Infancy & Toddlerhood: Cognitive Development

Question 1

Learning Capacities

Answer 1

4 main learning responses during INF/TOD

1. Classical Conditioning
   - can condition response to stimulus
2. Operant Conditioning
   - use of rewards and punishments
3. Habituation-Dishabituation
   - when infant/toddler interacts with someone/environment they focus on something new
   - Habituation suggests they reduce their focus when they learn the features of what they focus on (Phase 1)
   - Phase 2 (dishabituation): introduce something new WITH the first thing and infant focuses on the new thing…
   - Introducing changes to something may force them to habituate to you again.
4. Limitations
   - how do we know an infant has learned?
   - facial expressions?
   if they repeat it later they have most likely learnt it.

Question 2

Key Piagetian Concepts

Answer 2

1. What changes with Development
   Schemes: organized ways of making sense of experience
   Action based level to mental level.
2. How Change Takes Place
   a. adapting: building schemes through direct interaction with the environment
   • Assimilation: use current schemes to interpret the external world (purposeful responses to stimuli)
   • Accommodation: create new schemes or adjust old
     b. organization: internal linking of schemes to one another.

Question 3

6 Substages

Answer 3

1. Reflexive Schemes
   - Newborn reflexes are building blocks of sensorimotor intelligence
2. First Learned Adaptation
   - Primary Circular reactions: repetitive nature, purposeful
   - 1-4 months
   - voluntary control ->satisfying results
   - accommodate, not purposeful
   - primary anticipation skills (if they cry there needs will be met).
3. Making Interesting Sights Last
   - secondary circular reactions: external focus
   4-8 months
   improved control over own behaviours
   Attention towards environment
4. Coordinating Reactions
   - 8-12 months
   advanced anticipation
   Physical Causality: basis for problem solving
   object permanence: even if you can’t see it, it still exists
   Except when object is moved (doesn’t understand that it moved)
5. Discover Through Active Experience
   - 12-18 months
   tertiary circular reactions
   AB search error corrected
   - some suggest this is last sensorimotor change.
6. Mental Representation
   - 18 months - 2 years
   Deferred imitation: use of something they’ve seen before
   Make believe play.

Question 4

Information Processing Theory

Answer 4

1. Sensory Register
   - - briefly stores information so that we can attend to most important sights and sounds
2. Working or Short Term Memory
   - work on information similar to Piagets organization
   - Can only hold certain amount of information.
3. Long Term Memory
   - Permanent knowledge base
   - Retrieval
   - Categorized
   - Capacity

Question 5

Language Development

Answer 5

First Word
- 12 months (8-18 months)

Combine Words
- 1.5-2 years

Question 6

Getting Ready to Talk

Answer 6

Cooing and Babling
- 2-4 months

Turn-taking language
- 7 months

Preverbal Gestures

• 12 months
• Cookie is good/want it again

Question 7

Getting Ready to talk

- First Words

Answer 7

Rapid increase
Under-extension: (too narrow)
- doll= only favourite
- only that doll with that name, only they can have the doll.

Over-extension: (too broad) care
- all moving vehicles (everything that moves is a car)

Question 8

Getting Ready to Talk

- Two-word Utterances

Answer 8

18-24 months

- telegraphic

Question 9

Getting Ready to Talk

- Conversation

Answer 9

• adults participate with infants
• early language development (picture books)
• academic competence in school (children encouraged)