Kathleen Stassen Berger Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A. 1 Part II The First Two Years: Cognitive Development Chapter Six Sensorimotor Intelligence Information Processing Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

2 The First Two Years: Cognitive Development Infant cognition –cognition = “thinking” “thinking” in a very broad sense includes… –language –learning –memory –intelligence

3 The First Two Years: Cognitive Development Infants organize by the end of the first year… –sensations and perceptions –sequence and direction –the familiar and the strange –objects and people –events and experiences –permanence and transiency –cause and effect

4 Sensorimotor Intelligence Piaget’s first stage –infants learn through senses and motor actions

5 Piaget and Research Methods Sensorimotor intelligence actually occurs earlier for most infants than Piaget predicted. Habituation, the process of getting used to a stimulus after repeated exposure. If a new object appears and the infant reacts, it is assumed they recognize the object as something different.

6 Information Processing Theory “a perspective that compares human thinking processes, by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories, and output”

7 Information Processing Theory Affordance –“…an opportunity for perception and interaction that is offered by a person, place, or object in the environment” Perception is the mental processing of information that arrives at the brain from the sensory organs

8 Information Processing Theory Affordance –two people can have discrepant perceptions of the same situation, not only interpreting it differently but actually observing it differently –depending on: past experiences current developmental level sensory awareness of opportunities immediate needs and motivation

9 Information Processing Theory Information processing improves over the first year as infants become quicker to remember Experiences affect which affordances are perceived…

10 Information Processing Theory Sudden Drops –…the visual cliff, an apparatus to measure depth perception –infants become interested in “crossing” the cliff about 8 months (having had experience falling) –the cliff “affords” danger for older infants

11 Information Processing Theory Movement and People –dynamic perception primed to focus on movement and change –a people preference a universal principle of infant perception, an innate attraction to other humans, which is evident in visual, auditory, tactile, and other preferences

12 Information Processing Theory Memory –Even very young infants can remember under the following circumstances: experimental conditions are similar to “real life” motivation is high special measures are taken to aid memory retrieval

13 Information Processing Theory A Little Older, a Little More Memory –after about 6 months infants can retain information for longer periods of time… with less training or reminding –by the middle of the 2 nd year toddlers can remember and reenact more complex sequences

14 Information Processing Theory Memory is not one “thing” –brain-imaging techniques reveal many distinct brain regions devoted to particular aspects of memory implicit memory is memory for routines and memories that remain hidden until particular stimulus bring them to mind explicit memory is memory that can be recalled on demand

15 Language: What Develops in the First Two Years? “The acquisition of language,… its idiomatic phases, grammar rules, and exceptions, is the most impressive intellectual achievement of the young child.”

16 Language: What Develops in the First Two Years? The Universal Sequence –Around the world children follow the same sequence of early language development

17 Language: What Develops in the First Two Years? Listening and Responding infants begin learning language before birth… infants prefer speech over other sounds –child-directed speech the high-pitched, simplified, and repetitive way adults speak to infants

18 Babbling –repeating certain syllables (e.g., da-da- da). all babies babble, even deaf babies (although later and less frequently). babbling is a way to communicate. Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

19 First Words –usually around 1 year the average baby speaks, or signs a few words –by 13 months spoken language increases very gradually –6 to 15 month-olds learn meaning rapidly and comprehend about 10 times as many words as they speak Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

20 The Naming Explosion –a sudden increase in an infant’s vocabulary, especially in the number of nouns begins at about 18 months –vocabulary reaches about 50 expressed words at a rate of 50 to 100 per month, 21 month-olds saying twice as many as 18 month-olds Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

21 Cultural Differences –the ratio of nouns to verbs and adjectives show cultural influences. –one explanation is the language itself (i.e. English, Chinese differ) –another explanation is social context (toys and objects) –every language has some concepts encoded in adult speech Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

22 Sentences –“The first words soon take on nuances of tone, loudness, and cadence that are precursors of the first grammar, because a single word can convey many messages by the way it is spoken.” Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

23 Sentences “Dada!” “Dada?” and “Dada.” each is a holophrase, a single word that expresses a complete, meaningful thought. intonations varying in tone and pitch is extensive in babbling and again in holophrases at about 18 months Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

24 Theories of Language Learning –2 year olds worldwide use language well –bilingual children keep two languages separate and speak whatever language a listener understands Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

25 Theories of Language Learning –There are 3 theories of how infants learn language: they are taught (view of B. F. Skinner) they teach themselves (view of Noam Chomsky) social impulses foster learning Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

26 Theory One: Infants Need to Be Taught –50 years ago the dominant learning theory in North America was behaviorism –B. F. Skinner (1957) noticed that spontaneous babbling is usually reinforced… a grinning mother appears, repeating, praising, giving attention to the infant –Parents are expert teachers, other caregivers help –Frequent repetitions instructive when linked to daily life Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

27 Theory Two: Infants Teach Themselves –a contrary theory is that language learning is innate--adults need not teach it –Norm Chomsky (1968,1980) felt that language is too complex to be mastered merely through step-by-step conditioning Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

28 Theory Two: Infants Teach Themselves –universal grammar--all young children master basic language at about the same age –Language Acquisition Device (LAD) a hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including the basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary and intonation Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

29 Theory Three: Social Impulses Foster Infant Language –called social-pragmatic perceives the crucial starting point to be neither vocabulary reinforcement (behaviorism) nor innate connection (epigenetic), but rather the social reason for language; communication –Infants communicate in every way they can because humans are social beings and depend on one another for survival and joy Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

30 Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

31 A Hybrid Theory –the integration of all three perspectives… –their model an emergentist coalition… combing valid aspects of several theories about the emergence of language during infancy Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?