1. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Children Cognitive Development In Infancy 6

2. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Cognitive Processes Adaptation: adjusting to new environments –Mental structures help us adapt –Children actively construct their own cognitive worlds Schemes: mental representations or actions that organize knowledge –Assimilation: incorporating new information –Accommodation: adjusting schemes to fit new information and experiences Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

3. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Cognitive Processes Organization – grouping isolated behaviors and thoughts into higher-order system Equilibrium – mechanism for shifting from one level of thought to another Disequilibrium – result of cognitive conflict –Cognition: qualitatively different in each stage of development Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

4. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Sensorimotor Stage First of Piaget’s stages –Lasts from birth to about 2 years of age –Infants construct understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences –Six substages focus on: Simple reflexes Primary, secondary, tertitary reactions Internalization of schemes Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

5. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Understanding Physical Reality Object Permanence –Understanding that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched –One of infant’s most important achievements, assessed by violation of expectations –Understanding of causality Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

6. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. (a)(b) Object Permanence Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

7. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Infant’s Understanding of Causality Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

8. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Evaluating Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage New way of looking at infants Piaget’s views need modification; his explanations of cause are debated –Object permanence occurs earlier –Distinguishing objects by 3 to 4 months –A-not-B error: infant selects familiar hiding place (A) rather than new hiding place (B) Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development

9. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Conditioning Consequences of behavior produce –Classical conditioning: pairing of new stimulus to conditioned response –Operant conditioning: consequences of behavior affect probability of that behavior reoccurring –Rovee-Collier experiment on memory How Infants Learn, Remember, and Conceptualize

10. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Attention Focusing of mental resources on select information; helps cognitive processing –Habituation: decreased responsiveness to stimulus after repeated presentations –Dishabituation: habituated response recovered after a change in stimulation –“Short lookers” versus “long lookers” –Joint attention: increases infant ability to learn How Infants Learn, Remember, and Conceptualize

11. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Memory Retention of information over time –Attention is important for encoding –Implicit memory: recall is automatic –Explicit memory: recall is conscious effort –Infantile or childhood amnesia Most remember little from first 3 years Immaturity of prefrontal lobe How Infants Learn, Remember, and Conceptualize

12. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Imitation Meltzoff – Infant can imitate facial expression within a few days after birth; others disagree Deferred imitation: imitate actions seen earlier; use of unusual gestures –Piaget: begins about 18 months of age –Meltzoff: begins much earlier than 18 months –Mirror neurons play role in infant imitation How Infants Learn, Remember, and Conceptualize

13. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Concept Formation and Categorization Categories – grouping objects, events, characteristics by common features Concepts – ideas on what categories represent –Conceptual categories: perceptual variability found in 7- to 9-month-old infants –Boy and girl differences at early ages How Infants Learn, Remember, and Conceptualize

14. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Measures of Infant Development Infant testing movement grew Gesell: distinguish abnormal babies for adoption agencies –Developmental quotient (DQ): overall developmental score, combines domains Motor Language Adaptive Personal-social Individual Differences in Infancy Assessed for Predictions

15. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Measures of Infant Development Bayley Scales of Infant Development –Widely used in infant assessment –Bayley-III (current version) has 5 scales Infant focus: cognitive, language, motor Caregiver views: socio-emotional, adaptive More appropriate in clinical settings –Assesses infant, predicts later behavior Individual Differences in Infancy Assessed for Predictions

16. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Measures of Infant Development Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence –Increased use; focus on infant ability to process information Encoding attributes of objects Detecting object similarities and differences Forming and retrieving mental representations –Similar infant performances across cultures Individual Differences in Infancy Assessed for Predictions

17. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Measures of Infant Development Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence –Increased use; focus on infant ability to process information Encoding attributes of objects Detecting object similarities and differences Forming and retrieving mental representations –Similar infant performances across cultures Individual Differences in Infancy Assessed for Predictions

18. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Predicting Intelligence Older children – IQ tests focus on verbal ability Infants – IQ tests focus on perceptual- motor development and social behavior –Gesell and Bayley scales: poor predictors –Fagan: good correlation with later IQ tests –Habituation and dishabituation linked to IQ Individual Differences in Infancy Assessed for Predictions

19. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutrition Research shows: –Affects physical development –Increases susceptibility to disease –Malnutrition limits cognitive development –Successful intervention includes: Standard nutritional care Psychosocial: home visits, infant play sessions, group meetings with mother Early Environmental Influences on Cognitive Development

20. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Poverty Positive effects sought by manipulating children’s early environments –Emphasis on prevention, not remediation –Early intervention programs vary IQ increases vary Intensity varies; long and short term Center-based and home visits Direct educational benefits; often done in educational context Early Environmental Influences on Cognitive Development

21. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Defining Language Language –Form of communication (verbal, written, gestures) based on system of symbols; highly organized Infinite generativity –Ability to produce endless number of meaningful sentences using finite set of words and rules Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

22. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Language’s Rule Systems Five systems of rules –Phonology: basis for constructing sets of words Phoneme: smallest unit of sound –Morphology: units of meaning in forming words Morpheme: smallest unit of meaning –Syntax: ways of combining words –Semantics: meanings of words, sentences –Pragmatics: language use in proper context Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

23. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. How Language Develops Birth to 6 mos: ‘citizens of the world’ Babbling and vocalizations –Crying: present at birth, signals distress –Cooing: begins about 1 to 2 months –Babbling: occurs in first year, strings of consonant-vowel combinations –Gestures: begins about 8 to 12 months Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

24. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. How Language Develops First words at 10 to 15 months –First words name important people, familiar animals and objects, body parts, greetings –Infants understand about 50 words at 13 months (receptive vocabulary) –Vocabulary spurt about 13 months –Overextension and underextension of words –Telegraphic speech: two-word utterances Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

25. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Biological and Environmental Influences Biological –Evolution of CNS and vocal apparatus –Human language about 100,000 years old –Children’s language acquisition similar all over the world (biological basis) Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

26. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Biological and Environmental Influences Biological –Broca’s area: left frontal lobe, produces words –Wernicke’s area: left hemisphere, involved in language comprehension –Aphasia: damage causes loss/impairment of language processing –Chomsky: L.A.D. is theoretical construct Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

27. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Broca’s Area and Wernicke’s Area

28. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Biological and Environmental Influences Environmental Influences –Behaviorists: language is complex, learned –Behaviorists’ view cannot explain novelty, learning of a native language syntax without reinforcements Research –Environment influences language skills –Importance of social context: ‘Wild Boy of Aveyron’ Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

29. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Diversity in Children’s Development Child’s language development affected by –Family socioeconomic status –Frequency of parental talk –Mother’s verbal response to infant –Child-directed speech –Recasting: rephrasing child’s words –Expanding: restating child’s words –Labeling: identifying names of objects Encouragement is key Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

30. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Welfare 18222630343810 Age of children (months) 800 400 Parent utterances to child per hour 600 200 0 14 Professional Language Input in Professional and Welfare Families and Young Children’s Vocabulary Development

31. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Language Input in Professional and Welfare Families and Young Children’s Vocabulary Development 18222630343810 Age of children (months) 800 400 Children’s cumulative vocabulary words 600 200 1200 1000 0 14 Welfare Professional

32. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Interactionist View of Language Development Biology and sociocultural experiences contribute to language development Parents and teachers construct LASS— language acquisition support system Children acquire native language without explicit teaching Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy

33. © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The End 6