Читать книгу Infants and Children in Context - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 226

Meeting the pediatrician for the first time in her young life, newborn Kerry stared intently at the object the doctor held about 6 inches from her face. “I think she sees it!” said her surprised mother. “She most certainly does,” said the doctor. “Even as a newborn, your Kerry can sense the world better than you realize.” Newborns can see, hear, smell, taste, and respond to touch, but it is unclear how they perceive sensory stimuli.

Developmental researchers draw a distinction between sensation and perception. Sensation occurs when our senses detect a stimulus. Our sense organs—the eyes, ears, tongue, nostrils, and skin—convert visual, auditory, taste, olfactory (smell), and tactile (touch) stimuli into electrical impulses that travel on sensory nerves to the brain where they are processed. Perception refers to the sense our brain makes of the stimulus and our awareness of it. The newborn is equipped with a full range of senses, ready to experience the world. They can both detect and perceive stimuli, but many of their abilities are immature relative to those of adults. Yet infants’ sensory abilities develop rapidly, achieving adult levels within the first year of life (Johnson & Hannon, 2015).