08 Abpd1203 T4

Topic  Infancy:
4 Sensation,
Perception and
Learning
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Explain the newbornÊs reflexes; and
2. Elaborate on the sensation, perception and learning of infants.
 INTRODUCTION
During the first two hours of observation after Adam was born, Grandma was
there to accompany him. She held his little hands, sang nursery rhymes, told him
what a lovely baby he was and even read to him from childrenÊs storybooks.
Little Adam opened his eyes, looked around, held on to GrandmaÊs finger with
his little fingers, wiggled his little body and seemed to respond to GrandmaÊs
loving touch. The nurse did some tests on him to check his senses and reflexes.
The neonate seemed alert and responded to the touch, sound, light and smell of
his surroundings. Two hours later, Adam was put in his motherÊs arms. She
kissed his cheeks, said hello and called his name. Adam wiggled and rubbed his
face on her breast, opened his mouth and searched for the nipple.
Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

68  TOPIC 4 INFANCY: SENSATION, PERCEPTION AND LEARNING
At the end of the 19th century, philosopher and psychologist, William James,
described the mental state of newborn babies as „a great blooming, buzzing
confusion‰ (Schaffer, 2005). This widely quoted description of early infancy gave
a picture of chaos and disorder in the early stages of infancy, suggesting that only
maturity and experience would bring order to the developing mind (Schaffer,
2005). However, is this really true of all newborn babies?
In this topic, we will discuss infants' sensation, perception and learning. We will
also touch on infantsÊ preparedness for learning.
ACTIVITY 4.1
What do you think of a newborn baby? Is it a helpless and confused

being waiting for adult input? Or is it born with many capabilities that
prepare it to face the world? Share your thoughts in the myINSPIRE
forum.
4.1 THE NEWBORN

As soon as neonates leave their mothersÊ warm and comfortable womb, they
actually have well-developed reflexes and sensory responses (despite looking
helpless and vulnerable) and are well-equipped with particular strategies to get
to know the world (Hetherington, Parke, Gauvain & Locke, 2006; Schaffer, 2004).
These strategies are reflexes which are natural physical responses that help a
baby to survive outside the womb. In this subtopic, we will look at babiesÊ
reflexes, sleeping patterns and crying.
4.1.1 What are Reflexes?

Reflexes are inborn, automatic responses to certain forms of stimulation. As a
baby grows and develops, reflexes will disappear. Table 4.1 describes some of the
reflexes that babies normally display.

TOPIC 4 INFANCY: SENSATION, PERCEPTION AND LEARNING  69
Table 4.1: Some Reflexes that Babies Normally Display
Reflexes Stimulation Response Function
Rooting Stroke or touch the The baby turns his head Helps the infant find the
Reflex babyÊs cheeks in the direction of the nipple
touch; opens his mouth
for feeding
Sucking Place a finger in the The baby sucks the Helps to ensure the baby
Reflex babyÊs mouth finger rhythmically can latch onto a bottle or
nipple during feeding
Eye-blink Shine bright light at the The baby quickly closes Protects the baby from
Reflex babyÊs eyes or clap his eyes or blinks bright lights or foreign
hands near his head objects
Moro Hold the baby The baby will throw his Helps the baby cling to
Reflex horizontally on back and arms and legs out, and his mother
let the head drop his head back, then bring
slightly, or produce a the limbs back into his
sudden loud sound body as if holding onto
something.
Palmer Place a finger in the Spontaneous grasp of Prepares the baby for
Grasp infantÊs hand and press finger voluntary grasping
against the palm
Stepping Hold the baby under The baby will lift his legs Prepares the baby for
Reflex arms and permit his bare and stretch out, taking voluntary walking
feet to touch a flat stepping movements
surface
Babinski Stroke the babyÊs soles Toes fan out, then curl as Unknown
Reflex from the toes towards the feet twist in
the heels
Swimming Place the baby face down The baby paddles and Helps the baby survive
Reflex in a pool of water kicks in a swimming in water
motion
Tonic Neck When placed on the Whichever side the Prepares the baby for
Reflex abdomen, turn the childÊs head is facing, the voluntary reaching
babyÊs head to one side limbs on that side will
straighten, and the
opposite limbs will curl.
Sources: Berk (2005)

SELF-CHECK 4.1
1. What reflexes do infants demonstrate as soon as they are born?
2. Why are infants equipped with these reflexes?
4.1.2 Sleeping and Awakening Pattern

Newborns spend most of their time alternating between these four different
states (St. James-Roberts & Plewis, 1996):
(a) Alert inactivity – The baby is calm with eyes open and attentive; and seems
to be deliberately inspecting the environment;
(b) Waking activity – The babyÊs eyes are open but seem unfocused; the arms
or legs move in bursts of uncoordinated motion;
(c) Crying – The baby cries vigorously, usually accompanied by agitated but
uncoordinated motion; and
(d) Sleeping – The baby alternates from being still and breathing regularly to
moving gently and breathing irregularly; eyes are closed throughout.
Sleeping habits can vary greatly among infants. Full-term infants usually sleep
14–16 hours a day but some may sleep only nine hours a day regardless of
whether it is night or day. If you are a parent of the latter, you might find it
challenging to get a good rest!
Newborn infants tend to go on active sleep (similar to adultsÊ Rapid Eye

Movement [REM] sleep, often associated with dreaming), followed by quiet sleep
(non-REM). Infants will spend as much as 50 per cent of their sleep in active
sleep. This will decrease over time.
By the time an infant is four weeks old, he will sleep less often but longer, and by
eight weeks, the infant will sleep more during the night and less during the day
(Ingersoll & Thoman, 1999). By the end of the first year, most infants will sleep
through the night, much to the relief of the parents, as the infantÊs internal bio-
rhythms become adapted to the demands of the external world (Ikonomov,
Stoynev & Shisheva, 1998).

Sleep patterns also vary across cultures. Parents in the United States prefer to put
babies to sleep alone in their own room, while many other cultures encourage co-
sleeping arrangements, with parents and infant in the same bed (Rogoff, 2003).
Co-sleeping may have specific health benefits such as regulating a babyÊs
breathing (McKenna & Mosko, 1993) and reducing the risk of Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Each year in the United States, about 10,000 babies die in their sleep from causes
classified as SIDS (Hetherington, Parke, Gauvain & Locke, 2006). SIDS normally
occurs during sleep and is most common between the ages of two and four
months. The cause of SIDS is still a mystery and researchers are still trying to find
the reason for it. One possibility may be due to the breathing of babies while in
deep sleep.
The latest findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical

Association, reported that babies who die from SIDS generated low amounts of
the message-carrying brain chemical, serotonin, needed to regulate sleep,
breathing and heart rate. The researchers said abnormal levels of serotonin may
hamper an infantÊs breathing, especially in challenging situations such as
breathing in too much exhaled carbon dioxide while sleeping face down. Parents
are advised to put infants on their backs to sleep, to avoid keeping rooms too
warm and to keep loose blankets and pillows away from infants.
SELF-CHECK 4.2
1. What are newbornsÊ four sleeping states?
2. How does culture influence the sleeping pattern of babies?
ACTIVITY 4.2
Research SIDS. Discuss with your coursemates the possibilities of SIDS

in the myINSPIRE forum.

4.1.3 Crying
New parents often feel helpless and stressed when faced with a crying baby.
Experienced parents know that babies typically cry to get their needs met, such
as hunger, discomfort, digestive problems or fright. Crying is the only way they
can communicate with adults.
According to BowlbyÊs evolutionary theory, babies are equipped with means of

attracting the attention of their parents, such as crying, to gain or maintain their
attention and interest (Schaffer, 2004). However, sometimes babies cry a great
deal for a prolonged period for unexplained reasons and it can be frustrating and
frightening for parents.
Colic, which means pain, sometimes makes babies cry for hours. Although colic
is usually harmless, in some cases it may indicate an illness, such as a hernia or
an ear infection. Parents soon learn to differentiate between the types of infant
cries.
The following clues can help you figure out why your little one is unhappy:
(a) „IÊm hungry.‰ – These rhythmic, brief cries get more and more intense until
they result in a full-blown tear fest. Watch for visual cues: your baby may
open his mouth or start sucking on his fingers.
(b) „IÊm tired.‰ – A baby who needs sleep can have an irritated, sporadic cry,
may belt out several quick wails, or will look like he wants to cry but
cannot. In addition, he will yawn, rub his eyes or turn away from you.
(c) „How boring.‰ – One minute he is cooing with delight, then suddenly he is
making throaty noises and whiny moans that sound fake or exaggerated.
(d) „Ouch! Something hurts.‰ – This sudden, piercing scream is often

accompanied by a wide open mouth and clenched hands and feet. Look for
clothing pinching his skin or a thread wrapped tightly around a toe.
4.1.4 Soothing Babies

Are babies able to soothe themselves? According to Hetherington et al. (2006),
they can to some extent. Sucking is one of the ways. Research shows that
immediately after birth and before the first oral feeding, sucking on a pacifier
reduces a babyÊs distress (Hetherington et al., 2006). In a classic study of how to
bring an infant to a calm but alert state, holding the baby to oneÊs shoulder was
found to be the most effective method (Korner & Thoman, 1970).

Parents can help calm a baby by using techniques such as rocking, swaddling
and massaging. Swaddling is a common cultural practice in Malaysia, where the
nurses in the infant room will wrap the newborn tightly in a diaper or cloth. This
will reduce the movement of the limbs, hence, calming down the neonate. Infant
massage has also been found to be effective in keeping an infant calm and
ensuring he sleeps better, especially when administered after a bath.
ACTIVITY 4.3
1. Our grandmothers always warn us against picking up babies as

soon as they cry. Should we ignore the babiesÊ cry or are we
spoiling them if we rush to their cry promptly?
2. What do Malaysian parents normally do to calm their babies?

Give examples.
3. Find out about baby massage. What are its benefits?
Discuss and share your answers with your coursemates in the

myINSPIRE forum.
4.2 SENSATION, PERCEPTION AND LEARNING

Remember the story of Adam? He was able to open his eyes and look around as
soon as he was born. He was listening to GrandmaÊs singing. As soon as he was
put into his motherÊs arms, he turned to look for the nipple and started to suck.
What senses did he use, what do they tell him about his world and what has he
learned from all these experiences?
How do newborns make sense of their world? Can they hear and see as we do?
What do they prefer to listen to or see? How do they learn and respond to their
environment? These are a few questions that we shall investigate in this subtopic.
4.2.1 Sensation and Perception

Sensation and perception are two different but inseparable aspects of how we
experience the world. The boundary between these two processes is not precise.
Sensation is the process of receiving, translating and transmitting information
from the external environment by our sense organs to the brain. Perception is the
higher level process of selecting, organising and interpreting sensory information
about the objects, events and spatial layout of our surroundings into useful

mental representations. Researchers have discovered that babiesÊ sensory and

perceptual capabilities are quite well-organised even at birth, allowing infants to
begin adapting immediately to their new environment (Hetherington et al., 2007).
Let us discuss further a few of a babyÊs sensations and perceptions:
(a) Visual Stimuli

According to Haith (1980), babies are awake at birth and will open their
eyes if the light is not too bright. If born in darkness, they will maintain a
controlled, detailed search. In the first few weeks of birth, the newborn has
a clear vision of about 8‰ which is just the right distance to have a good
look at the mother during nursing. This enables the baby to get to know the
mother better.
Researchers used the visual preference method to examine infantsÊ abilities

to distinguish visual stimuli. In this technique, the researcher presents two
stimuli to a baby at the same time and sees which one the infant attends to.
For example, two pictures are presented to the baby to find out which one
the baby looks at. The one that the baby attends to longer is the preferred
stimulus. This method of research has found that babies have a preference
for human faces (Mauer & Salapatek, 1976; Johnson & Morton, 1991).
Bornstein (1975) also discovered that infants prefer red, blue, yellow and
green over colours such as violet and blue-green, which might be the reason
that most infantsÊ toys are of these colours.
According to Johnson and Morton (1991), there are two stages in the
development of face perception:
(i) The tendency of babies to turn to and look at face-like patterns

ensures that they get maximum exposure to peopleÊs faces and so,
have the opportunity to learn to discriminate among them.
(ii) Infants look at outer boundaries more than the internal features of the
face.
After several weeks of such exposure, babies develop the ability to identify
individual faces (Schaffer, 2004). Walton, Bower and Bower (1992)
discovered that newborns prefer their mothersÊ faces over the faces of
strangers. This paves the way towards social bonding (Schaffer, 2004).
(b) Depth Perception

Do infants know the dangers of depth? Gibson and Walk (1960) invented a
clever way to study infantsÊ reactions to depth. A visual cliff was built by
placing a transparent material across a shallow platform and a sharp drop-

off. Campos, Langer and Krowitz (1970) found that younger babies showed
a decreased heart rate when they were placed over the deep side, which
indicated that they noticed the difference between the two sides but were
not yet afraid. Berthenthal and Campos (1984) found that babies aged six to
fourteen months would not cross the deep side to get to their mothers, even
with the mothersÊ encouragement, indicating that they recognised the drop-
off and were scared.
(c) Auditory Ability

At birth, the newbornÊs auditory system is more advanced and well-
developed than many other systems. We noticed that infants get startled by
loud noises and soothed by soft tender sounds. Newborns are responsive to
human voices, turn their eyes towards a source of sound and make some
discrimination between sounds of different pitches (Poole, Warren &
Nunez, 2007). They are attentive especially to high-pitched female voices
and are found to be able to identify the motherÊs voice better than the
fatherÊs. However, sounds need to be louder for newborns to hear them.
Not only can newborns hear, but the possibility has been raised that the
foetus can hear even as it nestles within its motherÊs womb (Santrock, 2001).
Researchers found that infants at two days of age can produce a preference
for hearing a familiar story, for instance, Dr SeussÊ classic story, The Cat in
the Hat, which the mothers had been reading twice a day over the last six
weeks of their pregnancy (DeCasper & Spence, 1986). The infants suck on a
nipple in a different way when the mothers read The Cat in the Hat,
suggesting that the infants recognised its pattern and tone (Santrock, 2001).
DeCasper and Spence (1986) also found that the infants would suck more in
response to hearing their motherÊs native language than they would to a
foreign language. This study reveals the remarkable ability of an infantÊs
brain to learn even before birth.
(d) Touch and Pain

Newborns respond to touch, as we have learnt from their reflexes. If we
touch a newbornÊs cheek, he will turn his head in that direction. If we touch
his lips, he will produce a sucking movement.
Do infants feel pain? Gunnar, Malone and Risch (1987) found that baby
boys cry intensely during circumcision, indicating that they are stressed.
However, the crying will stop within a few minutes, and they will nurse
and interact in a normal manner with the mother. Also, they will go into a
deep sleep which seems to serve as a coping mechanism (Santrock, 2001).

(e) Smell and Taste

Infants seem to get satisfaction from the taste of milk. In one study, even at
only two hours of age, babies made different facial expressions when they
tasted sweet, sour and bitter solutions (Rosenstein & Oster, 1988). Babies
also seem able to recognise the smell of their mother within the first few
days of life (MacFarlane, 1977). In MacFarlaneÊs investigation, young
infants who were breastfed showed a clear preference for smelling their
motherÊs breast pad when they were six days old.
(f) Intermodal Perception

This is about actively exploring objects in our environment and detecting
distinctive features through the use of two or more sensory systems, such
as vision and hearing or vision and touch. For example, when Adam was in
his motherÊs arms, he heard her voice and responded to her touch and
reached out for her nipple. Can we say that Adam has the capacity for
intermodal transfer as soon as he was born?
Kaye and Bower (1994) tested newborns who were solely breastfed and had
no experience with a pacifier. They found that the newborns showed
a visual preference for the pacifier they had been sucking on after only
20 seconds of exposure. This study suggested that infants are probably born
with the capacity for intermodal transfer (Hetherington et al., 2006).
Sensation and perceptual skills are important to newborns and young babies. For
example, sight, smell and touch help them recognise their mothers; smell and
taste make it much easier to learn to take their food. Early development of touch,
smell and taste and the abilities to see and hear, prepare babies to learn about the
world. Over the first year, with added experience, infants will improve further in
intermodal perception (Mauer, Stagner & Mondloch, 1999).
SELF-CHECK 4.3
1. Why is it important for us to understand young infantsÊ sensory

and perceptions abilities? How will it help in our work with
young children?
2. How do infantsÊ visual and auditory abilities help them to

develop their relationship with their caregivers?

ACTIVITY 4.4
1. Pay a visit to childcare centres and observe the programmes the

centres offer. What kind of activities are the children engaged in?
Are there any sensory activities?
2. If you are looking for a childcare centre for your toddler, which
programme would you choose: one that emphasises social play
and communication, exposure to touch, sights and sounds, or one
that emphasises learning the alphabet, word cards and number
drills? Explain your choice in the myINSPIRE forum.
4.2.2 Learning
How babies learn and develop is of great interest to psychology researchers.
Learning refers to behavioural changes (Charlsworth, 2000) that result from the
child interacting with his environment in a new way (Shaffer & Kipp, 2007). For
example, from birth, when the baby hears sounds from words, songs and stories,
he will imitate the sounds. This in turn will attract responses from those around
him, praising him; and from then onwards, he will make more of the sounds.
This is how he learns to talk.
In this subtopic, we will explore how babies learn through association and
imitation and how this prepares babies for learning and their memory
capabilities.
(a) Classical and Operant Conditioning

Sometimes, we hear parents threatening their child by saying, „If you keep
crying, the doctor will give you a jab‰; or „The policeman will come and
catch you‰. Eventually, the child will come to associate fear with doctors
and policemen!
Hetherington et al. (2006) demonstrated how a baby may be conditioned to

fear a doctor. Figure 4.1 shows that at the first meeting, the baby does not
show any particular reaction to the doctor, but after the doctor gives him a
painful injection that causes him to cry, the baby may expect the same pain
at his next meeting with the doctor and cry or act afraid even if he does not
see a needle in her hand.

Figure 4.1: How a baby may be conditioned to fear a doctor

Source: Herentington et al. (2006)
(b) Learning through Imitation

Imitation is an important element in learning. One of the most important
ways a baby solves problems is by imitating the actions of someone who is
more knowledgeable (Santrock, 2001). Imitating the motherÊs problem-
solving strategies clearly has survival value for an infant (Santrock, 2001).
Andrew Meltzoff (1990) conducted an experiment on infantsÊ imitative

abilities and believes that these abilities are biologically based. His study
showed that infants can imitate a facial expression within the first few days
after birth, even before they have had experience with other agents in their
environment. In MeltzoffÊs observations of infants in the first 72 hours of
life, the infants displayed a full imitative response to an adultÊs facial
expressions, such as tongue protrusion or a wide opening of the mouth
(Santrock, 2001).
Similarly, Tiffany Field and her colleagues (1982) examined the capabilities
of newborns within 36 hours of their birth. They found that most infants
imitate the adultÊs display of surprise by widely opening their mouths; they
frequently widened their lips when observing a happy expression. When
the adultÊs face looked sad, the infantÊs lips moved into a pouting
expression (Santrock, 2001). Refer to Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2: InfantsÊ ability to imitate

Source: Kail & Cavanaugh (2004)
How do these early imitations help infants in learning? Meltzoff and Moore
(1999) argued that these imitation capabilities equipped infants with early
mental structures that can be deployed as a discovery mechanism for
understanding persons. At the later state of infancy, we can see that infants
are able to imitate a more expanded range of behaviours. For instance, a
10-month-old may imitate an adult clapping his hands, waving her finger
back and forth or imitate another infant knocking down a tower of blocks
(Kail & Cavanaugh, 2004).
(c) Memory
Do you remember the name of a friend you have not seen for 10 years?
Where did you keep your passport since you last used it? When did you
last renew your driving licence? You will search your memory in answering
these questions. How about infants? Do they have a memory too?
Rovee-Collier (1997) conducted an experiment on infantsÊ memory. A

ribbon from a mobile was attached to the leg of a baby aged two or three
months. Within a few minutes, the baby learned to kick to make the mobile
move. Rovee-Collier found that a few days later, babies would still kick to
make the mobile move. However, if the mobile was brought back to the
babies several weeks later, most babies forgot that kicking moved the

mobile. When that happened, Rovee-Collier gave them a reminder by

moving the mobile herself without attaching the ribbon to their foot. Then,
the baby would kick to move the mobile again (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2004).
Rovee-CollierÊs experiments show that three important features of memory

exist as early as two and three months of age (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2004):
(i) An event from the past is remembered;
(ii) Over time, the event can no longer be recalled; and
(iii) A cue can serve to dredge up a memory that seems to have been
forgotten.
Although babies are capable of some imitation, the ability to imitate and the
amount of such behaviour the child displays changes significantly with age
(Hetherington et al., 2006). Rose, Feldman and Jankowski (2001) found
that memory improves rapidly in older infants and toddlers. These
improvements in memory could be due to growth in the brain area that is
critical for storing new facts and supporting memory (Carver & Bauer,
2001). These changes also explain why the ability to remember faces and
objects improves around three months of age (Poole, Warren & Nunez,
2007).
When brain structures that support memory are increasingly linked to areas
that determine the emotional significance of events, infants become afraid
of strangers. Babies at seven to ten months are more fun to play with
because they more often act on (and emotionally react to) information in
working memory which is what they are thinking about right now. For
example, it is easy to make babies laugh by establishing a pattern of hand
motions and sounds, then changing the pattern suddenly with an
expression of delight (Poole, Warren & Nunez, 2007), such as the game of
peek-a-boo. This is a game played with babies. In the game, the older player
hides their face, pops back into the babyÊs view and says Peekaboo!
Sometimes followed by „I see you!‰, peek-a-boo is thought by
developmental psychologists to demonstrate an infantÊs inability to
understand object permanence. Object permanence is an important stage of
cognitive development for infants. Numerous tests regarding it have been
done, usually involving a toy and a crude barrier which is placed in front of
the toy and then removed repeatedly. In early sensory-motor stages, the
infant is completely unable to comprehend object permanence. Psychologist
Jean Piaget conducted experiments with infants which led him to conclude

that this awareness was typically achieved at eight to nine months of age.
Infants before this age are too young to understand object permanence. A
lack of object permanence can lead to A-not-B errors, where children reach
for a thing at a place where it should not be.
SELF-CHECK 4.4
1. What is learning? How do we know whether a child has learned?
2. Give an example of classical conditioning, operant conditiong,

imitation and memory. Explain why each is useful for learning.
ACTIVITY 4.5
Tell a friend about your experience with a childÊs ability to learn and
recall what he/she has learned before. Post them in the myINSPIRE
forum.
• Some of the reflexes that babies normally display are rooting reflex, sucking
reflex, eye-blink reflex, moro reflex, palmer grasp, stepping reflex, Babinski
reflex, swimming reflex and tonic neck reflex.
• Newborns spend most of their time alternating among four different states:
alert inactivity, waking activity, crying and sleeping.
• Researchers discovered that babiesÊ sensory and perceptual capabilities are

well-organised even at birth. Young babies can hear and see very well; they
also use integrated senses that involve more than one sense.
• Among the sensations and perceptions discussed are visual stimuli, depth
perception, auditory ability, touch and pain, smell and taste, and also
intermodal perception.
• Learning results in a relatively permanent change in behaviour which results

from experience. Children learn through association and imitation and these
prepare babies for learning and their memory capabilities.

Auditory ability Perception

Classical conditioning Reflexes
Depth perception Sensation
Imitation Sleep and awakening pattern
Intermodal perception Smell and taste
Learning Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Memory Touch and pain
Operant conditioning Visual stimuli
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Topic  Infancy:

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

What do you think of a newborn baby? Is it a helpless and confused

4.1 THE NEWBORN

4.1.1 What are Reflexes?

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Table 4.1: Some Reflexes that Babies Normally Display

Reflexes Stimulation Response Function

Sources: Berk (2005)

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2. Why are infants equipped with these reflexes?

4.1.2 Sleeping and Awakening Pattern

Newborn infants tend to go on active sleep (similar to adultsÊ Rapid Eye

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

The latest findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical

2. How does culture influence the sleeping pattern of babies?

Research SIDS. Discuss with your coursemates the possibilities of SIDS

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

According to BowlbyÊs evolutionary theory, babies are equipped with means of

(d) „Ouch! Something hurts.‰ – This sudden, piercing scream is often

4.1.4 Soothing Babies

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1. Our grandmothers always warn us against picking up babies as

2. What do Malaysian parents normally do to calm their babies?

3. Find out about baby massage. What are its benefits?

Discuss and share your answers with your coursemates in the

4.2 SENSATION, PERCEPTION AND LEARNING

4.2.1 Sensation and Perception

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mental representations. Researchers have discovered that babiesÊ sensory and

Let us discuss further a few of a babyÊs sensations and perceptions:

(a) Visual Stimuli

Researchers used the visual preference method to examine infantsÊ abilities

(i) The tendency of babies to turn to and look at face-like patterns

(b) Depth Perception

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(c) Auditory Ability

(d) Touch and Pain

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(e) Smell and Taste

(f) Intermodal Perception

1. Why is it important for us to understand young infantsÊ sensory

2. How do infantsÊ visual and auditory abilities help them to

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1. Pay a visit to childcare centres and observe the programmes the

(a) Classical and Operant Conditioning

Hetherington et al. (2006) demonstrated how a baby may be conditioned to

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Figure 4.1: How a baby may be conditioned to fear a doctor

(b) Learning through Imitation

Andrew Meltzoff (1990) conducted an experiment on infantsÊ imitative

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Figure 4.2: InfantsÊ ability to imitate

Rovee-Collier (1997) conducted an experiment on infantsÊ memory. A

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

mobile. When that happened, Rovee-Collier gave them a reminder by

Rovee-CollierÊs experiments show that three important features of memory

(i) An event from the past is remembered;

(ii) Over time, the event can no longer be recalled; and

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1. What is learning? How do we know whether a child has learned?

2. Give an example of classical conditioning, operant conditiong,

• Researchers discovered that babiesÊ sensory and perceptual capabilities are