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TRANSCRIPT
Newborns have poor visual
acuity, their ability to
change focus is limited, and
they are very nearsighted.
A newborn has 20/660
vision. At 6 months this has
improved to 20/100; and by
2 years, the child can see
almost well as an
adult(Courage &
Adams, 1990).
They are particularly
attracted to areas of high
visual contrast, such as the
edges of an object.
They also prefer complex
patterns to plain
ones, prefer patterns with
curved lines to patterns
with straight lines, and
they are specially interested
in faces (Fantz, 1961).
Newborns look mostly at the
outside contour of a face, but by 2
months they focus their attention
on the inside of the face—the
eyes, nose, and
mouth(Haith, Bergman, &
Moore, 1977).
Parents may notice with delight
that the baby has begun to make
eye contact.
6 WEEKS
• head-turning response
disappears
3 OR 4 MONTHS OF AGE
• head-turning response
reemerges
• Infants will also search with
their eyes for the source of the
sound.
4 MONTHS
• They will reach in the correct
direction toward the source of
a sound in the dark.
6 MONTHS
• They show a marked increase in
their responsiveness to sounds
that are accompanied by
interesting sights and are able to
pinpoint the location of the
sound more precisely, an ability
that continues to improve into
their second year
(Hillier, Hewitt, &
Morrongiello, 1992; Ashmead et
al., 1991; Field, 1987).
• Newborn infants can also detect the
difference between very similar
sounds, such as two tones that are
only one note apart on the musical
scale (Bridger, 1961), and they can
distinguish sounds of the human
voice from other kinds of sounds.
• The child will have picked up enough
information about the language that
it will also have begun to ―screen
out‖ sounds it does not use (Kuhl et
al., 1992).
Infants prefer sweet-tasting liquids
to those that are
salty, bitter, sour, or bland.
SWEET LIQUID – relaxed
expression resembling a slight
smile, sometimes accompanied
by lip-licking.
SOUR SOLUTION – pursed lips
and a wrinkled nose
BITTER SOLUTION – open its
mouth with the corners turned
down and stick out its tongue in
what appears to be an expression
of disgust
Infants will turn their heads toward a
sweet smell, and their heart rate and
respiration will slow down, indicating
attention.
Noxious odors, such as ammonia or rotten
eggs, cause them to turn their heads away;
heart rate and respiration
accelerate, indicating distress.
Because of the odor of the breast
milk, breast-fed babies can recognize their
mother’s odor.
In general, the ability to distinguish among
smells has a clear adaptive value: It helps
infants avoid noxious substances, thereby
increasing their likelihood of survival.
In a study, infants only a few hours
old learned to turn their heads
right or left, depending on
whether they heard a buzzer or a
tone.
3 MONTHS OLD
Infants have quite good
memories.
When a mobile over an infant’s
crib was attached by a ribbon
to one of the baby’s
limbs, infants quickly
discovered which arm or leg
would move the mobile.
Infants can distinguish and prefer
the sound of the human voice from
other sounds.
They also prefer heartbeat sounds
and female voices to male
voices, and they prefer their
mother’s voices to those of other
women. But they do not prefer
their father’s voices to those of
other men (De Casper &
Prescott, 1984; De Casper &
Fifer, 1980; Brazelton, 1978).