Chapter 5: Cognitive Development in Infancy Flashcards
Summarize Piaget‘s theory of Infant Development
- baby makes schemes
- baby uses/adapts scheme with assimilation and accommodations
- baby organizes experiences
- sensorimotor stage
In Piaget’s theory, actions or mental representations that organize knowledge are called _______.
schemes
What is assimilation?
Using existing schemes to deal with new info
What is accommodation?
Adjustment of schemes for new info
_______ is a mechanism Piaget proposed to explain how children shift from one stage to the next.
equilibrium
Sensorimotor stage
Piaget’s first stage,
- lasts from birth to age 2
- infants begin to understand the world through coordinating sensory experiences and motor actions
What are the six substages of sensorimotor development?
- Simple reflexes
- First habits and primary circular reactions
- Secondary circular reactions
- Coordination of secondary circular reactions
- Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity
- Internalization of schemes
Substages:
Simple reflexes
First substage,
coordination of sensation and action through reflexive behaviors
Substages:
First habits and primary circular reactions
Coordination of sensation and two types of schemes:
1. habits
2. reactions
Substages:
Secondary circular reactions
Infant becomes more object-oriented, less self-oriented
Substages:
Coordination of secondary circular reactions
Coordination of vision and touch, coordination of schemes and intentionality
Substages:
Tertiary circular reactions, novelty, and curiosity
Infant becomes intrigued by properties of objects and by the things they can do to objects
Substages:
Internalization of schemes
Infants develop ability to use primitive symbols and form enduring mental representations
What is a primary circular reation?
Scheme based on attempt to reproduce an event which occured by chance
A-not-B error
Infant makes the mistake of selecting a familiar hiding place (A) rather than a new hiding place (B) of an object
*related to undeveloped object permanence
Core knowledge approach
Infants are born with domain-specific innate knowledge systems (nature)
What are some criticisms of Piaget’s theory?
- infants’ perceptual abilities are highly developed from a young age
- data doesn’t always support him
- A-not-B error
Who made the theory of operant conditioning?
Skinner
Operant conditioning
Consequences of a behavior produce changes in the probability of the behavior’s occurrence
_______ has demonstrated how infants can retain information from the experience of being conditioned.
Carolyn Rovee-Collier
The focus of mental resources on select information.
Attention
What dominates attention in the first year of life?
orienting/investigative process
A new stimulus elicits an orienting response followed by _______.
Sustained attention
A process that occurs when individuals focus on the same object and are able to track another individual’s behavior.
Joint attention
Joint attention is delayed in children with _______.
ASD and language delay
Central feature of cognitive development which pertains to all situations in which individuals retain information over time.
Memory
Memory without conscious recollection
implicit
Memory of facts and experiences which individuals consciously know
explicit
What makes explicit memory possible in infants?
- development of hippocampus and cerebral cortex from 6-12 months
Infantile/childhood amnesia
Inability to remember first 3 years of life
T or F
Infants’ memories are fragile
True
Imitation that occurs after a delay of hours or days
Deferred imitation
Cognitive grouping of similar objects, events, people, or ideas
Concepts
Infants as young as _______ can group objects.
3 to 4 months
The ability to produce and comprehend an endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules
Infinite generativity
The sound system of the language, including the sounds used and how they may be combined
Phonology
Units of meaning involved in word formation
Morphology
The ways words are combined to form acceptable phrases/sentences
Syntax
The meaning of words and sentences
Semantics
The appropriate use of language in different contexts
Pragmatics
What did Frederick II do with babies?
He tried to learn what language they’d speak if nobody spoke to them. They all died…
T or F
From birth to 6 months, babies can understand sounds from only their own language.
False
From birth to 6 months babies can understand sounds of any language
Kuhl (2015) “citizens of the world”
How do babies begin to understand language in the second half of their first year?
Statistical information like co-occurrence and repetition
Cooing v. Babbling
Cooing:
- starts @ 2-4 months
- gurgling sounds
- express pleasure
Babbling:
- starts @ middle of 1st year
- form of social interaction
- strings of sounds
Gestures are used by babies to _______.
- communicate towards end of 1st year
- pointing, waving, nodding, etc.
T or F
Infants understand first words before using them.
True
Vocabulary spurt
Rapid increase in baby’s vocabulary from age 18 months
T or F
Early vocabulary development is not linked with later language development.
False
It is linked with language development 5 years later
Overextension v. Underextension
O: to apply words to objects that are not included in the word’s definition, too wide
U: to fail to name an object as what it is, too narrow
Two-word utterances
- 18-24 months
- Convey meaning with just two words
The use of short and precise words without grammatical markers
Telegraphic speech
T or F
Speaking and understanding language require the nervous system.
True
An area in the brain’s left hemisphere that’s involved in language comprehension
Wernicke’s area
An area in the brain’s left frontal lobe that is involved in speech production
Broca’s area
Loss or impairment of language ability caused by brain damage
Aphasia
Chomsky’s term that describes a biological endowment enabling the child to detect the features and rules of language
Language acquisition device
LAD
Damage to either Bronco’s or Wernicke’s area causes a form of _______.
aphasia
Describe the role of social interaction in language development.
- interaction with parents and teachers facilitates language development
- Tomasello - interaction view
- tied to socioeconomic status of parents
T or F
Infants can effectively learn language through television and videos.
False
Infants need to be engaged in social interaction to develop language. TV can actually cause delayed language development
Language spoken in a higher pitch and slower speed than normal with simple words and sentences
Child-directed speech
Recasting, Expanding, and Labeling
R - rephrasing a child’s words to correct them
E - adding info to child’s incomplete statement
L - naming objects a child shows interest in
