Chapter 6 – Cognition in Infants and Toddlers Flashcards
Piaget’s Theory
Intelligent behaviour occurs as a child tries to adapt to the environment
Interaction between maturation and environment
Child as a scientist
- Create theories
- Adapt over time with
experience
Piaget’s Theory - Schemas
Psychological structures that organize experience through mental categories and conceptual models of knowledge.
Piaget’s Theory - Assimilation
New experiences are fit into existing schemas
- E.g., grasping a favourite
toy - Grasping also works for a
blanket
Piaget’s Theory- Accommodation
Schemas are modified based on experience
- Changes previously held
understandings
Piaget’s Theory Stages
Sensorimotor,
Birth to 2 years,
Infant’s knowledge of the world is based on senses and motor skills
Preoperational Thought,
2 to 6 years,
Child learns how to use symbols, such as words and numbers, to represent aspects of the world
Concrete Operational Thought,
7 to 11 years,
Child understands and applies logical operations to experiences
Formal Operational Thought,
Adolescence and beyond,
Adolescent or adult thinks abstractly
Sensorimotor Stage
Exercising reflexes (birth – 1 month)
Learning to adapt (1 – 4 months)
Making interesting events (4 – 8 months)
Using means to achieve ends (8 – 12 months)
Experimenting (12 -18 months)
Mental representation (18 – 24 months)
Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory
Accurate:
* Assimilation
* Accommodation
* Equilibration
Inaccurate:
* Object Permanence
Information Processing
Mental Hardware
- Inborn
- Structures
Mental Software
- Programs
- Help perform specific tasks
Sensory memory
Long-term memory
Working memory
- Understand
- Search memory
- Compare
- Respond
Learning
- Orienting response
- Habituation
- Dishabituation
Conditioning
- Classical
- Operant
Imitation:
- Learning by observing others
Understanding the world - Number sense
Quantity discrimination
Understanding the world - Egocentric frame of reference
See the world from their own eyes
Understanding the world - Individual differences
Focus on sensory skills
Habituation & dishabituation are predictive
Culturally influenced
Perceiving Speech - Phonemes
Basic building blocks of language
Unique sounds joined to create words
Perceiving Speech - Morphemes
Smallest units of meaning in a language
One or more phonemes
Perceiving Speech - Infant directed speech
Slow
Exaggerated pitch and volume
Stressed syllables
Producing Speech
Cooing
Babbling
Intonation
Exponential Growth in Words
Learn that words represent objects, being, and are symbols or representations
15 months: 2 or 3 words /week
18 months:
- Naming explosion: learn many new words much fast than previously
- Fast mapping: the rapid ability of children to connect new words to their referents
Strategies Used in Language Development
Mutual exclusivity
- Teddy bears example from the text
Whole-object assumption
Subcategories
- A new name for an object that already has a name is a subcategory
Individual names
- When a label is repeatedly given to one object within an identified group, it is assumed that is the object’s name
Common Errors in Language
Over-extension
- eg. calling anything furry with 4 legs a “dog”
Under-extension
- defining a word too narrowly
- eg. thinking “house” only refers to their home
