Show and Tell: imitation by an 10-minute-old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2YdkQ1G5QI

Representations Something that stands for or signifies something else Mental representation: symbol, internal structure (e.g., memory, image, expectation, belief) The way in which things, objects, and events, and experiences ar encoded and stored in the mind Why study representation development? infantile amnesia, false memory, attachment, language, etc.

Piaget: review Semiotic function: production of mental symbols Onset: 18 months, sm substage 6 New behaviors: object permanence, pretend play, deferred imitation, language, mental imagery Challenges to Piaget: Neonatal representations Neonatal imitation Deferred imitation (not quiet neonatal, though!) Object knowledge (object identity) Numerical cognition

Deferred imitation Meltzoff, 1985 12-month-olds Deferred imitation after 24-hour delay Why representation? Later studies: 6- to 9-month olds after 24 hours; 12-month-olds after 4 week delays Without motor practise Novel acts Length of delay Generalized across contexts Neonatal imitation (next)

Neonatal imitation Meltzoff & Moore, 1977 Alternative accounts? 12- to 21-day-olds imitate tongue protrusion, mouth openings Alternative accounts? Reflex or fixed-action pattern Early infant learning (E.g, Skinner) Meltzoff & Moore, 1983, 1989 Similar imitation in newborns, 42 minutes old Why representation? Requires a mapping from visually perceived physical movement to internally felt kinesthetic sensations implies recognition of similarities between self and other

Object knowledge Baillargeon, 1987 Alternative accounts? 3.5-month olds “surprise” during impossible event Why representation? Innate knowledge? Alternative accounts? Piaget? Meltzoff & Moore?

Figure 5.14 Cole, Cole, and Lightfoot: The Development of Children, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2005 by Worth Publishers

Numerical knowledge: arithmetic operations Wynn first placed a mickey mouse on a stage while the 4-month old watched then raised the screen to hide the toy from view then a hand holding another mickey mouse approached and disappeared behind the screen, and then withdrew without the doll implying (at least for adults) that the mickey mouse was left behind the screen the screen was lowered either revealing one mickey mouse or two mickey mouses 1 mickey mouse surprising event 2 mickey mouses  non-surprising event

Wynn results the babies looked longer at the unexpected outcome, when there was only one mouse beyond the screen… attributed knowledge about addition of small numbers to 4 month olds… know that 1+1 = 2 additional experiments showed also some knowledge about subtraction… 2-1 + 1 how do you think this experiment was done? these experiments show that infants have some basic understanding of easy arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction earlier than when Piaget would have predicted

Categorization/Classification categorical perception: the ability to detect differences in speech sounds (phonemes) that correspond to differences in meaning-- is present by 1 months of age categorization: learning to respond to different (but similar) objects in a similar way perceptual categorization: grouping based on perceptual similarities cats are four legged, hairy creatures conceptual categorization: grouping based on function or non-perceptible features cats are living beings that have blood circulation, digestion, etc.

Categorization Hayne and Rovee-Collier et al. (1987) (Operant conditioning method) 3 month olds learn to kick to get a mobile made from A-shaped objects move across different sessions, the color of the objects change the infants responded at high rates of kicking to the test mobile with the same form and a novel color but not the mobile with a different form evidence of categorizing on the basis of form

Preschool representations: Symbol Use De Loache studies with pictures and 3-d models Appearance-reality distinctions Imagined and real events ToM Deception issue ToM as module: autism