Six to Nine Months

1. Six to Nine Months Fogel Chapter 7 Created by Ilse DeKoeyer-Laros, Ph.D.

2. Overview Chapter 7 • Experiential Exercises • Co-regulating with Baby Physical and Motor Development Perceptual Development Cognitive Development Emotional Development Social and Language Development Family and Society Experiential Exercises Co-regulating with Baby

3. Introduction Between 6 and 9 months, babies grow more adventurous physical: they start to creep or crawl on their own psychological: they begin to take initiative and call attention to themselves Infants now develop a serious interest in the object world, and come to understand that objects are whole entities with an existence separate from their own Picture from: http://flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/2511777779/

4. Physical and Motor Development Between 6 and 9 months, infants develop independent sitting supported standing rolling over creeping or crawling By 9 months, infants can take a few steps while holding on to furniture or an adult pick up small objects using just the tips of the thumb and index finger Picture from: http://www.imaginarybinky.com/2008/04/let-sun-shine-down.html

5. Functions of the hemispheres of the brain Physical and Motor DevelopmentHand Movements and Hand Preference right hemisphere: spatial patterns & nonlinguistic (e.g., emotional) information processing the left hemisphere: sequential processing of the sort used in understanding language • linked to handedness – the preference for the use of one hand overanother

6. Physical and Motor Development Hand Movements and Hand Preference • 30-50% of infants under age 1 show a right-hand preference when reaching – this preference is relatively stable over the 1st year • 10-30% have a left-hand preference in reaching Infants begin to show hand preference around 2 months, when visually guided reaching begins More permanent hand preferences do not emerge until the 2nd year Picture from: path31.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html

7. Physical and Motor Development Hand Movements and Hand Preference Around 6 months, infants begin reaching with a single hand learn to sit without support & extend the non-reaching hand backward to balance their upper bodies two-handed reaches become more sophisticated with larger objects (like a big ball) cross the mid-line of the body

8. Physical and Motor DevelopmentCrawling Being able to extend one arm independently of the other is believed to be important for the development of crawling (see Table 7.2) while babies are still reaching with two hands at the same time, they either creep or rock infants begin to crawl when they can reach with one hand Picture from: http://www.sover.net/~sweeneyc/babygirlold.html

9. Physical and Motor DevelopmentCrawling Not all infants go through this sequence infants who creep before they crawl are better at crawling: they move faster and their movements are larger and more efficient non-creepers become proficient crawlers after a couple of weeks Picture from private collection

10. Physical and Motor Development How Motor Skills Develop Dynamic systems theory: new motor skills develop by adding additional components to existing skills crawling: even when infants can get on hands & knees, they cannot crawl because they can’t alternate extension of the arms and legs walking: 9-month-olds can pull themselves to standing, take steps while holding onto something, and alternate leg movements – but they can’t walk, because they lack the capacity to balance

11. Physical and Motor Development How Motor Skills Develop The moving room recreates the visual experience of moving without taking steps at the same time infants under 1 year will fall in the direction in which the wall appears to be moving infants older than 1 year may sway but are less likely to lose their balance

12. Physical and Motor DevelopmentHow Motor Skills Develop Motor development is a complex systems interaction of the different parts of the motor system (legs, trunk, arms) the perceptual system the environment in which the child is moving • For example, • infants can make walking movements if they are supported by an infant walker or an adult Picture from private collection

13. Perceptual DevelopmentRecognition of Objects & Depth Under 6 months object recognition and depth perception are easier if the objects are moving and if real objects are presented After 6 months, infants can infer object properties & depth from visual cues alone “see” three dimensions when they are shown objects in two dimensions (e.g., in a drawing)

14. Perceptual DevelopmentRecognition of Objects & Depth By 7 months, infants use visual cues to judge depth & distance infants with a patch over one eye will reach toward the larger of two identical pictures of a face, apparently perceiving it as closer infants’ ability to recognize objects in two dimensions leads to increased interest in picture books and television at this age

15. Perceptual DevelopmentRecognition of Objects and Depth Haptic perception – perception of the properties of an object using touch newborns can distinguish different properties of objects by using their mouths between 4 and 6 months, infants explore objects actively, combining hand, mouth, and vision after 6 months, infants develop specialized hand movements to detect information about specific object properties such as size, texture, and shape

16. Perceptual DevelopmentOther Perceptual Developments By 6 months, babies recognize differences between simple melodies can use cross-modal perception to infer information about object properties infants who are familiarized with an object only by touch can recognize the object by sight alone if babies hear a sound in the dark, they will reach for an object in the direction of the sound

17. Perceptual DevelopmentOther Perceptual Developments In short, 6- to 9-month-olds use subtle cues to infer regularities in their perceptual world they can learn from pictures in books and on television they pick up relationships between different senses to pay attention to things that interest them most These perceptual abilities lead to clear preferences (e.g., for particular pictures, objects, and tastes) Picture from: flickr.com/photos/offwithyourhead/80276937/

18. Cognitive DevelopmentMemory By 7 months, infants can remember how to make a mobile move for as long as 21 days, without a reminder memories are less context dependent infants can remember a salient event that has been learned in different (but related) situations infants can remember longer sequences of events, like longer melodies However, memory is still tied to the situation

19. Cognitive DevelopmentInformation Processing At 7 months, infants are able to group stimuli into higher-order conceptual categories 7-month-olds (but not 5-month-olds) recognized the same faces shown in different positions they distinguished smiling from non-smiling faces they recognize a prototype from distorted versions they distinguish horses from other four-legged mammals

20. Cognitive DevelopmentInformation Processing Infants of this age also understand that moving objects should follow along their prior path of movement & larger objects can support smaller objects respond differentially when the same object is placed above or below another object, showing that they have a category for these spatial relationships seem to have a concept of number they dishabituated when a puppet’s jumps changed, from two to three or from three to two

21. Cognitive DevelopmentSecondary Circular Reactions Sensorimotor Stage III (4 to 8 or 9 months) –Secondary circular reactions infants begin to repeat actions that, by chance, produce some effect on the objects and people in the environment once the chance discovery is made, infants make deliberate, intentional attempts to repeat that action

22. Cognitive DevelopmentSecondary Circular Reactions Infants also vary the actions in order to explore changes in the effect they will drop objects off the edge of their high chairs they shake objects in different ways to notice the effect or repeatedly dump things out of containers Repeated occurrences in the environment take on meaning for the baby (see Observation 7.2) by 7 months, Laurent knew that he would be fed shortly after he heard his mother’s bed creak

23. Cognitive DevelopmentSecondary Circular Reactions Infants are becoming more goal directed & can perceive others’ intentional behavior in one study, 9-month-old infants looked longer when a grasping hand contacted a toy than when the toy was touched with the back of a hand Picture from: flickr.com/photos/36908756@N00/301474833

24. Cognitive DevelopmentOut of Sight, Out of Mind? Object permanence – the ability to remain aware of an object even after it has gone out of sight infants will not actively search for an object that has been hidden until after 9 months Picture from: http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2005/08/do_babies_know_if_hidden_objec.php

25. Cognitive DevelopmentOut of Sight, Out of Mind? In one study, 7- to 8-month-olds saw an object disappear behind one of two screens a hand reached behind the screens and reappeared holding the object in either a possible situation or an impossible situation Infants looked longer at the hand following the impossible situation compared to the possible one In a similar study, infants not only looked longer at the impossible situation, they also looked more at their parents as if to share their puzzlement

26. Cognitive DevelopmentOut of Sight, Out of Mind? Infants of this age are becoming aware of objects and people as whole entities people, as opposed to objects, are understood by infants as having intentions the ability to perceive another’s intentions corresponds with infants’ awareness of their own intentions, their ability to have an effect on the environment

27. Emotional DevelopmentNegative Emotions Anger arises when infants cannot succeed at being an effective causal agent accompanied by crying, but facial expression and underlying feeling are different from distress In one study 2- and 4-month-olds reacted to inoculations with physical distress, crying with tightly shut eyes 7-month-olds responded with more angry expressions, crying with open, vigilant eyes

28. Emotional DevelopmentNegative Emotions Anger can be adaptive and useful In one study, infants were taught to pull a string to activate a slide projection & music After this, the experimenters stopped turning on the slide projector and music when the infant pulled Most infants reacted with anger, but some showed sadness the infants who expressed anger immediately became interested again when the contingency was renewed those who showed sadness reacted with less enjoyment

29. Emotional DevelopmentNegative Emotions Expressions of anger are also seen in 7-month-olds when they are frustrated e.g., when a teething biscuit is removed from their mouths or when their arms are restrained Separation distress after 6 months, infants respond to parental separation with some anger, especially if the parent happens to be a part of the infant’s activity (e.g., play) when he or she leaves Picture from: http://meidays.blogdrive.com/

30. Emotional DevelopmentNegative Emotions Wariness infants may become quiet and stare at a stranger or a strange situation, knit their brows, become momentarily sober, and look away wariness allows the infant to observe what is happening & is a more adaptive reaction to strange situations than the withdrawal of infantile fussing and crying

31. Emotional DevelopmentPositive Emotions Positive emotions become more complex Different types of smiles had different meanings depending on whether the infant gazed at the mother or not Simple smiling & gazing at mother during peekaboo: enjoyment of recognition or of readiness to engage in play Simple smiles without gazing at mother after a tickle often accompanied by gasping for air and sighing & perhaps associated with enjoyment of relief or of relaxation

32. Emotional DevelopmentPositive Emotions Duchenne smiles occur with gazing at mother when she uncovers her face during peekaboo may reflect an enjoyment of agency, sensing oneself as an active rather than passive participant in the game Duchenne smiles without gazing at mother occur most during a tickle, often as infants turn their bodies away as if trying to hide or protect themselves may reflect an enjoyment of hiding or perhaps an enjoyment of escape Picture from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/image/123286/index.html?cat=25

33. Emotional DevelopmentPositive Emotions There is a growing ability to communicate with others about emotions around 8 months, infants who smile when looking at an object will turn to smile at a nearby adult By 6 months, babies will laugh at jokes at very abrupt and highly arousing stimuli at things that once made them cry, such as a loud noise or a loss of balance in one study, they cried when a stranger wore a mask, but laughed when their mothers did

34. Emotional DevelopmentEmotion Regulation Infants are beginning to use cognition to decide what to feel, a process known as appraisal there is a growing relationship between infant emotion & attention to emotion-related events and processes Picture from: www.spicetart.com/growing_ivy/page/2/

35. Emotional DevelopmentEmotion Regulation Gender differences In one study, 6-month-old boys and girls were observed during face-to-face play, followed by maternal still-face Boys were more likely than girls to smile & vocalize as well as show anger or distress during the still-face have a more positive interaction with the mother during the normal face-to-face period Girls gazed more at objects & showed more interest

36. Emotional DevelopmentRecognition of Emotional Expressions Between 6 and 9 months babies seem more capable of recognizing smiles than other expressions their ability to distinguish between other expressions, such as fear and anger, is relatively poor Individual differences 7-month-old infants whose mothers show a lot of positive emotions are more likely to respond to negative facial expressions, perhaps because of their relative novelty

37. Emotional DevelopmentRecognition of Emotional Expressions 7-month-olds ability to distinguish between emotions improves when facial expressions are combined with voices expressing the same emotions faces are presented dynamically They also recognize whether a facial expression is paired with a matching vs. a mismatched intonation e.g., when an angry expression is matched with an angry vs. happy tone of voice

38. Emotional DevelopmentRecognition of Emotional Expressions Infants of this age prefer to look at faces judged by adults to be attractive apparently, attractiveness, like recognition of particular people, can be inferred from more global features of the face that do not involve specific expressions Infants can also distinguish between the faces of children and adults

39. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament Temperament a persistent pattern of emotion and emotion regulation in the infant’s relationship to people and things in the environment Some aspects of temperament are partly inherited negativity and inhibition appear early in life and are persistent in 5-10% of \ infants up until 5 to 7 years similar proportions of persistently inhibited children are found in different countries and even in infant monkeys

40. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament Infants who were the most inhibited were more likely to be subdued in unfamiliar situations, have a dour mood, report anxiety, and have an overactive sympathetic nervous system response as teenagers showed a higher activation in the amygdala (part of the limbic system responsive to fear) when viewing pictures of unfamiliar faces as adults

41. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament Infants and children who have difficulties with attention and emotion regulation (rated as highly reactive, emotional, inattentive, or inhibited) have different patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex compared to well-regulated infants For example, inhibition is related to brain wave and heart rate patterns as well as to stress responses to frustration Stress responses to frustration – such as heart rate acceleration, cortisol secretion, and sympathetic nervous system activation – are present at an early age for some inhibited infants and may persist for periods of up to 1 year

42. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament Role of parents infants who are more inhibited are more likely to have parents who are introverted & anxious infant inhibition & negativity are related to lower scores on maternal adaptation to pregnancy, sensitivity to the infant after birth, and self-esteem mothers who rate infant cries as more aversive are more likely to rate their infants as difficult These findings do not rule out a genetic explanations

43. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament A finding that may call the genetic explanation into question is that children do not necessarily exhibit continuity of temperament inhibited children may, with sensitive child rearing, eventually lose their extreme sensitivity normal children may become more inhibited in extremely stressful environments

44. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament Continuity & discontinuity extreme fussiness at birth predicts later emotionality in full-term infants, but not in premature infants temperament most likely does not contribute to long-term cognitive deficit or enhancement parental behavior may attenuate the long-term effects of early temperamental characteristic inhibited children who showed more positive emotion were less likely to be inhibited at age 3 than inhibited children who tended to be more negative

45. Emotional DevelopmentInfant Temperament Parental and child factors can interact to influence the stability of temperament over time Temperament assessed at the end of the infancy period, between 2 and 4 years of age, tends to show long-term stability 2-year-olds who were rated as more difficult had more attention problems and aggressive behavior at 12 years 3-year-olds who were rated low on self-control had more adjustment problems and interpersonal conflicts as adults

46. Emotional DevelopmentThe Measurement of Temperament Temperament is difficult to measure in a reliable and valid manner some researches have conducted observations usually, parents are asked to rate their child’s temperaments However, when mothers and fathers are asked to rate the same child, their reports agree only about half the time there is more agreement about the difficulty of an infant than about any other dimension of temperament

47. Emotional DevelopmentThe Measurement of Temperament The correlation between parental reports and behavior observed in a laboratory improves if infants’ behaviors are extreme Explanations of differences between parent reports and observed behavior include infants behave differently in different situations questions on rating scales don’t reflect child’s individuality parental reports reflect parents’ personalities or psychological state for instance, multiparous & extroverted mothers were more likely to rate their infants as easy

48. Emotional DevelopmentThe Measurement of Temperament The best research strategy: a combination of parental reports, direct observations, and physiological measures (such as cortisol and sympathetic nervous system activity) made at repeated intervals in the child’s life Picture from: http://ethiopia.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/african-american-dolls

49. Social and Language DevelopmentSocial-Object Frames As infants become increasingly interested in objects, between 4 and 6 months of age, earlier face-to-face frames give way to social-object play frames the infant’s developmental task is to integrate interest in objects with the desire to remain socially and emotionally connected to the parents At first, infants are primarily focused on the objects it is up to the parents to provide frames for mutual communication about the objects

50. Social and Language DevelopmentSocial-Object Frames Coordination of attention to people & objects is enhanced if parents regularly create object-directed frames the more attentive & animated parents are, the more likely that the infant will learn to co-regulate attention with others infants who are more attentive to what adults do and say are more likely to learn language and to learn, by age 3 or 4 years, to share the mental perspectives of other people Picture from private collection