© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 1 John W. Santrock Cognitive Development in Infancy 7

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 2 Cognitive Development In Infancy What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development? How Do Infants Learn and Remember? How Are Individual Differences in Infant Intelligence Assessed?How Are Individual Differences in Infant Intelligence Assessed? What Are Some Early Environmental Influences on Cognitive Development?What Are Some Early Environmental Influences on Cognitive Development? What Is the Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Images of Children The stories of Laurent, Lucienne, and Jacqueline –Piaget’s children are the “models” for his theory –Observations and cognitive development What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4 What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development? Adaptation: adjusting to new environmental demands –We build mental structures that help us to adapt –Children actively construct their own cognitive worlds What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5 Processes of Development Schemes: actions or mental representations that organize knowledge –Assimilation: incorporating new information into existing schemes –Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Processes of Development Assimilation and accommodation operate in very young infants Piaget’s theory of infant development unifies biology and experience Cognitive changes qualitative in each stage What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7 Sensorimotor Stage First of Piaget’s stages –Lasts from birth to about 2 years of age –Infants construct understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical, motoric actions; use of symbols What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 SubstageAgeDescription Simple reflexes Birth - 1 month Coordinates sensations, actions First habits, primary circular reactions months Coordination of sensations, habits, and primary circular reactions; body still main focus Secondary circular reactions months More object-oriented, repeats interesting/ pleasurable acts Coordination of secondary circular reactions months Coordination of schemes/touch/ vision, eye-hand coordination, intentional acts Tertiary circular reactions, novelty and curiosity months Intrigued by properties of and things done with objects, experiments with new behaviors Internalization of schemes months Ability to use primitive symbols, form lasting mental images Sensorimotor Substages Figure 7.1

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9 Understanding Physical Reality Object Permanence –Understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched –one of infant’s most important achievements, assessed by violation of expectations –Understanding of causality What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10 Fig. 7.2 (a)(b) Object Permanence

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11 Fig. 7.3 (b) (c) (a) The Infant’s Understanding of Causality

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12 Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage New way of looking at infants Piaget’s views need modification; his explanations of cause are debated –Object permanence occurs earlier –Distinguishing objects by 3 to 4 months –AB error: infant selects familiar hiding place (A) rather than new hiding place (B) What Is Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13 Conditioning Consequences of behavior produce –Rovee-Collier experiment, conditioning –Classical conditioning: infant can develop lifelong fears –Operant conditioning: rewarding stimulus increases probability of that behavior reoccurring How Do Infants Learn and Remember?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14 Attention Focusing of mental resources; improves cognitive processing –Habituation: decreased responsiveness to stimulus after repeated presentations –Dishabituation: habituated response recovered after a change in stimulation –“Short lookers” versus “long lookers” How Do Infants Learn and Remember?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15 Imitation Meltzoff: –Infant can imitate facial expression within a few days after birth; biologically based –Deferred imitation: 9-month-olds can imitate actions they saw 24 hours earlier; consisted of unusual gestures How Do Infants Learn and Remember?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16 Memory Central feature of cognitive development Individual retains information over time –First Memories Implicit memory: lacks conscious recollection Explicit memory: conscious ability for recall –Infantile Amnesia Most remember little from first 3 years Immaturity of prefrontal lobe How Do Infants Learn and Remember?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17 Concept Formation and Categorization Concepts: grouping objects, events, characteristics on common features –Perceptual categorization: 3-month-olds can form categories on basis of perceptual features Size, color, movement, object parts, voices How Do Infants Learn and Remember?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18 Infant Intelligence Infant testing movement grew –Gesell: distinguish normal from abnormal babies –Developmental quotient (DQ): overall developmental score, combines domains Motor Language Adaptive Personal-social How Are Individual Differences in Infant Intelligence Assessed?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19 Bayley Scales of Infant Development Widely used in assessment of infant development; has three components: –Mental scale; auditory and visual attention –Motor scale –Infant behavior profile Assesses infant, predicts later behavior How Are Individual Differences in Infant Intelligence Assessed?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20 Infant Intelligence Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence Infant testing valuable for assessing effects of –Malnutrition, drugs, maternal deprivation –Environmental stimulation Cognitive development is both continuous and discontinuous How Are Individual Differences in Infant Intelligence Assessed?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 21 Nutrition Affects physical development Malnutrition limits cognitive development Early nutritional supplements, proteins and calories, have positive long-term effects What Are Some Early Environmental Influences on Cognitive Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 22 Poverty Positive effects sought by manipulating children’s early environments –Emphasis on prevention, not remediation –Early intervention programs vary –Many low-income parents cannot provide intellectually stimulating environment What Are Some Early Environmental Influences on Cognitive Development?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide Children retained in grades (percent) Treatment Group InterventionControl Fig. 7.7 Early Intervention and Retention in School

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 24 What Language Is Language: form of communication (verbal, written, gestures) based on system of symbols; highly organized Infinite generativity: ability to produce endless number of meaningful sentences using finite set of words and rules What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 25 Language’s Rule Systems Phonology –Sound system of language –Basis and sequences for sets of words –Phoneme: smallest unit of sound Morphology –Units of meaning in word formation –Morpheme: smallest unit of meaning What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 26 Language’s Rule Systems Syntax –Ways words combine to form acceptable phrases and sentences Semantics –Meanings of words and sentences Pragmatics –Appropriate use of language in context What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 27 How Language Develops in Infancy Babbling and other vocalizations –Crying: present at birth, signals distress –Cooing: begins about 1 to 2 months –Babbling: occurs in middle of first year, strings of consonant-vowel combinations –Gestures: begins about 8 to 12 months; about same for hearing and deaf children What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 28 Recognizing Language Sounds and Word Barriers Birth to 6 months –“Citizens of the Word”: recognize most sound changes in any language After 6 months, learn own language –Gradually lose ability to recognize sound changes in other languages 8 to 9 months: detect word boundaries What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 29 First Words First words at 10 to 15 months –First words name important people, familiar animals and objects, body parts, greetings –Infants understand about 50 words at 13 months (receptive vocabulary) but unable to say them until about 18 months (spoken vocabulary) What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 30 Fig Variation in Language Milestones First words Vocabulary spurt Age (months) Language Milestone

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 31 Language Growth Vocabulary spurt: 18 months to 2 years –50 words at 18 mos, 200 words at 2 years –Overextension: applying words too broadly –Underextension: applying word too narrowly Two-Word Utterances –Telegraphic speech: use of short and precise words without grammatical markers What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 32 Biological and Environmental Influences Biological –Evolution of CNS and vocal apparatus –Human language about 100,000 years old –Brain regions involved What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 33 Biological and Environmental Influences Brain’s Role in Language –Aphasia—Brain damage that involves a loss of ability to use words –Broca’s area—Brain’s left frontal lobe that directs the muscle movements involved in speech production –Wernicke’s area—Brain’s left hemisphere; involved in language comprehension What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 34 Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area Fig Broca’s Area Wernicke’s Area

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 35 Language Acquisition Device (LAD) Chomsky –Humans biologically prewired for language –Children born with LAD; biological ability to detect features and rules of language –Theoretical; not physical part of brain –Supporters cite uniformity of language milestones across languages and cultures What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 36 Is There a Critical Period for Learning Language? Critical period advocates cite –Isolation/abuse cases like “Genie” –Brain development studies –Preschoolers’ rapid language learning Behaviorists, critical period opponents –Learning continues beyond preschool What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 37 Is There a Critical Period for Learning Language? Behaviorial view –Language is complex skill; learned and reinforced –Biology cannot explain creativity, motivation to learn proper syntax –Biology cannot fully explain orderliness of language; individual differences exist What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 38 Environmental Influences on Language Environmental Influences –Parents’ talkativeness, vocabulary, and level of language linked to children’s vocabulary growth and SES –Child-directed speech Spoken in higher pitch than normal with simple words and sentences Holds attention, maintains communication What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 39 Infant’s vocabulary size (words) Infant’s age (months) Mother’s level of speech High Medium Low Fig Level of Maternal Speech and Infant Vocabulary

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 40 Environmental Influences Other strategies used naturally: –Recasting: rephrasing what child says –Expanding: sophisticated restating of what the child says –Labeling: assigning, identifying objects by name What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 41 How Parents Can Facilitate Infants’ Language Development Stimulate: be an active conversational partner Self-fulfilling prophecy: talk as if infant understands what you are saying Affect is important: use comfortable language style What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 42 How Parents Can Facilitate Toddlers’ Language Development Remember to listen Use comfortable language, but expand language abilities Adjust to child’s idiosyncrasies Avoid sexual stereotypes Resist making normative comparisons What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 43 Welfare Age of children (months) Parent utterances to child per hour Professional Fig (a) Language Input in Professional and Welfare Families and Young Children’s Vocabulary Development

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 44 Fig (b) Age of children (months) Children’s cumulative vocabulary words Welfare Professional Language Input in Professional and Welfare Families and Young Children’s Vocabulary Development

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 45 Interactionist View of Language Development Biology and sociocultural experiences contribute to language development Parents and teachers construct LASS— language acquisition support system Children acquire native language without explicit teaching What Is The Nature of Language and How Does It Develop in Infancy?

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 46 The End 7