PHYSICAL

DEVELOPMENT
IN INFANCY
Diana Rose B. Bernadas
BS PSYCH – 2A
Reporter
Chapter Outline
❖ Motor Development
❖ Dynamic System View
❖ Reflexes
❖ Gross Motor Skills
❖ Fine Motor Skills

❖ Sensory & Perceptual Development

❖ What are Sensation & Perception?
❖ The Ecological View
❖ Other Senses
❖ Intermodal Perception
❖ Nature, Nurture, & Perceptual
Development
❖ Perceptual-Motor Coupling
 Motor Development

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2
 Dynamic System View
Also called Dynamic System theory, where the perspective on motor
development that seeks to explain how motor behaviors are assembled
for perceiving and acting.

Esther Thelen (1993) is shown

conducting an experiment to
discover how infants learn to control
their arm movements to reach and
grasp for objects. A computer device
is used to monitor the infant’s arm
movements and to track muscle
patterns. Thelen’s research is
conducted from a dynamic systems
perspective.
Dynamic System View
Developmentalist Arnold Gesell (1934) thought
his painstaking observations had revealed how
people develop their motor skills. He had
discovered that infants and children develop
rolling, sitting, standing, and other motor skills
in a fixed order and within specific time frames.
These observations, said Gesell, show that motor
development comes about through the unfolding
of a genetic plan, or maturation.

Later studies, however, demonstrated that the

sequence of developmental milestones is not as
fixed as Gesell indicated and not due as much to
heredity as Gesell argued (Adolph, 2018; Adolph
& Robinson, 2015).
Reflex Reflexes are built-in reactions to stimuli; they govern the newborn’s
movements, which are automatic and beyond the newborn’s control.

Sucking Reflex

Rooting Reflex
Moro Reflex
 Gross Motor Skills
Gross motor skills involve large-muscle activities.
Key skills developed during infancy include control
of posture and walking. Although infants usually
learn to walk by their first birthday, the neural
pathways that allow walking begin forming
earlier. The age at which infants reach milestones
in the development of gross motor skills may vary
by as much as two to four months, especially for
milestones in late infancy.

Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills involve finely tuned movements.
The onset of reaching and grasping marks a
significant accomplishment, and this skill becomes
more refined during the first two years of life.
Sensory & Perceptual Development
 Sensory & Perceptual Development

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5 6 7
 Sensation VS Perception
The product of the
interaction between
information and the
sensory receptors—the
eyes, ears, tongue,
nostrils, and skin.

The interpretation
of what is sensed.
 The Ecological View
Created by the Gibsons, the ecological view states that we directly perceive
information that exists in the world around us. Perception brings people in contact
with the environment to interact with and adapt to it. Affordances provide
opportunities for interaction offered by objects that fit within our capabilities to
perform activities.

Perception: The toddler uses their senses to directly see and touch
Toddler in a Playroom
objects in the room.

Affordance: They notice a soft, colorful rug on the floor, which

affords crawling. They also see a low table, which affords pulling
up, and a colorful toy, which affords grasping and playing.

In this simple scenario, the toddler's perception of the environment

guides their actions. They instinctively respond to what they see
and feel, engaging with objects that offer opportunities for
interaction.
Visual Perception

• Infant visual acuity improves significantly in the

Researchers develop a number of
methods to assess the infant’s
perception. The find out that
infants’ preferred for looking
patterned over nonpatterned
objects.
first year.
• Color vision develops over time.
• Young infants scan human faces systematically.
• By 3 months, infants demonstrate size and shape
constancy.
• Around 2 months, they can perceive occluded
objects as complete.
• In a classic study by Gibson and Walk, even
6-month-old infants showed depth perception.
 Other Senses
During the last two months of pregnancy, the fetus can
hear. Newborns can hear as well, but their sensory
threshold is higher than that of adults. Infants undergo
developmental changes in loudness, pitch, and sound
localization perception. Newborns can also respond to
touch and experience pain. They can differentiate odors,
and sensitivity to taste may develop before birth.
Intermodal Perception
intermodal perception The ability to relate and integrate
information from two or more sensory modalities, such as
vision and hearing.
 Nature, Nurture, &
Perceptual Development
In perceptual development, nativists
(nature) are called "nativists," and
empiricists (nurture) are called
"empiricists." Gibson's ecological
view aligns with nativism but
allows for developmental changes.
Piaget's constructivist view leans
toward empiricism. A balanced
approach considers nature, nurture,
and growing sensitivity to
information in perceptual
development.
Perceptual-Motor Coupling

Perception and action are often not

isolated but rather are coupled.
Individuals perceive in order to
move and move in order to perceive.
 Thank You
For
Listening!

Diana Rose B. Bernadas

BS PSYCH – 2A
Reporter