Perceptual Development Visual, Auditory and Speech Perception in Infancy

In order for infants to make sense of the world they have to perceive it, and research into the development of sensory and perceptual abilities is one of the most exciting and important areas of infancy research.

The aim of this book is both to reflect current knowledge of perceptual development and to point to some of the many questions that remain unanswered. The study of perceptual development is now a sophisticated science. The majority of the chapters tell a fascinating detective story: the way in which infants perceive and understand the world as they develop. Each of the major sections is prefaced by introductory comments, and the book will be useful for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, and other professionals who have an interest in early perceptual development and in infancy in general.

To make sense of the world, infants have to perceive it, and research into the development of sensory and perceptual abilities is one of the most exciting and important areas of infancy research. This book aims both to reflect current knowledge of perceptual development and to point to some of many questions that remain unanswered.
Each of the major sections is prefaced by introductory comments, making the book equally useful for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, and professionals who are interested in early perceptual development and in infancy in general.

Part I. How the Visual System Develops: Normal and Abnormal Development. 1. The Development of Basic Visual Abilities. L. Hainline, A Context for Assessing Infant Vision. The Need for Assessment of Infant Vision. Development of Visual Structures. Development of Spatial Vision. Development of Color Vision. Development of Accommodation and Vergence. Development of Sensory Binocularity. Oculomotor Development. 2. Abnormal Visual Development. M.J. Moseley, M. Neufeld, A.R. Fielder, Visual Development: Effect of Abnormal Influences. Principles of Abnormal Visual Development: Amblyopia. Pediatric Opthalmic Disorders. Part II. Visual Development: From Sensation to Perception. Introduction. 3. Nativism and Empiricism: The History of Two Ideas. I. Gordon, A. Slater, The Historical Background to Empiricism. The Historical Background to Nativism. The Adoption of Empiricism and Nativism by Early Psychologists and Physiologists: Helmholtz and Hering. Some Landmarks in the Development of Empiricism and Nativism. Nativism: The Gestalt Theory, Ethology and Gibson's Concept of the Affordance. The Search for Compromises Between Nativism and Empiricism. Methods of Enquiry: The Ways in Which Researchers have Attempted to Decide Between the Two Traditions. 4. The Competent Infant: Innate Organisation and Early Learning in Infant Visual Perception. A. Slater, Preparedness for Visual Perception. Visual Organisation Soon After Birth. Innate Representations and Early Learning: The Case of Face Perception. Visual Organisation in the Early Months. The Roles of Experience and Learning. 5. Object and Spatial Categorisation in Young Infants: "What" and "Where" in Early Visual Perception. P.C. Quinn, Introduction: The importance of Perceptual Categorisation. Methedology. Perceptually Based Categorical Representations for Objects. Categorical Representations for Spatial Relations. Global Influences on the Development of Object and Spatial Categorisation. 6. The Development of Infant Causal Perception. L.B. Cohen, G. Amsel, M.A. Redford, M. Casasola, A Working Definintion of Causality. Historical Views and Distinctions. Evidence from Occluded Events. Evidence from Visible Events. Evidence from Younger Infants. Evidence from Older Infants. Evidence on the Agent-Patient Distinction. Meeting Fodor's Conditions. Extensions to Language. 7. Object Perception and Object Knowledge in Young Infants: A View from Studies of Visual Development. S.P. Johnson, Introduction: Object Perception and Object Knowledge in Everyday Life. The Development of Object Knowledge: Piaget's Theory. Visual Skills in the Neonate: The Foundations of Object Perception and Object Knowledge. Object Perception and Object Knowledge in the Neonate. Object Perception and Oject Knowledge in teh 2- to 3-Month Old. Object Perception and Object Knowledge in the 4- to 6- Month Old. Object Perception and Object Knowledge in the 7- to 12-Month Old. Caveats: The Problems of Replicability and Disagreement Between Studies. Theoretical Accounts of the Development of Object Knowledge. Part III. Perception of Social Stimuli. 8. Infant Social Perception. D.W. Muir, J. Nadel, Newborn Social Perception. Social Awakening Between 1 and 2 Months of Age. Social Discrimination: Social Signals Driving Affect and Attention of 3- to 6-Month Olds. The Onset of the Triadic System. Discrimination and Categorisation of Facial Expression of Emotion During Infancy. M. de Haan, C.A. Nelson, Discrimination of Facial Expressions. Categorisation of Facial Expressions. How are Expressions Encoded? Part IV. Perception of Speech. 10. Foetal Responses to Auditory and Speech Stimuli. J-P. Lecanuet, Potential Sources of Stimulation in the Foetal Milieu. Ouogeney of the Auditory System. Evidence of Foetal Auditory Functioning. Responses to Previously Encountered Stimulation: Foetal Learning. 11. Speech Perception During the First Year. P.W. Juscz