PSYC 2314 Lifespan Development Chapter 6 The First Two Years: Cognitive Development

Perception and Cognition Gibson’s Affordances –Perception is an active cognitive process in which each individual interacts selectively with a vast array of perceptual possibilities –“the environment affords opportunities”

Perception and Cognition Which particular affordance an individual perceives and acts on depends on that person’s: –Past experiences –Current developmental or maturational level –Sensory awareness of the opportunities –Immediate needs and motivation

Perception and Cognition Dynamic Perception –Perception primed to focus on movement and change Object Permanence –The ability to understand that objects exist independently of one’s perception of them

Cognitive Growth Infants younger than 6 months can categorize objects according to their shape, color, angularity, density, number (up to 3 objects) and relative size.

Cognitive Growth Conditions in which infant memory can be more developed: –Using situations that are similar to real life –Ensuring that the infant’s motivation is high –Providing memory-priming retrieval cues

Cognitive Growth Deferred Imitation –Ability to remember and imitate behaviors that have been witnessed but never personally performed.

Cognitive Growth Launching event –Research using the habituation technique to determine that 6 month-olds notice whether an object is moving along or not, but they do not seem to understand cause and effect; by 10 months, they can properly interpret the cause- and-effect nature of simple launching events.

Piaget’s Sensorimotor Intelligence Stage One: Reflexes (birth-1 month) –Newborn’s reflexes represent its only ways of gaining knowledge about the world. Stage Two: First Acquired Adaptations (1-4 months) –When the infant starts to adapt its reflexes to the environment and to coordinate two actions. –Adaptation occurs through assimilation or accommodation

Piaget’s Sensorimotor Intelligence Stage Three: Making Interesting Sights Last (4-8 months) –Infants become more responsive to people and objects in the environment as they learn to repeat specific actions that have elicited pleasing responses. Stage Four: New Adaptation and Anticipation (8- 12 months) –Infants become more purposeful in responding to people and objects, anticipating events, and engaging in goal-directed behavior.

Piaget’s Sensorimotor Intelligence Stage Five: New Means Through Active Experimentation (12-18 months) –The little scientists become more active and creative in their exploration of, and trial-and-error experimentation with, the environment. Stage Six: New Means Through Mental Combinations (18-24 months) –By using mental combinations, toddlers begin to anticipate and solve simple problems without resorting to trail-and-error experimentation. –Enables the toddler to remember much better, to anticipate future events, and to pretend.

Language Development Babbling: repeating certain syllables Underextension: words are applied more narrowly than they should be Overextension: overgeneralization Holophrases: one word sentences

Language Development BF Skinner –Language is acquired through conditioning and differential reinforcement of appropriate usage. Noam Chomsky –Children have an innate predisposition to learn language, language acquisition device (LAD). Sociocultural –The actual language-learning process occurs in social context, framed by the adult’s teaching sensitivity and the child’s learning ability.

Language Development Baby Talk (motherese) –Distinct in pitch, intonation, vocabulary and sentence length. –Employs more questions, commands, and repetitions and fewer past tenses, pronouns and complex sentences