E. Mavis Hetherington,
University of Virginia
Ross D. Parke,
University of California
Mark Schmuckler,
University of Toronto at Scarborough
Below are this chapter's featured key terms. The textbook's full glossary is also available for online searching.
| auditory localization | The ability to determine from where in space a sound is originating.
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| autostimulation theory | The theory that during REM sleep, the infant's brain stimulates itself and that this, in turn, stimulates early development of the central nervous system.
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| Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale | A scale used to measure an infant's sensory and perceptual capabilities, motor development, range of states, and ability to regulate these states. The scale also indicates whether the brain and central nervous system are properly regulating autonomic responsivity.
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| Conlern | A cortically mediated mechanism that develops at about two months of age, whose function it is to enable humans to make perceptual distinctions within sets of similar objects (such as faces).
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| Conspec | An innate, subcortical mechanism whose function is to allow infants to detect and to orient towards faces.
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| habituation | The process by which an individual reacts with less and less intensity to a repeatedly presented stimulus, eventually responding only faintly or not at all.
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| infant state | A recurring pattern of arousal in the newborn, ranging from alert, vigorous, wakeful activity to quiet, regular sleep.
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| intermodal perception | The use of sensory information from more than one sensory modality to identify a stimulus; also, the apprehension of a stimulus already identified by one modality by means of another.
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| neonate | A newborn baby.
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| perception | The interpretation of sensations in order to make them meaningful.
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| reflex | A human being's involuntary response to external stimulation.
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| REM and non-REM sleep | REM, or rapid-eye-movement, sleep is characterized by rapid, jerky movements of the eyes and, in adults, is often associated with dreaming; infants spend 50 percent of their sleep in REM activity, whereas adults spend only about 20 percent. This activity is absent in the remaining, non-REM sleep.
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| sensation | Detection of stimuli by the sensory receptors.
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| shape constancy | The ability to perceive an object's shape as remaining constant despite changes in its orientation and the angle from which one views it.
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| size constancy | The tendency to perceive an object as constant in size regardless of changes in its distance from the viewer and in the image it casts on the retinas of the eyes.
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| stereoscopic vision | The sense of a third spatial dimension produced by the brain's fusion of the separate images contributed by both eyes, each of which reflects the stimulus from a slightly different angle.
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| sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) | The sudden, unexplained death of an infant while sleeping, also called crib death.
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| visual acuity | Sharpness of vision; the clarity with which fine details can be discerned.
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| visual cliff | An apparatus that tests an infant's depth perception by using patterned materials and an elevated, clear glass platform to make it appear that one side of the platform is several feet lower than the other.
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| visual preference method | A method of studying infants' abilities to distinguish one stimulus from another.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education