Physical Development In Utero: – Zygote: conception-2 weeks – Embryo: 2 weeks-2 months (8 weeks) Cell differentiation – Fetus: 2 months to birth Functioning organ systems develop, early reflexes seen (e.g. non-nutritive sucking) Infancy: – Very slow development, comparatively – Brain development takes off: synaptic growth then pruning – Spurts of growth throughout childhood (body and brain)

Physical Development From birth: – Reflexes: Grasping Rooting Foot flexing – Sensory Discriminate high and low sounds, vowels, mother’s voice Very near-sighted, but can discriminate brightness and color and track moving objects

Physical Development Gross motor skills – 7-8 months: sitting up – 8-10 months: crawling – months: “cruising” – months: walking – 2 years: hopping on one foot, kicking – 4 years: jumping rope, balancing on one foot Fine motor skills – 1 month: reflexive grasp – 4 months: reaching, hands at midline – 6 months: reach precisely, grabs at objects – months: throwing objects – 2 years: unscrewing jars – 3 years: cutting with scissors, holding pencil – 6 years: writing, drawing shapes

Physical Development Brain: – Making/pruning connections Attention – Infants have little selective attention. If something is interesting, they will look at it. – Development of Prefrontal cortex (PFC)  development of attentional control 1-2 years: single-channeled attention: can concentrate on task, but not external verbal/visual stimuli 2-3 years: still single-channeled, but with help can adjust focus back and forth 3-4 years: single-channeled, but can adjust focus on their own 4-5: two-channeled, but short attention span 5-6: audio, visual, and manipulatory channels integrated

Physical Development

Brain: – Making/pruning connections Attention – Infants have little selective attention. If something is interesting, they will look at it. – Development of Prefrontal cortex (PFC)  development of attentional control 1-2 years: single-channeled attention: can concentrate on task, but not external verbal/visual stimuli 2-3 years: still single-channeled, but with help can adjust focus back and forth 3-4 years: single-channeled, but can adjust focus on their own 4-5: two-channeled, but short attention span 5-6: audio, visual, and manipulatory channels integrated

Jean Piaget ( ) Swiss Psychologist “Father of Developmental Psychology” Creator of “constructivist theory of knowing”

Stage Theory of Development Children progress through a series of stages of development Long periods of time spent in each stage, abrupt transition to next stage Sensorimotor Stage Sensorimotor Stage Preoperational Stage Preoperational Stage Concrete Operations Stage Concrete Operations Stage Abstract Operations Stage Abstract Operations Stage

Sensorimotor Stage From birth to ~2 years old Experience the world through senses and motor movements (progress from reflexes to deliberate directed movements) Schema: mental representation of what things are/how we deal with them Object Permanence Internal Representation Egocentrism

Preoperational 2-7 years of age Symbolic thought Egocentrism Animism Failure of Conservation

Concrete Operational Ages 7-11 Logical thinking Development of rational, “operational” thought Can think logically about object, if they are able to manipulate it.

Formal Operational 11 and up Abstract thinking Can think logically about objects even if not present Problem solving

Arguments against Piaget Argument 1: Discrete stages do not properly explain child development – A lot of child knowledge is more context- dependant Argument 2: Young children are actually more advanced than Piaget gave them credit for.

Using Habituation in Infants More boring babies! Procedure: Show baby image/scene until he/she no longer looks at it. Test: Introduce new image/scene. If baby looks longer at new image, it’s perceived as new.

Drawbridge Experiment Child habituated on (A) Child sees possible outcome (B) and impossible outcome (C) Child looks more at impossible event than possible event Child knows block is there, even if he can’t see it

Numerical Reasoning Revisited Number Conservation Task Children are confused by experimenter’s questions- why is he asking the same question again? Knowledge still tentative, but there

An alternative theory: Information Processing Human brain as computer – Representation of information – Processes: applied on representations – Limitations: memory Development = change in processing abilities

Rehearsal as Information Processing Increase in rehearsal speed, increase in memory Older children actively use rehearsal as a memory strategy and remember more

The Sociocultural account Vygotsky Cognitive development happens in the context of social interaction Development happens through internalization of socially shared processes Zone of Proximal Development