of physical (motor) development is universal, with minor exceptions. Sensory Abilities : You know by now that newborns are not as incompetent as they look. They can recognise their mother’s voice just a few hours after birth and have other sensory capabilities. How well can infants see?
Newborns prefer to look at some stimuli rather than others such as faces, although these preferences change over the first few months of life. The newborn’s vision is estimated to be lower than the adult vision. By months it improves and by about the first year, vision is almost the same as that of an adult ( / ). Can a newborn see colour?
The current consensus is that they might be able to distinguish between red and white colours but in general they are colour deficient and full colour vision develops by months of age. What is the nature of hearing in newborns? Infants can hear immediately after birth. As the infant develops, proficiency at localising sound improves.
Newborns respond to touch and they can even feel pain. Both smell and taste capacities are also present in the newborn. Cognitive Development : Does a year old child understand things the same way as would an year old? Jean Piaget stressed that children actively construct their understanding of the world.
Information does not simply enter their minds from the environment. As children grow, additional information is acquired and they adapt their thinking to include new ideas, as this improves their understanding of the world. Piaget believed that a child’s mind passes through a series of stages of thought from infancy to adolescence (see Table . ).
Each stage is characterised by a distinct way of thinking and is age related. It is important to remember that it is the different way of thinking which makes one stage more advanced than the other and not the amount of information. This also shows why you at your age think differently from an year old. The child during infancy, i.e.
the first two years of life, experiences the world through senses and interactions