1. Cognitive Changes in Infancy
PSYC 206: Life-Span Development
Lecture 6
Aylin Küntay

2. Sensorimotor stage Substage 1: Radical egocentrism--- reflexes
Substage 2: Primary circular reactions
We will examine the next two substages
And look at the development of object permanence in these four sensorimotor substages
Look at critical approaches to this approach of extended development--- the competent infant approach

3. Cognitive changes (Piaget) SM Substage 3 (4-10 months) Secondary circular reactions
children’s actions begin to center on objects and events outside their own bodies
infants will try to manipulate objects in order to repeat an accidental occurrence that they find interesting in the external environment
e.g., drop an object to hear a sound, pull a string to move a rattle
at some level, understands that his own actions can have external results
no explicit goals, but repetition of accidentally discovered interesting events
begins to coordinate information between two senses (e.g., vision and grasping)

4. can combine schemata to achieve a goal
Substage 4 (8 to 12 months) Coordination of secondary circular reactions
can combine schemata to achieve a goal
discover that behaviors can be means for achieving particular ends (Means-ends relationships)
can intentionally apply old behavior patterns to new situations
in the past pull a string (means) to shake a doll (end)
now pull a string (means) to get the doll (end)

5. Cognitive development: Object Permanence
we and all other objects coexist as physically distinct and independent entities within a common space
the existence of other objects is fundamentally independent of our psychological contact, that is, perception of and interaction with the object
out of sight does not mean out of existence
development of the notion of objects as physically independent entities
today: 0-12 months, although continues to develop until 24 months

6. SM Substages 1 & 2 Substage 1: Radical egocentrism
exercise of reflexes, including looking
object = contact
as long as I can see the object or some sort of contact with it, I can follow it. But will immediately lose interest in a moving object that disappears behind a screen
Substage 2: Primary circular reactions (PCR)
repetition of action schemata on own body
“anticipations” of reappearance of objects in same location: passive expectation
when my favorite teddy bear moves to disappear behind a screen, I can look around a bit around the point where it vanished. But cannot follow its projected trajectory

7. Substage 3: Secondary circular reactions
repeat an action that will provide interesting outcomes in the environment
real anticipations
Now I can look beyond the screen! I can anticipate the future position of the object by extrapolating their direction of movement.
but wait! I won’t look beyond the second screen. I like places where I originally had success.
If my teddy bear falls off from my crib to the floor, I will lean over to look for it rather than staring at the spot where it was before it disappeared from sight

8. Substage 3: Secondary circular reactions
now I can also go for my toy monkey… only if I can see some part of it, like its leg or something. But if that omnipotent, vicious experimenter makes it disappear behind an opaque screen as I am reaching for it, I will forget about it and not manually search for it. Look! Now he used a transparent screen, so I can continue to retrieve it. My manual skills are fine. But my concept of objects is bound to my current or immediately past activity.
Practical permanence: according to Piaget, the object is yet not credited with an enduring life of its won

9. Substage 3: OP achievement 1
Visual anticipation of the future positions of objects--- rather than passive viewing of the place where he saw the object vanish
“at 0;6(3) Laurent, lying down, holds in his hand a box five centimeters in diameter. When it escapes him he looks for it in the right direction (beside him). I then grasp the box and drop it myself, vertically, and too fast for him to be able to follow the trajectory. His eyes search for it at once on the sofa on which he is lying. I manage to eliminate any sound or shock and I perform the experiment at his right and at his left; the result is always positive. (The Construction of Reality in the Child, CR)

10. Substage 3: OP achievement 2
Interrupted prehension
if the infant has already started some movements of the hands or fingers for the purpose of grasping an object and then loses it, he will search for the object by continuing the movements
originates no new movements to retrieve the old object, but completes the initiated movement
subjective permanence-- the object exists in relation to the action he was performing when it vanished or slipped from his grasp

11. Substage 3: OP achievement 3
deferred circular reactions: an infant can interrupt a circular reaction involving an object and resume it at a later time
“0;8(30) Lucienne is busy scratching a powder box placed next to her on her left, but abandons that game when she seems me appear on her right. She drops the box and plays with me for a moment, babbles, etc. Then she suddenly stops looking at me and turns at once in the correct position to grasp the box; obviously she does not doubt that this will be at her disposal in the very place where she used it before.” (CR)
shows that the infant attributes at least some permanence to the object, but still too closely associated with a practical situation and previous activities

12. Substage 3: OP achievement 4
reconstruction of an invisible whole from a visible fraction
if an infant is shown a toy which (while he watches) is completely covered by a cloth, he makes no attempt to search for the toy
but if certain parts are visible the infant tries to lift the cloth to discover the rest of the toy
recognition of partly hidden object

13. Substage 4: Coordinated SCR’s
combine two older schemata to achieve a goal
pull the string-shake an object
now better able to coordinate eye and hand movements-- he can explore objects at different distances and from different perspectives
realizes that the object remains the same despite visual changes
attribution of qualities of permanence and substance to objects
when an object disappears, the infant tries to find it by initiating new movements and actions
not only by repeating the action that was underway when the object disappears

14. Substage 4: Coordinated SCR’s
But….
“at 0;10(18) Jacqueline is seated on a mattress without anything to disturb or distract her. I take her parrot from her hands and hide it twice in succession under the mattress, one her left, in A. Both time Jacqueline looks for the object immediately and grabs it. Then I take it from her hands and move it very slowly before her eyes to the corresponding place on her right, under the mattress, in B. Jacqueline watches this movement but at the moment when the parrot disappears in B she turns to her left and looks where it was before, in A.”

15. Substage 4: Coordinated SCR’s
when the movements of the object becomes too complicated to follow, the infant tends to attribute an absolute position which is that associated with previously successful discoveries
A-not-B error
although in straightforward situations the object is detached from the infant’s actions and perceived as an objective entity
cannot deal with visible displacements that follow successful searches
the object is associated with a practical situation and the infant’s past successes

16. Table 5.2 Cole, Cole, and Lightfoot: The Development of Children, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2005 by Worth Publishers

17. Baillargeon’s challenge to Piaget (next slide)
31/2 months were habituated to a screen that rotated back and forth through a 180° arc
Later a box was placed behind the screen
when the screen was in its upright position, it hid the box behind it from view
Two kinds of events were set up: a possible and impossible event
possible: the screen stopped rotating when it reached the occluded box
impossible: screen rotated through a 180° arc, as though the box was no longer behind it

18. Figure 5.14 Cole, Cole, and Lightfoot: The Development of Children, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2005 by Worth Publishers

19. Results of the drawbridge study
the babies looked longer (dishabituated) when the screen moved thru the space where the box was supposed to be…
represented the existence of the box behind the screen
understood that the screen could not rotate through the space provided by the box
expected the screen to stop and were surprised in the impossible event that it did not
Baillergeon concluded earlier development of object permanence than Piaget
rudimentary knowledge of continued existence of box (object), but cannot yet organize search behavior

20. Possible explanations
memory limitations?
lack of motor coordination?
It seems likely that infants have a rudimentary understanding of object permanence by 4 months of age… but cannot act on it until their motor skills are smoothly coordinated so that reaching for covered objects can be done without forgetting about the object altogether
Campos study showing the effect of trained locomotion on early location of hidden objects

21. Numerical knowledge: arithmetic operations (next slide)
Wynn first placed a mickey mouse on a stage while the 4-month old watched
then raised the screen to hide the toy from view
then a hand holding another mickey mouse approached and disappeared behind the screen, and then withdrew without the doll
implying (at least for adults) that the mickey mouse was left behind the screen
the screen was lowered
either revealing one mickey mouse or two mickey mouses
1 mickey mouse surprising event
2 mickey mouses  non-surprising event

22. Wynn results
the babies looked longer at the unexpected outcome, when there was only one mouse beyond the screen…
attributed knowledge about addition of small numbers to 4 month olds…
know that 1+1 = 2
additional experiments showed also some knowledge about subtraction…
how do you think this experiment was done?
these experiments show that infants have some basic understanding of easy arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction
earlier than when Piaget would have predicted

23. Categorization
categorical perception: the ability to detect differences in speech sounds (phonemes) that correspond to differences in meaning-- is present by 1 months of age
categorization: learning to respond to different (but similar) objects in a similar way
perceptual categorization: grouping based on perceptual similarities
cats are four legged, hairy creatures
conceptual categorization: grouping based on function or non-perceptible features
cats are living beings that have blood circulation, digestion, etc.

24. Categorization
Hayne and Rovee-Collier et al. (1987) (Operant conditioning method)
3 month olds learn to kick to get a mobile made from A-shaped objects move
across different sessions, the color of the objects change
the infants responded at high rates of kicking to the test mobile with the same form and a novel color
but not the mobile with a different form
evidence of categorizing on the basis of form

25. Categorization (differential looking method, next slide)
Eimas and Quinn (1994) showed 3-month-olds a series of pictures of different looking dogs, two at a time (overhead)
in a test trial, a dog was shown paired with another animal, for e.g. a cat
the infants looked longer at the picture of the new animal
differential looking indicates that infants form categories about a “dog” without any special training

26. Eimas and Quinn, 1994
Trial 1
Trial 2
Test Trial

27. Conceptual Categories
Babies (7 months) treated plastic toy birds and airplanes, which are perceptually similar, as if they were members of the same category
Babies (9 -11 months) treated toy airplanes and birds as members of conceptually different categories, despite the fact that they looked very much alike
Mandler & McDonough, 1993

28. Memory (for action)
when Hayne et al. taught infants to move a mobile by kicking, 3 month-olds remembered their training for about a week
if they were “reminded” by being shown the mobile a day before the testing, they could remember even after a month after training
older infants could remember for longer periods
retention increases gradually in the first year
Meltzoff and Moore showed that 9 month olds remember arbitrary actions modeled by adults for the next day and perform these if provided the same objects
this is called deferred imitation

29. Deferred Imitation (Evidence of Recall)
Infants move from relying on implicit memory (recognition) to explicit memory (recall)
For example, infants will imitate live models, as well as actions that they have seen on television
Infants who watch a televised model on one day will reproduce the model’s behavior 24 hours later (Meltzoff, 1988)
What might be an educational implication?