Early Conceptions of the Physical World Flashcards
what is there large debate over?
where the child’s interpretation of sensory info is guided by inborn knowledge or through experience
describe Piaget’s constructivist theory (Piaget, 1954)
- chaotic perceptual input in early infancy
- action necessary for child’s construction of knowledge
- late development of conceptual understanding about world of objects
- infants must act on objects to learn
who leads the nativist camp?
spelke & ballaiargeon
describe the nativist theory of physical knowledge?
-core knowledge hypothesis
- infants possess innate knowledge of object concepts (Spelke, 1991)
- not bombarded by chaotic experience
- knowledge structures what they see
- adaptive
what does solidity refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?
no two objects can occupy same space at one time
what does cohesion refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?
objects are connected masses of stuff that move as a whole
what does contract refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?
objects move through contact (do not move spontaneously)
what does continuity refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?
objects move in continuous paths
who offers a mid-ground between piaget’s constructivism & nativism?
karmiloff smith (1992)
what does object permanence refer to?
awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible
describe the A not B test?
infant searches for a hidden object where they last found it (location A), rather than at its current location (location B)
why is it a problem that Piaget’s evidence of late development of object permanence relied on manual search tasks?
could be underestimating infant’s knowledge:
- A not B error = positive reinforcement?
- failure to inhibit
- working memory
how was Cohen & Marks (2002) skeptical of the drawbridge study as evidence against piaget?
one should be cautious about attributing sophisticated cog processes to young infants when simpler processes will suffice
how have the drawbridge findings been explained as not being evidence against piaget, and argue against interpretation of high level knowledge?
1) perceptual persistence (Haith, 1998)
2) preference for events that display more motion (Rivera et al., 1999)
what question did Keen (2003) ask?
why do infants look so smart when toddlers look so dumb?
what does the nativist account predict about innate object knowledge?
should guide search behaviours
describe results of adapted Spelke et al (1992) study using balls being dropped allowing for interaction with the objects?
- only 40% of 2 year olds search in correct location
- by 2 1/2 years = mastered this
- dissociation between looking time (surprised) and search behaviour
- infants (2 year olds) have knowledge but unable to use it to guide their actions
what are the possible reasons for search errors?
- limited problem solving abilities
- frontal cortex immaturity
- weaker representations that are sufficient to perform in looking tasks, but not in manual retrieval
- early representations implicit
what can the ability to discriminate test events in infants be due to?
- innate core knowledge about object properties
- attentional biases that facilitate learning
- combination
at what age do infants understand the importance of gravity & support but not that the amount of contact is important? (Baillargeon et al., 1992)
females - 4.5 months
males - 5-5.5 months
at what age do infants understand gravity & support, and that the amount of contact is important? ((Baillargeon et al., 1992)
6.5 months - may be because children don’t sit up until then
role of experience of playing with & placing objects
at what age do infants fully understand gravity & support? ((Baillargeon et al., 1992)
12.5 months - can take into account proportional distribution of objects (asymmetric objects)
describe results of the balance scale problem as a way of testing naive theories in older children (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992)
- U shaped behavioural performance in balancing asymmetrical blocks
- children younger & older do well
- children in the middle do worse
do 4-5 year olds perform well on the balance scale problem? (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992)
yes - perform well by trial and error, data-driven, no naive theories that all things must balance in the centre
