Lecture 2 – Nativism, empiricism, and the origins of knowledge

Lecture 2: Nativism, empiricism, and the origins of knowledge (May 24, 2022)

Readings

Questions to check your knowledge

  1. This is the view that knowledge is due to intrinsic properties of human’s perceptual and cognitive systems. (Spelke 1998)
  2. This is the view that knowledge is due to experience-based learning from the environment. (Spelke 1998)
  3. By this age, infants perceive figure-ground relationships by analyzing the relative motions and depth relations among visible surfaces. (Spelke 1998)
  4. By this age, infants perceive a center-occluded object as continuous when its visible surfaces undergo common motion. (Spelke 1998)
  5. By this age, infants can represent the continuous existence of an object that is first visible and then fully occluded. (Spelke 1998)
  6. True or false? Young infants are sensitive to all the constraints on objects that adults recognize. (Spelke 1998)
  7. True or false? Young infants represent object properties as robustly as adults do. (Spelke 1998)
  8. Children demonstrate knowledge of basic properties of objects [before/at the same time as/after] they demonstrate the ability to reach for objects and crawl around them. (Spelke 1998)
  9. True or false? Newborn infants demonstrate a looking preference for novel displays over familiar displays. (Spelke 1998)
  10. Newborn infants [do/do not] perceive the unity of a moving center-occluded object. (Spelke 1998)
  11. 4-month-old infants [do/do not] perceive the unity of a moving center-occluded object. (Spelke 1998)
  12. Newborn chicks [do/do not] perceive center-occluded objects as connected. (Spelke 1998)
  13. By this age, infants begin to obtain occluded objects by reaching around or displacing their occluders. (Spelke 1998)
  14. Representations of visible objects are [weaker/the same strength as/stronger] than representations of occluded objects. (Spelke 1998)
  15. As the number of objects in a scene increases, the amount of attention devoted to any one object [decreases/remains the same/increases]. (Spelke 1998)
  16. Research suggests that there is — in object representations over early cognitive development. (Spelke 1998)
  17. All theories of cognitive development have the dual task of — and —. (Spelke 1998)
  18. Strong explanatory theories of cognitive development have these 3 qualities. (Spelke 1998)
  19. When the cheek of a newborn is stroked, the newborn will turn towards that side and initiate a sucking motion. This is called the — reflex. (Pasupathi 2012)
  20. This is when decreased responding occurs after the repeated presentation of a stimulus. (Pasupathi 2012)
  21. Habituation is reflected in [decreased/the same/increased] looking time whereas dis-habituation is reflected in [decreased/the same/increased] looking time. (Pasupathi 2012)
  22. True or false? As infants get older, they are able to make finer quantitative discriminations. (Pasupathi 2012)
  23. True or false? Infants have the capacity to imitate other people hours after birth. (Pasupathi 2012)
  24. True or false? Infants do not show a capacity or desire to cooperate with other people until 6 months of age. (Pasupathi 2012)