Lifespan Development Process and Changes in Infants

Human Development
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Human Development
Part A:
During the initial twelve months of life, infants experience several critical physical changes. These transformations are essential to ensuring healthy development and survival. One such change involves the maturation of the digestive system, which enables the infant to move beyond a diet of solely breast milk or formula and begin to incorporate solid foods. Moreover, infants progress in motor skill development during this time, eventually gaining the ability to crawl, sit, and walk. A growing body of research continues to elucidate aspects of infant development. For instance, a recent study by Yamamoto et al. (2020) suggests that how infants coordinate their arms and legs during crawling may provide clues as to how they will walk later.
The cognitive capacities of infants undergo significant transformation within the first year of life. Achieving object permanence—recognizing that objects remain in existence even when they are not immediately visible—is a key milestone. Another fundamental aspect of cognitive development during this period is acquiring language skills. As infants improve their ability to understand and produce sounds, they enhance their capacity to communicate with others. Neurological processes underlying these changes are being elucidated through recent research. Wang et al. (2022) demonstrated that patterns of brain activity in infants could serve as predictors for the rate at which they will develop language skills.
Although breast milk or formula is the only necessary sustenance at birth, their nutritional requirements expand to include a range of additional nutrients as infants grow. Among these are iron, zinc, and vitamin D. Introducing solid foods to an infant's diet is vital in fulfilling these needs. However, recent research emphasizes the importance of timing this transition. A 2018 study in JAMA Pediatrics, for instance, suggests that introducing solid foods before four months of age may have long-term consequences, including an increased risk of obesity (Tahir et al., 2018).
The maturation of sensory abilities constitutes a critical component of early childhood development. As they progress through infancy, children's burgeoning awareness of their surroundings enables them to begin contextualizing their environment. Recent research on facial recognition has illuminated new understandings of these developmental processes. For example, Flom et al. (2018) demonstrated that infants' capacity to distinguish between different facial features emerges earlier than once presumed. In their study, four-month-old infants successfully discriminated between faces that varied in terms of eye spacing and nose width. These findings suggest that children can process complex visual stimuli even in infancy.
Part B:
Prenatal development
The extent to which nature or nurture determines prenatal development has long been debated. While recent research suggests that both factors are critical, the specifics of how each plays a role are still being investigated. Niego and Benítez-Burraco's 2019 study, for instance, points to the imp...