Some information provided by text can only be gleaned indirectly, through deductive or inductive inferences. It has been suggested that children’s comprehension of text depends heavily on their ability to make such inferences. See Deduction, Ecological fallacy, Induction (philosophy)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Inferior olive (or olivary) nucleus
The largest nucleus in the brain stem (in the lower part of the medulla oblongata), with neurons that project to the contralateral cerebellar cortex and deep cerebellar nuclei via the inferior cerebellar peduncle (or restiform body). Upon reaching the cerebellum, the projections end on climbing fibers (in fact, the nucleus is the only source of …
Infantile sexuality
Early in his work, Sigmund Freud recognized that young children had an intense orientation toward pleasure and considered these aspects of sexuality in a broad sense that encompassed oral pleasure related to eating and stimulation of the mouth, anal pleasures focused on sensations around the anal sphincter and the sense of control, as well as …
Infantile grandiosity
A number of psychoanalysts writing about infant development assume that infants imagine themselves to be all powerful as they are responsible for creating the care taking that they experience. Other analysts believe that their picture of themselves as powerful is created to protect them against their sense of helplessness and vulnerability. In either case, caregiving …
Infantile responses
Organized, and rather stereotyped, behaviors that can be elicited from the newborn under specific environmental conditions, and which appear to ‘obligatory’ in nature. See Babinski response, Fixed action pattern (FAP), Moro response, Reflex, Rooting response, Startles, Stepping response, Stretches
Infantile amnesia
The more rapid forgetting of memories during infancy than later in development. It was Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) who put forward the idea that infant amnesia amounts to a suppression of any early traumatic events of experiences. In a seminal paper published in 1996, Carolyn Rovee-Collier rightly stressed that it is not only based on anecdotal evidence, but that …
Infanticide
Killing of infants, especially females (sex-selective infanticide) and those who are deformed, and still practised in some countries, as well as being evident in some other primates species. The practice is not restricted to infants, but also occurs prenatally. In these circumstances, it is referred to as ‘feticide’: the deliberate or incidental killing of a fetus. …
Infant death
The death of a live born infant after the first 28 days of life and before the age of 1 year. See Child death, Fetal death, Infanticide, Neonatal death, Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS, cot or crib death).
Inertia
According to Newton’s first law of motion, the tendency of a rigid body to preserve its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless affected by an external force. See Center of gravity, Center of mass, Centrifugal/centripetal, Dynamics, Gravitational field, Mass, Moment of inertia (I), Newton’s laws of motion
Infancy/infant
From the Latin ‘infans’ meaning incapable of speech; the developmental period extending from birth to about 2 years of age and which is thus demarcated by the acquisition of articulated speech. See Embryo, Fetus, Newborn, Toddlers