Child Development, 3/e by Robert Feldman Chapter 6 Cognitive Development in Infancy Created by Barbara H. Bratsch

What are the fundamental features of Piaget’s theories of cognitive development? How do infants process information? How is infant intelligence measured? By what processes do children learn to use language? How do children influence adults’ language?

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Action = Knowledge Knowledge is the product of direct motor behavior Stage approach to development – four distinct stages- sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational. These stages occur from birth to adolescence and a combination of physical development and relevant experience are necessary to move from one stage to another

Sensorimotor Stage Substage 1: Simple Reflexes birth to 1 month Reflexes at the center of cognitive life Substage 2: First habits and Primary circular reactions 1-4 months Coordinate separate actions into single, integrated actions Substage 3: Secondary circular reactions 4-8 months Begin to act on outside world Substage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions 8-12 months Calculated approaches. Object permanence begins Substage 5: Tertiary circular reactions 12-18 months Carry out miniature experiments to observe consequences Substage 6: Beginnings of thought 18-24 months Capacity for mental representation or symbolic thought. Imagine where objects might be that they cannot see.

Transitions

Piaget Concepts Circular Reaction – an activity that permits the construction of positive schemes through the repetition of a chance motor event Primary – schemes reflecting an infant’s repetition of interesting or enjoyable activities just for the enjoyment of doing them Secondary – schemes regarding repeated actions that bring about a desirable consequence Tertiary – schemes regarding the deliberate variation of actions that bring desirable consequences Goal-directed behavior – several schemes are combined and coordinated to generate a single act to solve a problem Mental representation – internal image of a past object or event Deferred imitation – when a person who is no longer present is imitated, eg pretend to drive when mom not there driving Object permanence – realization that people and objects exist even when they cannot be seen

Piaget Concepts

Criticism of Piaget’s Theory Waves, not stages – Robert Siegler (1995) suggested development in waves, or ebb and flow, vs. stages Motor development may not be the only basis – Piaget was not familiar with sensory and perceptual systems Object permanence may occur earlier – motor skills or memory deficits may not allow that concept to develop earlier Fixed pattern – infants may be able to imitate facial expressions earlier than Piaget proposed

Information Processing Approaches Information is encoded, stored and retrieved much like a computer

Memory in Infants Memory, the process by which information is initially recorded, stored and retrieved, is certainly in the realm of infants. Infant memory capabilities increase with age. Infantile amnesia is a lack of memory for experience that occurred before 3 years old Early memories appear to be implicit. Explicit memory emerges by the second half of the first year.

Intelligence in Infants Determining what is meant by intelligence in infants represents a major challenge for developmentalists. Developmental quotient (DQ) is an overall developmental score that relates to performance in 4 domains: Motor skills- balance and sitting Language use Adaptive behavior – alertness and exploration Personal and social skills – feeding and dressing Bayley Scales of Infant Development – used on 2 to 42 month old children and focuses on mental abilities: senses, perception, memory, learning, problem solving, language and motor skills: fine and gross motor skills

Information Processing and Infants Visual recognition memory – the memory and recognition of a stimulus that has been previously seen Cross-modal transference – the ability to identify, using another sense, a stimulus that has previously only been experienced through one sense. For example, a baby recognizes a tool by sight that she only touched before When this occurs in an infant at one year old, these skills are associated with intelligence scores years later Piaget focused on qualitative changes and growth in spurts, whereas information processing looks at quantitative changes, a much more gradual approach

Language and Infants Language is a systematic, meaningful arrangement of symbols that provides a basis for communication Phonology refers to basic sounds of language Morpheme is the smallest language unit that has meaning Semantics are rules that govern meaning of words and sentences

Language and Infants Prelinguistic communication refers to communication through sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitation, and other nonlinguistic means Babbling refers to making speechlike but meaningful sounds Holophrases are one-word utterances that stand for a whole phrase, whose meaning depends on the context used Telegraphic speech is speech in which words not critical to meaning are left out Underextension – overly restrictive use of words, common among children just mastering spoken language Overextension – overly broad use of words, overgeneralizing their meaning Referential style – speaking style in which language is used primarily to label objects Expressive style- speaking style in which language is primarily used to express feelings and needs about oneself and others

Learning Theory Approach vs. Nativist Approach Learning theory says that language acquisition follows the basic laws of reinforcement and conditioning Nativist approach states a genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development