Chapter 6: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading and studying the material in this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions.

1. What are the views of empiricists and nativists on the nature/nurture issue as it relates to sensation and perception?

2. How are perceptual abilities of infants assessed?

3. What are the infants’ visual capabilities? What sorts of things do infants prefer to look at?

4. What are the auditory capabilities of infants? What do we know about infants’ abilities to perceive speech?

5. What are the taste and smell capabilities of infants? To what extent are infants sensitive to touch, temperature, and pain?

6. To what extent can infants integrate their sensory experiences? What is an example of cross-modal perception?

7. What role do early experiences play in development of perceptions? What factors contribute to normal visual perception?

8. What changes occur in attention from infancy to adulthood?

9. What changes occur in visual capabilities and visual perception during adulthood?

10. What changes in auditory capabilities and speech perception occur during adulthood?

11. What changes occur in taste and smell, and in sensitivity to touch, temperature, and pain during adulthood?