1. What were Darwin and Piaget ’s theories?

Diff erences and similariti es in terms

of infant development. Theory needs experiment, experiment needs theory

Darwin was a naturalist who used observational techniques to study infant development. This
resulted in several inaccurate theories (visual and auditory sensitivity/preference only changes after
a few months). He didn’t believed physical punishment resulted in decreased antisocial behaviour.
He described primary and self-conscious emotions. Not repeatable method

Jean Piaget used experimental techniques to observe developmental changes in infants (clinical
method). Note changes in infants’ response when a task is varied. He found that developing reason
and thinking is influential when learning capabilities are inborn. He observed that his son could
reach for an object, but could not distinguish between the same object when placed on top of
another object.

In general baby diaries have biases, but give evidence in development. Good starting point to test
theories.

2. Which non-invasive methods can be used to test infants‘ brain acti vity.
Restricti on and limitati on and advantages

Neuroimaging:

 MRI: Show maturation of cerebral structures. Cerebral volumes. Structural.

 EEG: Record electrical activity (caused by post-synaptic potentials) along the scalp by firing
neurons within the brain. Epilepsy studies.
 F-MRI: Measures blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) change related to neural activity in
the brain. Singles out cognitive structures associated with certain activities performed.
Functional.
 F-NIRS: Measures local concentration of oxygenation.
 MEG: Maps brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents in the
brain using arrays. Records responses to certain stimuli.
 ERP: Measures changes in electrical activity of the brain in response to stimuli, derived from
EEG recordings.

Test sensory capacities:

 Expectancy violation
 Pupil/eye tracking (preferential paradigm)
 Habituation

Advantages:

 Non-invasive
 Some are relatively inexpensive (ERP)
 Can be performed in non-sedated, preverbal infants with limited behavioural responses
 Can access specific cognitive functions relating to certain activities/actions

Disadvantages:
  Specific brain activity could not be recorded due to the superficial recording at the surface of
the scalp (if you see no cognitive differences, it is not sufficient to conclude
dysfunctionalities)
 It’s hard to control the differences in state of the infants (quiet sleep/active sleep/awake)
 Difficulty to control infant movements and behaviour
 Differences in readings can be due to differences in brain maturation (hard to control)
 Some are very expensive (MRI) and time consuming

3. How does EEG/ERP work in infants? Limitati ons and advantages

ERP: Measures changes in electrical activity of the brain in response to stimuli, derived from EEG
recordings. Brain activity is recorded from the scalp while the infant is repeatedly presented with
stimuli. Activity arises from post-synaptic potentials. The averages of the readings are calculated
and presented as peak amplitudes (intensity of processing) and latencies (speed of processing).

Exogenous (external events) vs endogenous potentials (reflects attention and memory in cognition)

Mismatch negativities (odd-ball paradigm, novel, deviant stimulus): Endogenous

Recognition paradigm

Advantages:

 Non-invasive
 Readings are not affected by cognitive variables (motivation/attention)
 Can be used in non-collaborative subjects (asleep/awake)
 Can access specific cognitive functions relating to certain activities/actions

Disadvantages:

 Specific brain activity could not be recorded due to the superficial recording at the surface of
the scalp (if you see no cognitive differences, it is not sufficient to conclude
dysfunctionalities)
 It’s hard to control the differences in state of the infants (quiet sleep/active sleep/awake)
 Differences in readings can be due to differences in brain maturation (hard to control)
 Individual differences

Early intervention

Prevention

Predict later learning difficulties/language processing/developmental disorders

Map meaningful responses

Diagnose epilepsy: Measure raw electrical activity (not event-related) by triggering the episode
(flashes)

4. Normal cogniti ve development vs premature/abnormal development

Structural development:

 Biological aspects (brain structure determines behavioural development/hormonal changes)

 Neurogenesis
 Neural migration
Full-term newborns:

 Auditory discrimination (conditioned head turning)

 Auditory perception (enhanced cortical activity when listening to their mother’s voice
compared to a stranger’s)
 Focus attention toward a peripheral stimulus (tracking behaviour)
 Recognize face-patterns, real-face imagery, and motion
 Habituation (stops paying attention to repeated stimuli, re-engage when novel stimulus is
presented)
 Preference paradigms (infants look more at visually complex images)
 Recognition memory (expectancy violation/contingency conditioning)

Preterm newborns:

 No auditory discrimination/perception
 Increased risk for cerebral palsy, ADHD, autism, and learning disabilities
 Slow visual information processing, attention, and impaired habituation (recognition
memory)
 Longer gazes, lower shift rates (some more due to extrauterine exposure), more off-task
behaviour

5. Typical vs atypical readings

Typical:

 Differential patterns of neural activity to the mother’s voice (positive peak, large amplitude)
and a stranger’s voice (negative slow waves, prolonged latency)
 A familiar visual stimulus results in a larger negative deflection from stimulus onset and a
larger amplitude (more intense processing)
 Auditory perception for speech sounds is shown in the left hemisphere and nonspeech
sounds are shown in the right hemisphere

Atypical:

 No differential patterns in response to the mother’s or stranger’s voice (simple negative

wave, prolonged latency in both cases, no large amplitude)
 In dyslexic cases, auditory perception tests resulted in a larger response in the right
hemisphere indicating poor specialization for language (receptive language and memory
skills)
 Diabetic mothers