1. Cognitive and Physical Development (Chapter 12) Lecture Outline: Basic questions Infant development Jean Piaget’s stage theory Videotape on infant skills (Magna M10)

3. Early neurological development w 90% of neural growth completed by age 6 w At birth, brain stem developed but cerebral cortex is immature w Brain growth influenced by diet: vitamins and fat w Early brain trauma, seizures, or reflex difficulties indicate neurological abnormalities

4. Basic Developmental Questions w Maturation vs. learning; hair color is canalized (high nature); writing is not (high learning) w Continuity vs. discontinuity; Stages occur in sequence, rapid transition, behavior organized, e.g., locomotion, butterflys w Domain generality vs. specificity; how generalized is a new behavioral skill?

5. What can neonates do? w John Locke tabula rosa,and James “blooming, buzzing confusion” w We now think infants can do much more: visually: focal length, tracking, preference for “face” and contrast auditory: startle, respond to voice contours sweet and own mother’s breast milk smell touch: rooting; by why stepping and palmer reflex?

8. Jean Piaget’s Theory w Coherent problem-solving underlies children’s thought and progresses through a series of stages w Schemas, are mental frameworks that allow children to adapt to their environment w Assimilation and Accommodation of new information into schemas: bang spoons and sticks; squeeze “Teddy” but not the dog

9. Stages of development w Sensorimotor: birth to age 2; reflexive actions are used to provide sensations egocentrism, object permanence, and representational thought by 2 w Preoperational: age 2 to 7; represenational thought and verbal communication intentional experimentation with objects and language through play

10. Most young children would agree that both rows have the same # of cows Preoperational children age 2-7 would think there were more cows in the top row Conservation of number Children who have reached the Formal Operations stage of cognitive development (age 7-11 years) will recognize that the number of cows has not changed even though they appear to take up more space due to the increased distance between them.