1. Show and Tell: imitation by an 10-minute-old

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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)

5. 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

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

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

8. 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

9. 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…
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

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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