Life-Span DevelopmentTwelfth Edition

Chapter 5:

Cognitive Development in Infancy

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Cognitive ProcessesPiaget proposed that we build mental structures that help us adapt to the world

Adaptation involves adjusting to new environmental demands

Piaget stressed that children actively construct their own cognitive worlds through interaction with the environment

Systematic changes in children’s thinking occur at different points in their development

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Cognitive ProcessesSchemes: actions or mental representations that organize knowledge

Behavioral schemes (physical activities) characterize infancy

Consist of simple actions that can be performed on objects

Mental schemes (cognitive activities) develop in childhood

Include strategies and plans for solving problems

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Cognitive ProcessesAssimilation: occurs when children use their existing schemes to deal with new information or experiences

Accommodation: occurs when children adjust their schemes to take new information and experiences into account

Organization: the grouping of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order system

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Cognitive ProcessesEquilibration: the mechanism by which children shift from one stage of thought to the next

Disequilibrium: child’s inevitable experience of cognitive conflict

Brought about by inconsistencies in his or her existing schemes

Internal search for equilibrium creates motivation for change

Assimilation and accommodation are used to resolve conflict and bring about a new way of thinking

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Cognitive ProcessesAccording to Piaget, individuals go through four stages of development

Cognition is qualitatively different from one stage to another

Sensorimotor Stage: infant cognitive development lasting from birth to 2 years

Infants understand the world through their sensory experiences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8y-JVhjS0

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Sensorimotor Substages

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Cognitive ProcessesObject Permanence: the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched

Developed by the end of the sensorimotor period

Studied by watching infant’s reaction when an interesting object disappears

Violation of Expectations method suggests that infants understand object permanence earlier than Piaget proposed

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Object Permanence

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Object Permanence

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Cognitive ProcessesEvaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage:

Piaget claimed that certain processes are crucial in transitions between stages; data do not always support this

Example: the A-not-B Error

Infant’s perceptual abilities may be much more developed than Piaget thought

Studies by Elizabeth Spelke and others

Piaget was not specific enough about how infants learn about their world

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Conditioning and AttentionConditioning:

Infants can learn through classical and operant conditioning

Rovee-Collier (1997) demonstrated that infants can retain conditioning experiences

Attention: the focusing of mental resources on select information

Newborns can detect and fix their attention on contours

4-month-olds can scan more thoroughly and show selective attention

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Conditioning and AttentionInfants’ attention is strongly governed by novelty and habituation

Habituation: decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations

Dishabituation: increased responsiveness after a change in stimulation

Habituation is studied to determine the extent to which infants can see, hear, smell, taste, and experience touch

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Conditioning and AttentionJoint Attention: individuals focus on the same object or event

Requires an ability to track another’s behavior

One person directs another’s attention

Reciprocal interaction

Joint attention skills emerge by 7 to 8 months but are not frequently observed until the end of the 1st year

Plays a role in language development

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MemoryMemory: retention of information over time

Encoding: the process by which information gets into memoryImplicit memory: memory without conscious recollection

Skills and routine procedures that are performed automatically

Explicit memory: conscious memory of facts and experiences

Occurs in infants after 6 monthsMaturation of hippocampus and surrounding cerebral cortex

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MemoryInfantile or childhood amnesia: inability to recall memories of events that occurred before 3 years of age

May be caused by immaturity of prefrontal lobes of the brain

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MemoryImitation:

Meltzoff: infants’ imitative abilities are biologically based and are characterized by flexibility and adaptability

Deferred Imitation: imitation that occurs after a time delay of hours or days

Piaget: deferred imitation does not occur until about 18 months

Meltzoff: research suggests it can occur as early as 9 months

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Concept Formation and CategorizationCategories: groups of objects, events, and characteristics on the basis of common properties

Concepts: ideas about what categories represent

Perceptual categorization: 3-month-olds can group together objects with similar appearances

Conceptual categorization: by 7–9 months, infants form categories that are global in nature

By age two, general concepts become more differentiatedIntense, passionate interest in particular categories is more common in boys than girls

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Measures of Infant DevelopmentIndividual differences in infant cognitive development are important

Development testing emphasizes “norms”Infant assessments mostly based on assessment scales and intelligence tests

Gesell Test has four categories of behavior: motor, language, adaptive, and personal–socialBayley Scales of Infant Development has three components: mental scale, motor scale, and infant behavior profile

Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence focuses on infant’s ability to process information

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Predicting IntelligenceScores on infant tests are not highly correlated with IQ scores in childhood

Components of tests are very different

Exception: Fagan testMeasures of habituation and dishabituation are linked to intelligence in childhood and adolescence

Many important changes in cognitive development take place after infancy

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Language DevelopmentWild or feral children are raised in isolation and are unable to recapture normal language development despite intensive intervention later

Victor, Wild Boy of Aveyron

Genie: 13-year-old found in 1970 in Los Angeles

Both cases raise questions about biological and environmental determinants of language

Language: a form of communication – whether spoken, written, or signed – that is based on a system of symbols

Infinite Generativity: the ability to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules

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The Rule Systems of Language

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Language DevelopmentLanguage develops in infants throughout the world along a similar path and sequence

Recognizing language soundsWith age, infants get better at perceiving the sounds in their own language and worse at distinguishing sounds in other languages

Detecting boundaries between wordsOccurs by about 8 months

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Language DevelopmentBabbling and other vocalizations

Crying

Cooing

Babbling

Gestures are used by about 8 to 12 monthsPointing, waving “bye-bye”

First words:Children understand first words earlier than they speak them

On average, a child understands about 50 words at age 13 months but can’t speak 50 words until 18 months

Children typically speak their first word at 10–15 months©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Language Development

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Language DevelopmentVocabulary spurt begins at approximately 18 months of age

Overextension and underextension of words are common

Overextension: tendency to apply a word to objects that are inappropriate for the word’s meaningUnderextension: tendency to apply a word too narrowly

Two-word utterances occur at about 18–24 months

Telegraphic speech: use of short and precise words without grammatical markers

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Language Milestones in Infancy

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Language DevelopmentBiological Influences:

Evolution of nervous system and vocal apparatus

Similarities in language development across the world suggest a biological basis

Particular brain regions used for language:Broca’s area: language production

Wernicke’s area: language comprehension

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Language Development

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Language DevelopmentBiological Influences (continued):

Language Acquisition Device (LAD; Noam Chomsky): theory that a biological endowment enables children to detect certain features and rules of language

Theoretical concept only

Critics argue that the LAD cannot explain all of language development

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Language DevelopmentEnvironmental Influences:

Behaviorists claim language is a complex learned skill acquired through responses and reinforcements

Interaction view (Tomasello): children learn language in specific contexts

Children’s vocabulary is linked to family socioeconomic status and the type of talk parents direct toward their children

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Language Development

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Language DevelopmentChild-Directed Speech: language spoken in a higher pitch than normal with simple words and sentences

Captures infant’s attention and maintains communication

Three strategies to enhance child’s acquisition of language:

Recasting: rephrasing something the child has said

Expanding state: repeating what the child has said but in correct structure

Labeling: identifying the names of objects

Children vary in their ability to acquire language

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