The Development of Perceptual Abilities

According to the Evolutionary Approach any behaviour that can be observed is likely to have been perpetuated because it is adaptive and thus has been naturally or sexually selected. When we are born we need some basic perceptual abilities e.g. sight, hearing for immediate survival but if all perceptual abilities were present at birth we would not be able to adapt and adjust to different environments. Research in this area has focused on individual perceptual abilities, assessing what proportion of these are learnt (nurture) and which are innate (nature). The two main areas of research focus on infant and cross-cultural studies.

Areas of Research
Infant/Neonate Studies research carried out on new born (neonate) and young (infant) babies with no previous learning experience Evolutionary Approach

Perceptual Ability

Studies

Nature Vs Nurture

Evaluation of Studies (including synoptics)

Visual Constancies objects in our vision appear to remain constant and unchanging regardless of viewing conditions and the retinal image produced, eg: an approaching car gets bigger on our retina and we know the car itself is not changing in size. The main constancies are size, shape and colour.

Bower (1966) conditioned 9 infants aged 6-9wks Nature to turn their heads in response to a 30cm cube placed 1m away. Each time the infant looked at the cube it was rewarded. Once the baby was familiar with the cube, Bower introduced 3 further cubes: 1. 30cm cube positioned 3m away 2. 90cm cube positioned 3m away 3. 90cm cube positioned 1m away If the infant had size constancy they would look more at cube 1 because it is the same cube they are used to which exactly what happened. Conclusion: babies have innate size constancy.

We can assume that if a neonate shows ability, it is innate.

Slater et al (1990) have been able to replicate Bower's research and have been able to show size constancy in infants as young as 2 days. But not all psychologists agree and have been unable to replicate the findings.

Depth Perception the ability to distinguish the environment as 3-D and to judge distances of objects from each other and ourselves. We use two types of depth cues - monocular which work with one eye and binocular which work only with two eyes. Some of these cues are present at birth and are known as primary cues and some are secondary cues and are learnt (e.g texture gradient)

Gibson & Walk (1960) aimed to see if young babies would cross an apparent cliff when instructed by their mothers. 36 infants aged 614mths were used. The babies would not crawl over the 'edge' suggesting that infants have an innate awareness of depth.

Nature

As all of the babies were at least 6mths old they may have learnt about depth perception in these 6mths so impossible to conclude whether it was innate or learnt. Ethical considerations too so Gibson & Walk (1960) used animal studies to combat both issues.However, cannot extrapolate to humans although findings supported the idea that perception was innate. Supports the interaction of the nature/nurture debates as depth awareness is innate but avoidance behaviour is learnt. Supported by Yonas et al (1981). Nevertheless, it is difficult to draw conclusions from these studies as babies cannot talk and can become easily distracted or fatigued making it difficult to maintain their attention. Being unable to communicate verbally with the neonates means that creative techniques such as sucking and breathing rates or preferential looking must be used meaning that researchers have to make assumptions about their results. Just because ability cannot be observed doesn't mean it is not innate. It may just have not have matured yet. The visual system of infants is not well developed from birth making it problematic to identify which skills are innate. But it does develop swiftly after birth.

Campos et al (1970) used the same apparatus as Nature & Gibson & Walk but objective heart rate Nurture monitoring to measure whether the infants could perceive depth. Babies of 2mths showed a decrease in heart rate when put on the deep side suggesting they could sense the drop but babies of 9mths showed an increase in heart rate suggesting they sensed the drop and were afraid. This suggests that at 2mths they have depth perception but avoidance behaviour is learnt later on.

This interaction proposed highlights a weakness of the Evolutionary Approach in that it fails to sufficiently acknowledge the importance of cultural influences on our behaviours and abilities. If such abilities are innate we should expect people living in difference environments to develop in the same way.

Visual Constancies

Turnball (1961) befriended a pygmy from a Nurture dense forest with no experience of long-distance vision. When taken to Savannah grasslands he thought that distant Buffalo were insects, suggesting that depth cues necessary for size constancy are learnt. Hudson (1960) studied the influence of culture Nurture on depth perception using various cultural groups e.g. Bantu, European and Indian children in South America. The children were shown sets of 2D drawings, each with an elephant, antelope and a man with a spear. At the beginning of primary education ALL children had difficulty using these depth cues BUT by the end of primary education nearly all European children could interpret depth cues. However, Bantu children still saw the pictures as 2D. SO not only important in showing how perception develops over time but also showing cross cultural differences too showing that perceptual abilities are learned. Montello (2006) did a meta-analysis of crossNature cultural studies of depth perception finding that (mainly) cultural differences were small. This suggests that depth perception is innate and have evolved because they have a survival factor. The small changes suggest the ability can be modified by experience.

The study uses anecdotal evidence and was not done under controlled conditions so cannot be deemed scientific. (scientific method)

Cross-cultural Depth Perception Studies research that compares people of different cultures to assess biological and environmental influences Social Approach

Hudson was criticised as the materials used for the study were Western and did not include primary depth cues. When the picture was presented on materials that the Africans were use to, they were more likely to say the antelope. Could it just be lack of familiarity? (Imposed Etic). Can be problems with communication due to language barriers. We cannot be sure that correct interpretations of each language were made. Cultural Bias

Meta-analysis uses a wide sample group and so should have high population validity. Possible that early work was mistaken as this supports the interaction of the nature/nurture debate.

* Convergence = feedback from the eye muscles when focusing on objects informs us about depth and distance. Interposition = when objects overlap, the fully visible one is the nearest. What does seem clear then, is that we have to combine innate (nature) and learned (nature) factors to perceive the world around us and to attach meaning to what we see. We appear to be born with hard-wired abilities which require interaction with our environments to help us develop appropriately. Studies of people from other cultures though, suggest that the particular environment in which we grow up can have a powerful influence on how we interpret visual input.