Chapter Six The First Two Years: Cognitive Development PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
Jan 18, 2016
Chapter Six
The First Two Years:Cognitive Development
PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
Sensorimotor Intelligence
• Sensoritmotor intelligence—active intelligence causing babies to think while using senses and motor skills
Stages 1 and 2: Primary Circular Reactions
• The feedback loop involving the infants own body; infant senses motion and tries to make sense of it
• Stage 1 = Reflexes • Stage 2 = First Acquired
Adaptations- adaptations of reflexes, i.e., sucking—
new information taken in by senses and responded to
• Assimilation and Accommodation– assimilation—taking in new information by
incorporating it into previous knowledge– accommodation— intake of new data to re-
adjust, refine, expand prior schema or actions
– babies eagerly adapt their reflexes and senses to whatever experiences they have
Stages 1 and 2: Primary Circular Reactions, cont.
• Sucking as a Stage-Two Adaptation– begin adapting at about one month– reflexive assimilation
Stages 1 and 2: Primary Circular Reactions, cont.
Stages 3 and 4: Secondary Circular Reactions• feedback loop involving people and
objects• Stage 3 = Making Interesting Events Last
- repetition - awareness
• Stage 4 = New Adaptation and Anticipation- goal-directed behavior- object permanence
• Feedback loop that involves active experimentation and exploration- involves creativity, action, and ideas
• Stage 5 = New Means Through Active Experimentation– little scientist
Stages 5 and 6: Tertiary Circular Reactions
• Stage 6 = New Means Through Mental Combinations– mental combinations—sequence of
mental actions tried out before actual performance
– deferred imitation—perception of something someone else does (modeling), then performing action at a later time
Stages 5 and 6: Tertiary Circular Reactions, cont.
Piaget and Modern Research• Habituation—process of getting used
to an object or event through repeated exposure to it
• fMRI—functional magnetic resonance imaging measuring technique for brain activity and neurological responses
• First three years are prime time for cognitive development
• Information-processing theory— perspective that compares human thinking processes to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, stored memories, and output
Information Processing
Affordances
• Affordances—opportunities for perception and interaction offered by environment
• How something is perceived and acted upon depends on– past experiences– current developmental level– sensory awareness of opportunities– immediate needs and motivation
Sudden Drops
• Visual cliff measures depth perception, which is based not on maturity level but affordance
- depends on prior experience
• Object Constancy- things remain what they are, despite
changes in perception or appearance- boundaries of three-dimensional
objects
Movement and People• Dynamic perception—1 of the 2 principles
explaining infant perception; namely, that from birth perception is primed to focus on movement and change
• 2nd principle explaining infant perception is that babies are fascinated by people
• Infants most interested in emotional affordances of their caregivers
• Certain amount of experience and maturation in order to process and remember experiences
• In first year infants have great difficulty storing new memories
• Older children often unable to describe events that occurred when they were younger
Memory
• Very early memories possible if– situation similar to real life– motivation high– special measures aid retrieval by acting
as reminders
Memory, cont.
Reminders and Repetition
• Reminder session—any perceptual experience that helps a person recall an idea or experience
A Little Older, A Little More Memory
• After 6 months infants capable of retaining information for longer periods of time with less reminding
• Deferred imitation apparent after end of first year
• By middle of the 2nd year, children capable of remembering and reenacting complex sequences
A Little Older, A Little More Memory, cont.
• Memory is not just single entity; distinct brain regions for particular aspects of memory; humans have a memory for– words– images– actions– smells– experiences– “memorized” facts
Language: What Develops in Two Years?
• Most impressive intellectual achievement of young child and also of all humans
• Children around the world have the same sequence of early language development but– timing and depth of linguistic ability
vary
The Universal Sequence of Language Development
First Noises and Gestures
• Baby talk—high-pitched, simplified, and repetitive ways adults talk to babies
• Vocalization– crying– cooing
• Babbling– deaf babies do it later and less frequently,
but are more advanced in use of gestures
• First word and sentences at age of 1 year
First Words
The Language Explosion and Early Grammar
• Naming explosion—sudden increase in infant vocabulary, especially nouns, beginning at 18 months
• Holophrase—single word that expresses a complete, meaningful thought
• Grammar—all the methods that languages use to communicate meaning
Theories of Language Learning• Even the very young use language
well• Three schools of thought
– infants are taught language– infants teach themselves– social impulses foster infant language
Theory 1: Infants are Taught• Skinner’s reinforcement theory:
quantity and quality of talking to child affects rate of language development (learned)– parents are good instructors– baby talk characterized by
• high pitch• simpler vocabulary• shorter sentence length• more questions and commands• repetition
• Chomsky and LAD (Language Acquisition Device)—hypothesized neurological (inborn) structure that prewires all children for language, including basic aspects of intonation, grammar, and vocabulary
– infants innately ready to use their minds to understand and speak whatever language offered to them
– they are experience expectant
Theory 2: Infants Teach Themselves
• Social-pragmatic—social reason for language: to communicate
• Infants seek to respond, which shows their being social in nature— and thus mutually dependent—by
- vocalizing- babbling- gesturing- listening- pointing
Theory Three: Social Impulses Foster Language
A Hybrid Theory
• Emergentist coalition—combination of valid aspects of several theories- cortex contains many language centers- nature provides several paths to learning language