Early Conceptions of the Physical World

Question 1

what is there large debate over?

Answer 1

where the child’s interpretation of sensory info is guided by inborn knowledge or through experience

Question 2

describe Piaget’s constructivist theory (Piaget, 1954)

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

who leads the nativist camp?

Answer 3

spelke & ballaiargeon

Question 4

describe the nativist theory of physical knowledge?

Answer 4

-core knowledge hypothesis

• infants possess innate knowledge of object concepts (Spelke, 1991)
• not bombarded by chaotic experience
• knowledge structures what they see
• adaptive

Question 5

what does solidity refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?

Answer 5

no two objects can occupy same space at one time

Question 6

what does cohesion refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?

Answer 6

objects are connected masses of stuff that move as a whole

Question 7

what does contract refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?

Answer 7

objects move through contact (do not move spontaneously)

Question 8

what does continuity refer to as a core principle that nativists believe infants are born with?

Answer 8

objects move in continuous paths

Question 9

who offers a mid-ground between piaget’s constructivism & nativism?

Answer 9

karmiloff smith (1992)

Question 10

what does object permanence refer to?

Answer 10

awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible

Question 11

describe the A not B test?

Answer 11

infant searches for a hidden object where they last found it (location A), rather than at its current location (location B)

Question 12

why is it a problem that Piaget’s evidence of late development of object permanence relied on manual search tasks?

Answer 12

could be underestimating infant’s knowledge:

• A not B error = positive reinforcement?
• failure to inhibit
• working memory

Question 13

how was Cohen & Marks (2002) skeptical of the drawbridge study as evidence against piaget?

Answer 13

one should be cautious about attributing sophisticated cog processes to young infants when simpler processes will suffice

Question 14

how have the drawbridge findings been explained as not being evidence against piaget, and argue against interpretation of high level knowledge?

Answer 14

1) perceptual persistence (Haith, 1998)

2) preference for events that display more motion (Rivera et al., 1999)

Question 15

what question did Keen (2003) ask?

Answer 15

why do infants look so smart when toddlers look so dumb?

Question 16

what does the nativist account predict about innate object knowledge?

Answer 16

should guide search behaviours

Question 17

describe results of adapted Spelke et al (1992) study using balls being dropped allowing for interaction with the objects?

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

what are the possible reasons for search errors?

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

what can the ability to discriminate test events in infants be due to?

Answer 19

• innate core knowledge about object properties
• attentional biases that facilitate learning
• combination

Question 20

at what age do infants understand the importance of gravity & support but not that the amount of contact is important? (Baillargeon et al., 1992)

Answer 20

females - 4.5 months
males - 5-5.5 months

Question 21

at what age do infants understand gravity & support, and that the amount of contact is important? ((Baillargeon et al., 1992)

Answer 21

6.5 months - may be because children don’t sit up until then

role of experience of playing with & placing objects

Question 22

at what age do infants fully understand gravity & support? ((Baillargeon et al., 1992)

Answer 22

12.5 months - can take into account proportional distribution of objects (asymmetric objects)

Question 23

describe results of the balance scale problem as a way of testing naive theories in older children (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992)

Answer 23

• U shaped behavioural performance in balancing asymmetrical blocks
• children younger & older do well
• children in the middle do worse

Question 24

do 4-5 year olds perform well on the balance scale problem? (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992)

Answer 24

yes - perform well by trial and error, data-driven, no naive theories that all things must balance in the centre

Question 25

what are the 2 interpretations of the data in Hunnius & Bekkering (2010) study into whether object function knowledge emerges before 1 year?

Answer 25

1) infants know which action should be done to use object properly

2) simply learnt which action is associated with which object