EarlyCapacities
Early Infancy: Initial Capacities and
Neurons and Networks of Neurons
The Central Nervous System and the
Development of the neural network over the first 15 months postnatally
develop at different times:
•Brain stem develops first
•Reactions, vital functions
•Cortical development also
•Primary motor cortex
•Arms, trunk, legs
•Primary sensory cortex
•Touch, vision, audition
•Frontal Cortex- last to
•Planning, reasoning,
Earliest Capacities
•Taste and smell
•Touch, temperature, and position
• Baseline rate
• Presentation of stimulus
• Behavior rate increases
• Continue until rate
• Presentation of new
• Record behavior rate
• Present prenatally
• Orient toward sound at
• Adult level by age 10.
• Phoneme Discrimination
by 2 mo.
– Study by Eimas
• Evidence for Categorical
– Diminishes for unheard
phonemes over time
• Infants exposed to
English, Hindi or
• Can discriminate
among all phonemes
but ability diminishes
– Coincides with time of
infant articulations
• Fantz’s Study
– Fact: Eyes move with a moving striped field
– Logic: If baby can’t see stripes, then eyes
– Method: Adjust the spacing between stripes.
– Test: At what spacing do babies stop moving
eyes with stimulus?
– Result: Neonates - 20/300 vision
• Preferred Looking Paradigm
– Stimuli presented to infants
– Viewing apparatus to see
where infant is looking
– Differences in looking show:
• Infants discriminate patterns
• Infants prefer some patterns
Neonates looking time at
(Fantz, 1961)
• Endogenous vs
Exogenous scanning
– Focus on area of
– Improved scanning
over the first 3 mo
• Newborns prefer faces to
other stimuli (Fantz)
• Movement critical factor
– By 9 minutes will orient to a
– Decline in preference -2 mo.
• Johnson study
– 2 days old prefer mothers
– Specific, automatic, well-integrated responses
to specific stimulation.
– Survival value
• Eyeblink, sucking, swallowing
– Vestigial
• Grasping, Moro
Reflexes (cont)
• Time Course
– Disappear after few
• babinski, moro, rooting
– Disappear &amp; reappear
• Stepping, crawling
– Evolves
• Sucking, grasping
• eyeblink
Becoming Coordinated with the
Sleeping (I wish!)
• Various states of
• 2 precursors to adultlike sleep pattern
– Active - REM
– Quiet - NREM
– Initially start in REM
– By 2 -3 mo start in
Week 1: 16 - 18 hours
But they don’t do it all at once!
Are sleep patterns biologically
• Differences across cultures
– Rural Kenya
• Babies sleep on mothers back while she works
• Babies sleep with mother
– Feed at will
• Result - shorter night sleep periods compared to US
Nutritionally best
Most easily digested
– Breastmilk - nutritional benefits but bonding?
– Formula - easier on mother, iron supplement
– Initially every 2 - 3 hours (changed over time)
– Schedule or Feed-on-demand?
• Study by Bernal
– Mothers told to use a 4-hour schedule
– Some mothers didn’t follow the rules (feed-on-demand)
– Result - Feed-on-demand cried less
• Study by Aldrich &amp; Hewitt
– Fed-on-demand preferred 3 hr schedule, by 2.5mo - 4hr,
by 7-8 mo - 4 times a day.
• Increases over the first 6 weeks
– Universal pattern
• Initially involuntary
– Controlled by brain stem
• Crying on Purpose
– Different types of cries (pitch, pauses)
– Causes: pain, discomfort, hungry, bored
• Comforting a crying baby
Dr. Florika Fink Hooijer - maritime incident response group