Lifespan Development: Chapter 5

Question 1

Schemes

Answer 1

In Piaget’s theory, actions or mental representations that organize knowledge.

Question 2

Assimilation

Answer 2

Piagetian concept of using existing schemes to deal with new information or experiences.

Question 3

Accommodation

Answer 3

Piagetian concept of adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences.

Question 4

Organization

Answer 4

Piaget’s concept of grouping isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order, more smoothly functioning cognitive system.

Question 5

Simple Reflexes

Answer 5

Piaget’s first sensorimotor substage, which corresponds to the first month after birth. In this substage, sensation and action are coordinated primarily through reflexive behaviors.

Question 6

First Habits and Primary Circular Reactions

Answer 6

Piaget’s second sensorimotor substage, which develops between 1 and 4 months of age. In this substage, the infant coordinates sensation and two types of schemes: habits and primary circular reactions.

Question 7

Secondary Circular Reactions

Answer 7

Piaget’s third sensorimotor substage, which develops between 4 and 8 months of age. In this substage, the infant becomes more object-oriented, moving beyond preoccupation with the self.

Question 8

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions

Answer 8

Piaget’s fourth sensorimotor substage, which develops between 8 and 12 months of age. Actions become more outwardly directed, and infants coordinate schemes and act with intentionality.

Question 9

Tertiary Circular Reactions, Novelty, and Curiosity

Answer 9

Piaget’s fifth sensorimotor substage, which develops between 12 and 18 months of age. In this substage, infants become intrigued by the many properties of objects and by the many things that they can make happen to objects.

Question 10

Internalization of Schemes

Answer 10

Piaget’s sixth and final sensorimotor substage, which develops between
18 and 24 months of age. In this substage, the infant develops the ability to use primitive symbols.

Question 11

Equilibration

Answer 11

A mechanism that Piaget proposed to explain how children shift from one stage of thought to the next.

Question 12

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 12

The first of Piaget’s stages, which lasts from birth to about 2 years of age; infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with motoric actions.

Question 13

Primary Circular Reaction

Answer 13

A scheme based on the attempt to reproduce an event that initially occurred by chance.

Question 14

Object Permanence

Answer 14

The Piagetian term for understanding that objects and events continue to exist, even when they cannot directly be seen, heard, or touched.

Question 15

A-not-B Error

Answer 15

Error that occurs when infants make the mistake of selecting the familiar hiding place (A) rather than the new hiding place (B) as they progress into substage 4 in Piaget’s sensorimotor stage; also called AB error.

Question 16

Core Knowledge Approach

Answer 16

States that infants are born with domain-specific innate knowledge systems.

Question 17

Attention

Answer 17

The focusing of mental resources on select information.

Question 18

Joint Attention

Answer 18

Process that occurs when individuals focus on the same object and an ability to track another’s behavior is present, one individual directs another’s attention, and reciprocal interaction is present.

Question 19

Memory

Answer 19

A central feature of cognitive development, pertaining to all situations in which an individual retains information over time.

Question 20

Implicit Memory

Answer 20

Memory without conscious recollection; involves skills and routine procedures that are automatically performed.

Question 21

Explicit Memory

Answer 21

Memory of facts and experiences that individuals consciously know and can state.

Question 22

Deferred Imitation

Answer 22

Imitation that occurs after a delay of hours or days.

Question 23

Developmental Quotient (DQ)

Answer 23

An overall score that combines subscores in motor, language, adaptive, and personal-social domains in the Gesell assessment of infants.

Question 24

Bayley Scales of Infant Development

Answer 24

Scales developed by Nancy Bayley that are widely used in the assessment of infant development. The current version has three components: a mental scale, a motor scale, and an infant behavior profile.

Question 25

Language

Answer 25

A form of communication, whether spoken, written, or signed, that is based on a system of symbols. Language consists of the words used by a community and the rules for varying and combining them.

Question 26

Infinite Generativity

Answer 26

The ability to produce an endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules.

Question 27

Phonology

Answer 27

The sound system of the language, including the sounds that are used and how they may be combined.

Question 28

Morphology

Answer 28

Units of meaning involved in word formation.

Question 29

Syntax

Answer 29

The ways words are combined to form acceptable phrases and sentences.

Question 30

Semantics

Answer 30

The meaning of words and sentences.

Question 31

Pragmatics

Answer 31

The appropriate use of language in

different contexts.

Question 32

Telegraphic Speech

Answer 32

The use of short and precise words without grammatical markers such as articles, auxiliary verbs, and other connectives.

Question 33

Broca’s Area

Answer 33

An area in the brain’s left frontal lobe that is involved in speech production.

Question 34

Wernicke’s Area

Answer 34

An area in the brain’s left hemisphere that is involved in language comprehension.

Question 35

Aphasia

Answer 35

A loss or impairment of language ability caused by brain damage.

Question 36

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Answer 36

Chomsky’s term that describes a biological endowment enabling the child to detect the features and rules of language, including phonology, syntax, and semantics.

Question 37

Child-Directed Speech

Answer 37

Language spoken in a higher pitch than normal with simple words and sentences.

Question 38

Jean Piaget

Answer 38

Contributed to cognitive theory by observing his three children.

Question 39

Renée Baillargeon

Answer 39

Infants as young as 4 months expect objects to be substantial and permanent.

Question 40

Elizabeth Spelke

Answer 40

Young infants interpret the world as having predictable occurrences.

Question 41

Karen Wynn

Answer 41

Conducted an early experiment on infants’ sense of number.

Question 42

Carolyn Rovee-Collier

Answer 42

Demonstrated detailed memory in 2- to 3-month-old infants.

Question 43

Andrew Meltzoff

Answer 43

Studied imitation and deferred imitation by infants.

Question 44

Jean Mandler

Answer 44

Argued that explicit memory does not occur until the second half of the first year of life.

Question 45

Arnold Gesell

Answer 45

Developed a clinical measure to assess potential abnormality in infants.

Question 46

Nancy Bayley

Answer 46

Devised the most commonly used infant intelligence test.

Question 47

Patricia Kuhl

Answer 47

By the age of 6 months, infants gradually lose the ability to recognize differences in sounds that are not important to their language.

Question 48

Noam Chomsky

Answer 48

Humans are biologically prewired to learn language.

Question 49

Roger Brown

Answer 49

No evidence supports reinforcement as responsible for language rule systems.

Question 50

Michael Tomasello

Answer 50

Young children are intensely interested in their social worlds; early in development they can understand the intentions of other people.

Question 51

Betty Hart & Todd Risley

Answer 51

Children whose parents are on welfare have a smaller vocabulary than do children whose parents are professionals.

Question 52

Janellen Huttenlocher

Answer 52

Infants whose mothers speak often to them have markedly higher vocabularies.

Question 53

Naomi Baron

Answer 53

Parents should be active conversational partners with their infants, talk as if their infants understand them, and use language in a style they are comfortable with.