Toy as Visual Stimulator for Early Childhood - Research Paper Example

Toy as Visual Stimulator for Early Childhood Introduction The question this research study will attempt to answer is “what does a child see, and at what age?” Contemporary scientists that have reflected on this topic include Gestalt, Gesell, Hilgard and Lorenz. Current visual perception theory, derived from the scientists mentioned, states that children do not have the muscle tone to focus before 6 months of age. Because they cannot focus, they cannot perceive details on or within objects. Therefore, infants of the ages 0-6 months perceive the world around them in terms of shadow and light, vague shapes and familiar patterns, such as their parents’ faces. Evidence of this phenomena is presented by Gesell, Ilg, and Bullis (23), in their work entitled, “Vision, its development in the child,” and by Gesell (55), in his work, “The ontogenesis of infant behavior.” An infant can see the image, but does not reach to grasp its otherness until about 6 months of age. Until that time, objects are not differentiated as “me” or “not me.” Spitz and Wolfe (87) determined that a child would smile at any face, even a horrific one, implying that it is not the face of the parent the child is smiling at, but the “rewarding” face that may satisfy the infant’s needs. Therefore, an infant will accept any face as friendly and a source for positive concepts. Toys, including films and books, developed for children at an early age can be used as powerful visual stimulators, and therefore need to be analyzed within the current research on young infant visual perception. Methods The methods for researching this topic will include: 1. Researching current perception trends through academic and scholarly databases 2. Examining recent child development literature based on perception 3. Analyzing this research and combining it into a detailed study about infant toys, including books and films Furthermore, a variety of study methods have been used by other researchers to determine how young infants perceive objects. One recent study included putting a variety of faces and other objects on a screen for three month old infants to see. Infants responded to all faces, having a heightened response to familiar faces. This was demonstrated by measuring the way infants sucked on pacifiers (they typically sucked harder the better they liked something). However, objects such as balls and basic shapes did not instigate a strong reaction in the infants. Most studies that measure infant response to objects use a similar route, measuring the individual baby’s responses through the use of pacifiers and presenting to the infants a variety of objects, familiar and not familiar (Spitz and Woolf 90). Additional studies with infants can be done to help us better understand this concept of visual perception before six months old. For instance, with the advent of technology, more computerized visuals could be created, with not only patterns and faces, which have been so commonly used, but also moving stimuli. Not many tests have been done to see how young infants actually react to moving stimuli. We have established, through current research, that young babies are able to perceive outlines and do have their own ways of understanding when they see familiar items and faces. However, their own particular reactions to moving stimuli have not been measured. Of course, young infants are generally not able to follow items side to side, but items placed directly in front of them on a computer screen can still be used in order to measure their reactions. Many studies have been done like this with older babies and toddlers to measure their responses to sounds and colors, generally done by researchers of children’s television shows, like Nickelodeon, and toy companies wanting to sell successful products. However, it would be interesting to see if certain objects could be used to create a show that might be interesting to very young babies, as it may help them perceive and learn at an even earlier age. For most parents, the earlier they can assist their child with learning, the better; therefore, if this type of research was applied successfully to create a learning television show, it would only be a win-win situation for both parents and the network. Discussion Solely (127) states that the age of speech is the determining factor for division in development of a child. He posits that speech is a combination of “ideas, perception, meaning and thinking.” Up until that point, we are limited to speculation as to what a child perceives and visually understands. When a child can verbalize, then we can truly know what the child is thinking and feeling. Even though the development and maturity of the child is better understood by the outward observers with the addition of speech, the inward pattern of development has not changed. The child still begins with motion, recognition, grasping at toys, and trial and error. These types of learning do not diminish as the child gets older, they just get more precise (Solley, 129). As a child develops better motor skills and eye-hand development, then a child can grasp more quickly by focusing on the desired object. The coordination of “binocular convergence and accommodation” (Hilgard, 22) improves his efficiency, and after a short period of time, allows the child to reach his goal. Still, it does appear that infants in the age range of 0-6 months to perceive something, since various studies, like the ones listed above, demonstrate their reactions. Young infants are stimulated by faces (any face), although they are more stimulated by familiar faces. Furthermore, they are also interested in striking patterns, generally, black against white. These two colors grab the attention of these young infants, presumably because they are in such sharp contrast to each other. However, the various usage of other patterns of colors adults may feel are striking does note tend to contribute to as much as a response in these young infants. Young infants up to six month old prefer black and white. However, after the age of six months, infants are more drawn to colorful patterns, most likely because they have achieved the ability to see well and are fascinated with bright colors because they present a new type of focus and stimulation for them. A successful toy that illustrates this principle is the Fisher Price “Happy Apple.” The toy is marketed to infants. It has weight to stabilize, a bright red color, a black and white smiling face, and a rubberized handle to grasp when the child is ready. When moved, it presents a bell-like tone, as if there were jingle bells inside. It meets all the criteria of infant visual perception; it has a bright color and a simple black/white image, it has a smiling face, it is available for grasping, and presents a pleasant song. Toys like this generally tend to reflect the recent research done about infant perception, and most toys for infants 0-6 months use black and white color patterns as well as providing the infant with the ability to grasp the toy. Furthermore, the usage of songs also provides an attractor to the infant, since most babies enjoy white noise, and music, for the most part, is a large contributor of white noise. Furthermore, most rattles nowadays made for younger infants include stark black and white patterns to help stimulate the infant, along with other bright colors. Rattles often include not only the ability to rattle and shake, but also the ability to play music. This only helps to attract the child to the toy (Gesell 48). Also, rattles generally are adapted for the grasping of a young infant, to help the baby understand how to hold the toy. The use of the colors on the rattles so commonly marketed at stores like Babies r Us demonstrate the research that has been done regarding young infant perception (Hilgard 84). Implications: The overall implications for the topic of young infant perception is that although we are beginning to gain a better understanding of the way young babies perceive the world, there is still much research to be done. Researchers need to develop a better understanding of visual perception and movement as far as young babies are concerned because this could help parents teach their babies different items at even younger ages through the use of toys. The power of visual stimuli for young babies has been demonstrated time and time again by educational shows, although these are generally targeted toward babies 6 months and up. However, young babies still possess the ability to learn from some of these shows (for instance, the various signing videos often result in infants signing in American Sign Language as young as 3-4 months old, when they gain control of their hands). If these videos were actually targeted at younger babies, we can only imagine the types of results we may get—more signs, for sure, and perhaps even more intelligent babies (Solley 89). Therefore, we can see the possible benefits for focusing on more research within the concept of young infant visual perception. There may even be a market for whatever business or network actually capitalizes on this on order to market different products and ideas to parents of young infants. If videos and books can be made to help young babies learn concepts earlier, there is no doubt that parents will buy these videos and try to capitalize on the benefits of this type of education for their young infant. The need to continue researching in this field is obviously profound. Works Cited Gesell Allan. The ontogenesis of infant behavior. In L. Carmicheal, Ed., Manual of Child Psychology. New York: Wiley, 1946. Gesell Allan., Ilg, F. L. and Bullis, G. Vision, Its Development in the Child. New York: Harper, 1949. Hilgard, Rita. Theories of Learning. 2nd Ed., New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1956. Solley, Charles M., and Murphy, G. Development of the Perceptual World. Basic Books, 1960. Spitz, Rita. and Wolfe, Kyle. The smiling response: A contribution to the octogenesis of social relations. Genet. Psychol. Monogr., 34: 57-125, 1946. Read More