Nanyang Technological University HP 2300 Developmental Psychology 2023-2024 Lecture Notes PDF

2023-2024 ASSOC P R OF SET OH P EI P EI [email protected] ASST PR OF LUO LI ZHU [email protected] PSYCHOLOGY, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY COURSE SYLLABUS HP2300: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AY 2023-24 Semester 2 Infants and young children Developmental topics Tutorial introduction Tutorial pres...

2023-2024 ASSOC P R OF SET OH P EI P EI [email protected] ASST PR OF LUO LI ZHU [email protected] PSYCHOLOGY, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY COURSE SYLLABUS HP2300: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AY 2023-24 Semester 2 Infants and young children Developmental topics Tutorial introduction Tutorial presentations Quiz MASTER CREATE/ APPLY ENGAGE Cognitive Development: The Newborn; Perceptual Development I - Piaget’s Theories; II - Piaget Revisited; Prenatal Development Motor Development; Infant Cognition Jan 16 Jan 30 Introduction & Methods; Jan 23 Preparations for Language, First Words and Sentences Early Conceptual Devt; Theory of Mind Feb 6 Feb 13 Attachment and Temperament Moral Development; Early Emotional Development Quiz Feb 20 Feb 27 Achievement Mar 12 Mar 19 QUIZ Weeks 1 to 7: Prof Luo Peer Relationships & Gender Development Social Devt: Environmental Contexts & the Modern Family Mar 26 April 2 Apr 9 Online Session: Born to be Good Apr 16 Apr 29 FINAL EXAM Weeks 8 to 13: Prof Setoh 04 The Newborn OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 1 Newborn / Neonate: Birth to one month Birthday 1 What is it like to be born? Birth process - baby Tight squeezing in the birth canal: Clears amniotic fluid from lungs Shapes the baby’s head Anoxia – oxygen deprivation  Normal birth process;  Prolonged anoxia can lead to brain damage 1 Score 0 1 2 Apgar Scale Appearance (Skin Color) Blue, Pale Pulse (Heart) Absent Pink body, blue extremities Pink Slow Rapid Grimace (Reflexes) No response to stimulation Grimace / Weak cry Cry and pull away Activity (Muscle Tone) Limp Respiration (Breathing) Absent Some motion Slow / Irregular Active motion Strong cry Administered 1 to 5 minutes after birth; Scores range from 0 (unhealthy) to 10 (healthy) 1 Changes after birth 1) Temperature regulation: Warmer  colder 2) Space: Limited in the womb  Freedom of movement 3) Light patterns: Surprising 4) Direction: Head down  “Upside down” 5) Vestibular motion  Stillness 1 What is it like to be born? Low Birth Weight (LBW)  Weight: LBW < 5.5lbs (avg 7–7.5lbs) 8% of US births; >18 million babies worldwide  Premature baby: born >3 weeks before the full term (~38 weeks)  born before 35 weeks.  Small for Gestational Age (SGA): born at full term but weigh much less than expected for gestational age.  Good news: small babies are surviving more often now. 1 What is it like to be born? Low Birth Weight (LBW)  Bad news: LBW predicts poorer long-term outcomes. Cognitive impairments Hyperactivity & distractibility Difficulty interacting with peers Poor school performance 1 What is it like to be born? Premature/ Low Birth Weight (LBW) Weight Gain Massaged Infants Not Massaged 2 6 10 Age in Weeks 14 Interventions: Tactile stimulations (Touch)  massaging and flexing their arms and legs multiple times a day (Field, 1998) OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 2 Newborn Appearances 2 Newborn Appearances Lanugo Vernix 2 Newborn Appearances Acne Cone-shaped head OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 3 Newborn Reflexes In-born, involuntary responses to stimulation. Inborn: present at birth; unlearned Automatic: involuntary Responsive: occur in response to a particular type of stimulation. Shared: Common to all members of the species 3 Newborn Reflexes In-born, involuntary responses to stimulation. Reflex Response Function Sucking Sucks finger Adaptive - feeding Rooting Turns head to stimulation Adaptive - feeding Grasping Spontaneous grasp of finger Prep for voluntary grasp Moro “Embracing” motion Adapt. Past - Cling to mom? Babinski Toes fan out & curl Unknown 3 Newborn Reflexes In-born, involuntary responses to stimulation. Babinski / plantar reflex Moro reflex 3 Video Examples 3 Newborn Reflexes In-born, involuntary responses to stimulation. Screening tools for assessing neurological development: Abnormal strength or absence of a reflex Unequal response in bilateral reflexes Persistence of certain reflexes Re-emergence of early reflexes beyond timeframe Time to disappear: Grasping (3-4 months); Moro (4-6 months); Babinski (8-12 months) OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 4 Newborn States How do newborns spend their time? 4 Newborn States  Newborns differ in the stability of the proportion of time spent in various states.  Stability increases with age.  Premature babies have more difficulty regulating their states compared to full-term babies. 4 Sleeping  Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep Involves body movements, irregular heart rate and breathing, and distinct brain activity. For adults, linked to dreaming.  Non-REM sleep: Quiet and deep sleep, regular brain waves Lacks motor activity and eye movements. Continuous?  No. Multiple sleep-wake cycles 4 Sleeping Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep 4 Sleeping Newborns spend half of their time in REM sleep. This amount decreases with age. Newborn 6 months 3+ years 4 Sleeping Why do newborns spend so much time in REM sleep? Stimulation theory: Limited visual input because of too much sleep. REM compensates for it and helps visual develop. Evidence  checkerboard study More visual stimulation while awake = less REM sleep 4 Crying 4 Crying Why do babies cry?  An involuntary response – like a reflex.  Adaptive function: Motivate adults to help!  causes physiological response in adults: Increase in heart rate Increase in blood pressure  Becomes voluntary at ~ 6 weeks.  Peak period: first 3 months. It's not my fault. 4 Crying How should we respond to crying? Should we respond immediately? DEPENDS on the type of crying:  Genuine distress (pain)  Respond!  Minor upset  Mothers who respond more slowly have infants who cry less often (Hubbard & Van IJzendoorn, 1991). 4 Crying Cultural differences  Cross-Cultural Research Less industrialized countries: Less crying  Sleep with parent (co-sleeping); Carried more  Experimental Research Increased Carrying vs. Control Groups  More carrying = Less crying 4 Culture and Parenting Practices Cultures differ in their beliefs about sleeping arrangements for children. US (n = 18) Location Mayan (n = 14) 0-3 Months After 6 months 0-3 Months After 6 months Mom’s bed with dad/siblings 0 2 10 10 Mom’s bed, no bedmate 0 0 4 4 Separate bed, mom’s room 15 2 0 0 Another room, with bedmate 0 0 0 0 Own bed, with roommate 0 6 0 0 Another room, alone 3 8 0 0 (Morelli et al., 1992) OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities Taste Smell Hearing Touch Vision Fairly well-developed at birth (but not adult-like) POOR at birth, but improves quickly in the first few months 5 Taste Discrimination and preference Before birth: in fetuses – a study by DeSnoo After birth: in newborns Change facial expressions – like adults  IV: Saccharin (sweetener) vs. tasteless dye  DV: How much amniotic fluid does a fetus drink? sweet sour bitter  Fetuses and newborns can taste and have a preference for sweetness! 5 Taste Can newborns tell the difference between tastes? 5 Taste Taste develops before birth:  preferences acquired from prenatal experience. Mennella, Jagnow, & Beauchamp (2001) [Details in Tutorial] Subjects: 2 groups of pregnant mothers (late pregnancy) IV: drank carrot juice daily vs. water during pregnancy DV: How much food (containing carrot juice) do they eat? Tested at 5 months of age. Result: Babies who had experienced carrot juice prenatally ate more than those in the control group. 5 Smell Smell also develops before birth: Newborns prefer smell of own amniotic fluid Prefer pleasant smells – banana, chocolate Dislike sour smells – rotten eggs, shrimp For both tastes and smells: Present at birth, and probably before birth Infants have some ability to discriminate Similar preferences and reactions as adults 5 Smell Newborns can learn to recognize familiar smells. MacFarlane (1975)  IV: Own vs. another mother’s breast pad  DV: Head-turning toward breast pad  Results: 2-day-olds: no preference 6-day-olds: prefer own mother’s smell, rather than that of another lactating mother 5 Hearing How much sound is present in the womb? Demo: recording from inside a sheep uterus “Dick a du bon thé” and music 1cm outside the sheep 4.5 cm deep in the sheep 25 cm deep in the sheep  A lot of sound, even from deep inside. 5 Hearing Can fetuses actually hear?  Inner ear develops at 24 weeks.  should be able to hear at this stage.  Evidence: Fetus responds to sounds  decrease in heart rate  indicates orientation to novel stimulus 5 Hearing How well do they hear? Lecanuet et al. (1995): Habituation; measured fetal heart rate. 1. Present: “.. ba bi...... ba bi...” 2. Switch: “.. bi ba...... bi ba...” Fetal heart rate slows Repeat until heart rate no longer slows. (bored) Fetal heart rate slows again Fetus could tell new sound was different 5 Hearing Do they have auditory preferences?  High-amplitude sucking method Research findings: Mother’s voice > other women Women’s voices > men Motherese > adult-directed speech Native language > other language 5 Janet Werker University of British Columbia Native Language Preference 5 Hearing Can they learn during prenatal development? “Cat in the Hat” study (Decasper & Spence, 1986) Pregnant moms read story out loud during last 6 weeks of pregnancy. Newborns tested with sucking procedure while hearing the same or a different story. Newborns who heard the story preferred it! Those who had not heard the story: no preference.  Fetuses can not just hear; they can also learn. [TB p100] 5 Hearing Not completely adult-like. Auditory localization: Used to test hearing Can’t hear very soft sounds Don’t have echo suppression 5 Hearing Echo suppression Rattle from left speaker first Adult auditory systems ignore certain information.  Report sound on left only; Brain ignores sound on right. Same sound from right speaker, delayed by 7 msec Newborns haven’t acquired this skill yet.  Don’t turn to either speaker; Don’t know where the sound came from. 5 Newborn sensory capacities Summary: 1) The senses are active before birth (except for vision), though not completely adult-like. 2) Learning begins before birth! 3) Newborns often prefer the sensory stimuli they experienced while they were in the womb. OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 6 Are babies born knowing anything? 6 Tabula rasa: “Blank slate” John Locke A baby is like a clean piece of paper, and what they become is shaped by what is written on it. [TB p3] 6 If we're born as blank slates with no inherent traits, why are identical twins so similar? 6 Epigenetics It studies how environmental factors can affect gene expression. Environmental Factors Epigenetic Changes Gene Expression (not DNA sequence) These changes help explain individual differences (e.g., physical appearance, personality, behaviours). 5-minute TED Talk: https://youtu.be/_aAhcNjmvhc 6 Epigenetics May affect susceptibility to diseases and health risks Can affect offspring later in life, even if exposed in the prenatal environment. Maternal exposure to teratogens associated with increased health risks in offsprings (Lumey & Stein, 1997) 6 Epigenetics The impact of early life experiences Maternal care and childhood adversity Offsprings of rats who showed less maternal care had higher responses to stress (Francis et al., 1999) Individuals who have experienced adversities during childhood (e.g., maltreatment, abuse) have poorer emotion regulation and increased hormonal responses to stress (Kessler et al., 2010) A pup that is raised by an anxious, low-nurturing mother becomes an anxious adult. A pup that is raised by a relaxed, high-nurturing mother becomes a relaxed adult. 6 Epigenetics Reversibility of epigenetic changes Not all epigenetic changes are permanent  Can be reversed! Reversibility of epigenetic changes vary with age Targeted interventions and lifestyle changes can alter epigenetic marks (e.g., diet, exercise) Potentially restore normal gene expression patterns (Zhang et al., 2017) 6 Epigenetics Understanding in the field of Developmental Psychology Principle: Gene-environment interactions shape development from prenatal stages to adulthood Impacts: Lasting impacts on developmental outcomes (e.g., developmental delays, emotion regulation, risk-taking behaviours) Applications: Identification of risk factors and potential development of targeted interventions for developmental disorders OUTLINE 1 Birth Experience 2 Newborn Appearance 3 Newborn Reflexes 4 Newborn States 5 Newborn Sensory Capacities 6 Epigenetics 2023-2024 T HANK YO U!