Cognitive Development in Infancy and Early Childhood

Ch. 4

Basic Principles of Cognitive Development

Schemes Mental categories of related events, objects, & knowledge Change constantly to adapt to
Change from physical, to functional,
conceptual, and abstract

childrens experiences

 Assimilation

Piagets Account: Assimilation and Accommodation

New experiences fit into existing schemes i.e. believes all furry four legged Accommodation Schemes haveoftonewmodified as be consequence experience i.e. calls a cow a dog and is corrected
creatures are dogs

Piagets Account: Equilibration

Equilibrium Balance between assimilation & Disequilibrium Balance is upset; More

accommodation

accommodation than assimilation

Piagets Account: Equilibration

Equilibration children reorganize schemes to return to a state of equilibrium inadequate schemes replaced with more advanced and mature schemes occurs three times during development

Piagets Account: Periods of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Period (0-2 years) Preoperational Period (2-7 years) Concrete Operational Period (7-11 years) Formal Operational Period (11 yrs & up)

Sensorimotor Period (0-2 years)

Between 1 & 4 months reflexes modified by experiences About 8 months onset of deliberate behavior About 12 months become active
experimenters

Sensorimotor Period (0-2 years)

Object Permanence understanding that objects exist independently 4-8 month-olds out of sight, out of existence 8-10 month-olds partial object permanence 18 months Piaget believes full
understanding of o.p.

Sensorimotor Period (0-2 years)

Use of symbols evident by 18 months 18 months most have begun to talk and gesture Engage in pretend play Can begin to anticipate consequences

Preoperational Thinking (2-7 years)

Egocentrism difficulty in seeing the world from anothers outlook Three-mountain problem Animism credit inanimate objects with life and life-like properties i.e. Cloudy day sun is sad Centration term for narrowly focused thought Conservation experiments

Preoperational Thinking (2-7 years)

Appearance is reality Objects appearance tells what object is really like Examples: Masks Milk looks brown through sunglasses Rubber food is edible

Criticisms of Piagets Theory

Underestimates cognitive ability in infants Overestimates cognitive ability in adolescents Vague about mechanisms and processes of change Does not account for variability in childrens performance Undervalues the influence of
sociocultural environment

Nave Theories

Childrens theories Valuable because all children to

Core knowledge hypothesis Infants are born with rudimentary knowledge of the world Expanded on through experiences

understand new experiences & predict future events

Nave Physics

Infants create an accurate theory of some basic properties of objects Examples: Object permanence early as 4 months Gravity 12 months Concealment 12 months

Nave Physics

 4 year-olds theories include specific properties associated with living things Movement Animals move themselves Inanimate objects must be moved Growth Animals get bigger Inanimate objects do not change in size Internal parts Animate objects contain different

Nave Biology

 Inheritance Only living things have offspring that resemble their parents Illness Permanent illness inherited from parents Temporary illness passed through contact with others Healing Animate things heal by regrowth Inanimate things must be fixed by
humans

Nave Biology

Nave Biology

Teleological explanations Living things and parts of living things exist for a purpose Essentialism All living things have an essence that
cant be seen but gives a living thing its identity

Information Processing: Review

Human thinking is like a computer Mental Hardware Neural & mental structures that enable the mind to operate Mental Software Mental programs that allow for the
performance of specific tasks

 Attention Sensory info receives cognitive processing Orienting response Occurs with strong or unfamiliar stimuli Evidence - fix eyes, change in heart rate and brain - wave activity Habituation diminished response to a stimulus as
it becomes familiar

Information Processing Processes: Attention

Information Processing Processes: Learning

Imitation Older children learn by observing others 10-month-old can imitate an adult or other infant 2-to-3 weeks old would imitate
(controversial)

 2-3 month-olds exhibit memory Remember past events, forget over time, remember again on cue Preschool years Autobiographical memory specific events & experiences in own lives i.e. Who was your teacher in 4th grade? Develops during preschool years
with language development and

Information Processing Processes: Memory

Preschoolers on Witness Stand

Children are vulnerable to suggestion and leading questions Preschoolers Limited ability to use source monitoring skills may lead to answers that reflect
memories they may have been only told about

Learning Numbers

Infants as young as 5 months can distinguish 2 objects from 3 Young babies can perform simple addition and subtraction Infants can compare quantities i.e. ratios & amount of crackers

 By age 3 most have mastered 3 basic

principles of counting
1. One-to-One principle

Learning Number Skills

There is only one number name for each object counted Example - 1,2,a Number names must be counted in the same order Example: 1,2,4,5 consistently

2. Stable-order principle

Learning Number Skills (contd)

3. Cardinality principle

The last number in a counting sequence denotes the number of objects Example: 1,2,4,8....EIGHT!

Cultural differences in learning numbers

Easier to learn numbers when learn

languages that use plural nouns

Learning to count beyond 10 is more

than other languages

difficult in English than other languages

Asians grasp base-ten concepts easier

Zone of Proximal Development Difference between what children can

Vygotskys Theory Major Contributions

do with and without help from a more experienced guide Achieve maximum achievement if students stay in this zone

Scaffolding Giving just enough assistance Studies show that students do not

learn as well when told everything to do, nor when left alone to discover on their own

Vygotskys Theory Major Contributions

Private Speech Children talk to themselves as they perform difficult tasks Not intended for others but for self guidance and regulation Eventually becomes internalized and

becomes inner speech (Vygotskys term for thought)

Language Development

Language Social tool made up of complex rules

for using symbols

Infants must master 4 things to

become speakers 1. Phonemes 2. Semantics 3. Syntax 4. Pragmatics

Phonemes

Smallest unit of sound Example /sh/ from /s/ shoe school Each language uses between 100 & 150 possible phonemes English language uses 45 phonemes Young infants can tune in to the sounds of all languages By 10 months attend to only the phonemes
in their language

Phonemic Awareness

Infants learn about language sounds

from daily exposure to sound language such as intonations

Attend to rhymes and rhythms of

Motherese or infant directed speech

 Cooing 2 months of age Soft sounds like aah and ooh Vowel sounds Babbling Between 6 & 10 months Repeat consonant-vowel combinations mamama & dadada At 8-11 months children incorporate
intonation, or changes in pitch that are typical of the language they hear

Steps to Speech

Steps to Speech contd

Intentional Communication Grunt at objects to communicate Point to objects they want Baby signs

Semantics

Learn the meanings of words Learn from picking up cues in environment Example: kiss

Syntax

Learn to put words together in Learn the grammar or rules of a

language

meaningful order

Pragmatics

Learning to use language in a social

context

Waiting for pauses in conversations Taking turns in discussion

First Words

Receptive language Comprehension or understanding language Starts around 9 months and reaches 50 words by 13 months Expressive language Producing language Begins at around a year old Reaches 50 words by 18 months

First Words Tend to be important people and familiar objects Around 1 year of age Examples: Mama, dada, pet names or action words like bye bye and all gone Holophrases Individual words that convey as much meaning as sentences Doggie! may mean child wants to
play with dog, sees the dog, or wants to hold the dog

Developing Vocabulary

Understand sound-word connection

between 12-18 months After this add 3 new words per month to vocab By age 2 acquire about 10 words a day

 ConnectingFast Mappingthat which new words to

they refer helps to infer the meaning of the new word Joint Attention Parents pay attention to what children are attracted to and provide guidance Children seem to understand constraints on word names that help to infer meaning Types of constraints on word names include: Unfamiliar words must refer to object that doesnt have a name

 Overextension Overusing a word to refer to objects outside of the category (common) Example: doggie to refer to all

Limitations

furry animals or daddy to refer to all men Underextension Deficit in developing a schema for a word May use the word shoe to refer to only a particular pair of shoes versus all shoes

Individual differences in Word Learning

Vocabulary ranges from 25-250 words at 18 months Phonological memory Ability to remember speech sounds Word learning styles Referential Style: mainly naming objects, persons, or actions Expressive Style: includes social
phrases

 Early Between 11 and 20 months Say everything they know Normal in comprehension, but very high in speech production Late Tend to catch up and appear normal in language development about a year later continue to show language delays Long-term outcome is unclear more
research needed

Early vs Late Talkers

 First sentences start around the end of 2 year Telegraphic speech 2 and 3 word sentences May leave out grammatical morphemes, or
nd

Speaking in Sentences

words and endings that make a sentence correct Overregularization The application of rules to words that are exceptions to the rules Example: mouses; more funner

Encouraging Language Growth

Parents assist in learning language by: Speaking to children frequently Naming objects of childrens attention Using speech that is more grammatically sophisticated Reading to them Encouraging watching television
programs with an emphasis on learning new words, such as Sesame Street