1. Intellectual Development of the Infant
Chapter 8

2. Intellectual development – how people learn, what they learn, and how they express what they know through language
Stimuli – an agent, such as a light or sound, that directly influences the activity of the sense organs

3. Brain Development Supports Learning
Different parts of the brain get priority at different times
Windows of opportunity – certain experiences are especially helpful to brain development

4. 3 Factors affect the rate of Mental Developmental
The baby’s physical development
Baby’s environment
Interaction of the first two factors; that is, using the windows of opportunity

5. Baby’s brain and sense organs mature a lot during the first year
Motor skills develop
Research provides support for areas of brain development that have long been recognized as a major mental learning of infancy

6. Motor Skills As reflexes wane, activity occurs in the motor center
Wiring begins at 2 months
Learning voluntary gross motor movement

7. Vision Center Need quite early in life Very active in early infancy
Ability to see through each eye clearly
By 2 – 3 months can see objects at many distances
By 1 – 3 mths can look at objects with both eyes
Eyes may not work together (drifting)
Eyes fuse image at 3 months

8. Binocular vision – type of vision that involves fusing an image so it appears as one image using both eyes
Necessary to recognize how far away an object is
Highly important to learning other things

9. Thinking and Memory Centers
Babies try to make sense of people, objects, sounds and events
Try to figure out what is happening
Also try to make things happen
Like bouncing cradle gym or bake a ball roll
Babies like to repeat and vary these events

10. Brain Research
Brain research suggests that wiring in thinking/memory centers of the brain begins at 6 months
Wiring continues for 10 years
Need a good mental diet
Interesting things to see, hear and touch

11. Perception Organizing information that comes through the senses
Major step in learning
Noting how things are alike and different in size, color, shape, texture
Comes through senses about form, space, weight and numbers

12. Perception Involves how fast the brain organizes information
Mature reader can distinguish between a b and a d faster than a beginner reader
Involves the way a person reacts to different sensory experiences
Some children run to mom in a crowded room of strangers

13. Perceptual Learning Process of developing perception
Happens because sense organs mature and preferences for certain stimuli change

14. Changes in Preferences
See page 223 figure 8-3
See why some babies pick out or prefer certain objects
See page 224 – 225 figure 8-6

15. Cognition Act or process of knowing or understanding
Gives meaning to perceptions
Jean Piaget – learn by exploring on your own in a stimulating environment

16. Sensorimotor Stage
First of Piaget’s stages of cognitive (intellectual) development in which children use their senses and motor skills to learn and communicate with others
Begins at birth and complete in 2 year
Infants use their sense and motor skills to learn and communicate
Work through problems by working through a certain order

17. Practicing Reflexes and Repeating New Learnings
Infants go from stage of practicing reflexes they already know (sucking, grasping, crying) to changing some of their reflex skills
Suck their thumbs and open/close their hands

18. Beginning to Control
Begin to control their world by making a mental connection between what they do and what happens
When they cry, a parent comes
Also realize objects exist even when they can’t see them

19. Solving Problems
Piaget believed by age one, babies apply all their learnings to solve other kinds of problems
By combining several actions, they discover new ways to solve problems

20. Imitating Coping the actions of someone else
Important way to learn for many years
Imitate simple actions
As they mature, imitate more complex actions

21. What Infants Learn
Concept – an idea formed by combining what is known about a person, object, place, quality, or event
Thinking is organized through concepts
When you see a cat you think of all you know about cats

22. Concepts change as the child’s brain matures and experiences increase
Change from simple to complex
Change from concrete to abstract
Draw parents and themselves rather than strangers

23. Concepts change from incorrect to correct
Concepts different for each person
Concepts involve emotions

24. Perception Concepts
Object constancy or sameness – ability to learn that objects remain the same even if they appear different
Plane on ground is colorful and in the air was small and silver

25. Object Concept
Ability to understand that an object, person, or event is separate from one’s interaction with it
Parents are often first “objects”
Learn that parents are separate from them

26. Object Concept has 2 parts:
1. object identity
Ability to learn that an object stays the same from one time to the next
2. object permanence
Ability to learn that people, objects, and places still exist even when they are no longer see, felt, or heard
Develops with many experiences over time
Will star for a second in the place where the object/person was

27. Depth Perception Ability to tell how far away something is
Needed for safety purposes
Keeps person from stepping off an object far from the ground
Well developed by 7 – 9 months

28. Beginnings of Language; Brain Development Research
Language closely related to mental development
Language wiring begins at birth if not before

29. Wiring Sequence:
1. during the first half year, babies distinguish small differences in sounds.
Prepared to learn any language
2. because there are so many connections, pruning begins at 6 months
Only notice major differences in sounds in languages they hear from caring adults

30. 3. by 12 months babies complete auditory maps needed for their own language
Learning to speak another language without an “accent” becomes more difficult if wiring for the sounds have been pruned away

31. By 9 – 12 months brain’s speech center begins the wiring process
Vocabulary – words a person understands and uses
Vocab increases when a person learns more concepts
Vocab may lag behind what a person really understands

32. Relationship between language and social and emotional growth
Language used to express feelings or emotions
Even young children express feelings physically
Temper tantrums, snatching toys etc

33. How Babies Communicate
Crying & Cooing –
1st month they cry
By 6th – 8th week they begin to coo
(light, happy sound babies begin to use to communicate)
Babbling – make a series of vowel sounds with consonant sounds slowly added to form syllables

34. Babbling
Important pretalking skill
Not monotone ( sounds all in a single pitch)
Inflections (changes of pitch)

35. First Words Begin talking during the last 3 months of the first year
Some talk later

36. Before talking babies must:
Understand object permanence
Understand that people, objects, places, and event have names
Remember words that go with people, objects, places, and events
Have the ability to make the sounds
Realize that talking is important

37. Reduplication Babbling
Repeating the same syllable over and over again
Da-da-da-da
Number of words a baby learns varies
Studies show babies say about 3 words by end of first year
Vocab increases at the end of the 2nd year

38. Passive VS Active Vocab
Passive – words a person understands but does not say
Infants have far greater passive
Active – words a person uses in talking or writing