CH6 - Cognition in infants & toddlers

Question 1

Piaget’s theory

Answer 1

Active child, assimilation vs accommodation, cognitive stages of development (4: sensorimotor, pre-, concrete -, formal operational thought), object permanence, child as theorist

Question 2

Sensorimotor - 6 stages

Answer 2

Exercising reflexes (birth - 1 month)

Learning to adapt (1 - 4 months) - reflexes are modified by experience by primary circular reaction

Making interesting events (4-8 months) - secondary circular reactions

Using means to achieve ends (8-12 months) - coordination of secondary circular reactions - multiple actions with goal

Experimenting (12-18 months) - tertiary circular reaction (applying schemas to variation) - repeating things with different objects to see what happened

Mental representation (18-24 months) - make-believe play; early attempts often result from deferred imitations, work with symbols to form an internal, mental representation of their world

Question 3

last 3 stages

Answer 3

Preoperational thought (2-6 years) - symbols, own perspective (vs theory of mind)

Concrete operational thought (7-11 years) - understands & applies logical operational experiences, here & now (tall skinny glass has more water, math)

Formal operational thought (11-15) - abstract thought - hypothetical deductive ressoning (formulating hypothesis; what would happen if?)

Question 4

Object permanence

Answer 4

Piaget: at 8 months objects are permanent but not completely, looking for objects at 12 months, full understanding at 18 months
Rene Baillargeon - earlier! 4.5 month-old look at “impossible event” longer

Question 5

Naive physics

Answer 5

objects move along connected continuous paths & not through other objects (3-4 months), stationary objects move following collision based on its size (6 months), gravity (later in first year)

Question 6

Children understand their bodies in 3 ways

Answer 6

Through short-term mental representations of the body based on sensorimotor experiences (first, during infancy)

Long-term knowledge of the physical location an interrelationships of body parts (visuospatial knowledge by 18 months)
Ppl vs animals, proper body vs scrambled body, but not before face arrangement
Semantic understanding that comes by learning the names of body parts (lexical-semantic knowledge)

Question 6

Children understand their bodies in 3 ways

Answer 6

(schema of body develops in 2 years)

1. Through short-term mental representations of the body based on sensorimotor experiences (first, during infancy)
2. Long-term knowledge of the physical location an interrelationships of body parts (visuospatial knowledge by 18 months) (Ppl vs animals, proper body vs scrambled body, but not before face arrangement)
3. Semantic understanding that comes by learning the names of body parts (lexical-semantic knowledge)

Question 7

Information processing - 3 components, basic features of theory

Answer 7

3 components of mental hardware: sensory, working & long-term memory

Basic features of theory: understand question → search mem for list → compare question with list → respond

Question 8

How infants learn (information-processing)

Answer 8

orienting response (physical reaction) → habituation → dishabituation

Habituation: orienting response when presented with strong unfamiliar stimulus, habituation (diminished response) when becomes more familiar, then dishabituation

Habituation (infant-processing measure related to developing cognitive abilities) & visual recognition abilities are part of a broad executive attention network (anterior cingulate gyrus, prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, which emerges at 1.5 years)

Question 9

neo-Piagetian approach

Answer 9

(Robbie Case) - movement from stages due to the advances in info-processing-related skills & abilities, not simply maturation

Question 10

Memory (information processing)

Answer 10

at 2 or 3 months events are remembered and can be recalled with cue if forgotten

Infantile amnesia - (increasing mem from 3 or 4) emphasized language? Sense of self provides organizing framework for memories?cultural differences

Question 11

Numbers (information processing)

Answer 11

1:2 ratio at 6 months, 2:3 ration at 10 months, 4:5 later

Question 12

frame of reference (info processing)

Answer 12

Egocentric to objective (allocentric) frame of reference at 12 months

Question 13

frame of reference (info processing)

Answer 13

Egocentric to objective (allocentric) frame of reference at 12 months

Question 14

Bayley scales of infant development

Answer 14

Individual differences - bayley scales of infant development - not sensible to cultural or socioeconomic differences - not an IQ predictor

Question 15

Language- perceiving speech

Answer 15

Phonemes - building blocks - 1 month after birth

Patterns of sounds - 7-8 months

Question 16

Language - speaking

Answer 16

Cooing by 2 months, babbling by 5 or 6, intonation by 7, first words (advanced babbling) after 1st birthday (also gesturing then)

Question 17

Language - meaning of words

Answer 17

15 month old leans 2-3 words a week, naming explosion at 18 months

Fast mapping - rapidly connecting new words to their referents

Simple rules that limit their conclusions about what labels mean

Sentence cues - filling in gaps

Naming errors - underextension (defining a word too narrowly) vs overextension (more frequent)

Question 18

Simple rules that limit their conclusions about what labels mean

Answer 18

If an unfamiliar word is heard in the presence of objects that already have names and objects that don’t, the word refers to the second one (Au & Glusman)

Name refers to whole object & all objects of same type

New name for same objects denotes subcategory

Word applied consistently to only one object in category refers to proper noun (name) - 16-20 months

Question 19

Styles of learning language

Answer 19

Referential style - vocabs mainly consist of words that name objects, persons or actions → children w this style primarily use language as an intellectual tool

Expressive style - social phrases (go away, whats that, i want it) → social tool