infants can develop taste preferences based on their mother's diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Laticia's child is likely to prefer spicy foods, and Anne's child is likely to prefer salty foods due to their mothers' dietary habits.

Question 7

Which of the following structures in the retina is responsible for determining the overall visual acuity of infants?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following structures in the...

Question 8

Dr. Tay is interested in examining at what age infants' visual acuity improves. She shows infants of various ages two photos of the same object, a flower. In one of the photos, the picture is slightly blurred. In the other photo, the picture is sharp. Based on the concept of preferential looking, if infants can see the difference between the two photos, they will likely

Accepted Answer

Infants are likely to look longer at the clear photo if they can see the difference, as they tend to prefer looking at more detailed and clear images.

Question 9

Which of the following best illustrates how infants' ability to perceive color is different from adults'?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following best illustrates how...

Question 10

_______ refers to the perception of an object as having a constant size despite changes in the size of the retinal image, whereas _______ refers to the perception of an object as having a constant shape despite changes to the retinal image.

Accepted Answer

Size constancy refers to perceiving an object as having a constant size despite changes in the retinal image size, while shape constancy refers to perceiving an object as having a constant shape despite changes in the retinal image.

Question 11

Yumi was shown a drawing of a bicycle. After habituating to this first image, she was then presented with a second picture of the same bicycle behind a gate, with its front wheel being blocked. Yumi's recognition of the partially perceived bicycle as being identical to the whole image is an indication of the Gestalt concept of

Accepted Answer

The Gestalt concept of good continuation suggests that people tend to perceive objects as continuous, even when parts of them are occluded or blocked. Yumi's recognition of the bicycle despite the front wheel being blocked aligns with this concept.

Question 12

Four-month-old Emile watches as a researcher rolls a ball down a plank, through a colorful tunnel. Although he can smoothly track the progress of the ball's movement down the track, he doesn't look to the other side of the tunnel until the ball pops out. On the other hand, 7-month-old Bella anticipates its appearance after entering the tunnel and shifts her eyes to the end of the tunnel before the ball appears. Compared to Emile, Bella shows

Accepted Answer

Bella demonstrates anticipatory eye movements, which involve predicting where an object will appear based on its trajectory and shifting gaze accordingly.

Question 13

To accurately track the eye movement of infants, researchers oftentimes use _______, or devices that are built into computer monitors or worn on the participants' head.

Accepted Answer

Eye-trackers are devices specifically designed to measure and track eye movements, making them suitable for studying the eye movement of infants.

Question 14

When viewing objects at different distances, the lens of the eye automatically changes shape in a process known as

Accepted Answer

The lens of the eye changes shape in a process known as visual accommodation to focus on objects at different distances.

Question 15

In a study on infant depth cue perception, researchers found that older infants could judge the distances of objects using only one eye, but that younger infants needed both eyes to do so. Older infants are therefore able to rely on _______ cues to gauge distance whereas younger infants need to still rely on _______ cues.

Accepted Answer

Older infants can rely on monocular cues, which involve using one eye to perceive depth, while younger infants rely on binocular cues, which require both eyes.

Question 16

Ainsley was looking out the window of her parents' car as they were taking a trip to the beach. To her eyes, it appeared as though the trees and fences nearest to the car went past her very quickly, but the large clouds overhead moved very slowly, a phenomenon known as

Accepted Answer

Motion parallax is a depth cue that involves the apparent relative motion of stationary objects as observed by a moving observer. Objects closer to the observer appear to move faster than those further away, which explains Ainsley's observation.

Question 17

One explanation advanced for the "attractiveness effect" in infants is that

Accepted Answer

Infants are thought to prefer "attractive" faces because these faces resemble a "prototype" face, which is an average of many faces, and this preference is not based on familiarity or exposure.

Question 18

Which of these scenarios best illustrates the concept of perceptual narrowing?

Accepted Answer

Infants raised by their fathers showing greater ability to distinguish among male faces compared to female faces is an example of perceptual narrowing, where exposure to specific stimuli enhances perception of those stimuli while reducing sensitivity to others.

Question 19

Which of the following scenarios would best illustrate the role of the other-race effect observed in infants?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following scenarios would best...

Question 20

Being able to detect a sound is defined as _______ threshold, whereas being able to detect that a change in sound occurred from a first sound to a second sound is called _______ threshold.

Accepted Answer

Absolute threshold refers to the minimum level of a stimulus that can be detected, while difference threshold refers to the minimum change in a stimulus that can be detected.

Quiz 4: Perceptual and Motor Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood