1. Early Childhood: Cognitive Development
Chapter 10

2. Children between ages 21/2-5 experience:
Dramatically expanding world.
Notable developments in self-reliance, self-control, & self-regulation.
Exploration of adult roles.
Begin to show more organization and coherence in their behavior.
Display a greater capacity to be connected to peers.
Through day-care, nursery school, and kindergarten experiences, children come into contact with peers.
Peer relationships formed in these settings play an important role in children's social and emotional development.
Sibling relationships become increasingly important during this period.
All of these new developments influence each other.

3. We are HERE

4. Preoperational period:
In Piaget’s theory, the period from ages 2-7, characterized by an inability to use logical operations.
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5. Preoperational Stage Cognitive advances
Begin to represent their world with words, images, and drawings
Perception and thinking are linked
Advances in mental representation
Language & Thoughts
Pretend Play
Drawings
In early childhood, principles of counting are developed, as well as classification and order; by 5 children can count to 20

6. Preoperational Stage Cognitive limitations
Logic and reasoning are still absent from thoughts
Thoughts are highly influenced by perception
Centration and the inability to decenter
egocentrism
Animistic thinking
Inability to understand conservation
irreversability
Lack of hierarchical classification
Centration: Tendency to consider only one piece of information when multiple pieces are relevant.
Appearance-reality problem: Tendency to define reality by surface appearances.
Egocentrism: Inability to take the perspective of another person.
Limitations of preoperational thought (Piaget’s emphasis on what children can’t do, rather than can)
Operations (mental reps that follow logical principles) – Piaget said young children not capable
Egocentrism – see things from own perspective (parallel play)
Animistic thinking – belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities
Inability to conserve
Conservation (superficial appearance doesn’t alter weight or volume)
Centration (tendency to focus in on one attribute at expense of others)
Reversibility (can reverse logical steps to test)
Lack of hierarchical classification (ordering in classes & subclasses),
Evaluation of the preoperational stage
Piaget partly right, partly wrong
Preschoolers do better when subject is familiar and simplified
Logical operations are attained gradually
Make-believe play may help kids differentiate pretend v. reality

7. Children begin to represent their world with words, images, and drawings.
Thinking tied to perception
Advances in mental representation (symbolic function)
Language and thought
Make-believe play
Sociodramatic play
Drawings
From Scribbles to…
First representational shapes and forms to…
More realistic drawings
2 to 7 years
Rapid development of representation
Thought not yet logical – thinking tied to perception (poor conservation)
moral realist – 3 spilled cups by accident worse that 1 cup spilled on purpose
Advances in mental representation
Language and thought – Piaget: language more flexible means of mental representation, though did not give it much credit for role in cog devt
Make-believe play (as practice for symbolic schemes) – symbolic function: ages 2-7 shows great expansion in use of symbolic thought
Sociodramatic play – shows an awareness that make believe is a representational activity (4-8 years)
Benefits – reflects and contributes to cog and social skills; children seen as more socially competent by their teachers
Imaginary friends – complex social and cognitive abilities
Play in preschool to be emphasized
Drawings (culturally influenced)
Scribbles
First representational shapes and forms (age 3)
More realistic drawings – as cog and motor skills improve
Drawing and coloring within the lines of a coloring book????
Symbol-real world relations
Dual representation – an object and a representation (e.g., a letter)

8. Reasoning about Causation
Reality is defined by superficial appearance
Preschoolers can give good causal explanations for simple, familiar processes, but do not yet have an abstract understanding of plausible cause
Reality is defined superficial appearance.
Preschoolers use observations to construct their own understanding of cause-and-effect relationships.
Preschoolers can give good causal explanations for simple, familiar processes, but do not yet have an abstract understanding of plausible cause.
Preschoolers do not yet understand what a good explanation is.

9. Reasoning about Animate and Inanimate Objects
Animism: attribute life to nonliving things
It is hard for young children to distinguish between living and nonliving things
This reasoning develops throughout this age period

10. Reasoning About Quantity
Preschoolers made errors when the appearance of two equal quantities makes them look unequal
Concepts of Conservation & Measurement
liquid volume, number, mass, length
Once children understand conservation (around age 7), they explain it several ways:
compensation
reversibility
identity
the nodded added or subtracted criterion
Preschoolers make measurement errors when the appearance of two equal quantities makes them look unequal.
If there is no misleading perceptual information, they often perform reasonable measurement activities.

11. Reasoning about Quantity
Awareness of how many items are present and how math can affect the number
2-3 yrs: Primitive rule
Addition increases number, subtraction decreases number
4-5 yrs: Qualitative rule
Take into account any initial difference but not the magnitude
6-7 yrs: Quantitative rule
Take into account the magnitude of the difference between the initial groups
Young children have some understanding of processes of addition and subtraction before they have mastered conservation concepts.
The youngest children note that addition to a set increases number and subtraction decreases number. This is a primitive rule.
Most 4- and 5-year-olds use a qualitative rule, taking into account any initial difference but not the magnitude.
Most 6- to 7-year-olds develop a quantitative rule, where they take into account the magnitude of the differences between the initial groups.

12. Logical Reasoning Goals
Classification: grouping by shared characteristics
Boys & girls, fruits & vegetables
Seriation: arrange things in logical progression
Shortest sticks to longest sticks
Transitive inference: infer the relationship between two objects by knowing their respective relationships to a third
Ex: If Jane is taller than Tasha but shorter than Kim, then Tasha is shorter than Kim
Classification: Children show a primitive form of classification from infancy.
They are not able to classify objects consistently until the preschool years.
Centration limits preschoolers' classification skills.
Seriation: Preschoolers can find the largest or smallest stick in a fairly large group.
Difficulty placing the whole set of sticks in order from largest to smallest.
Problems related to the appearance-reality problem and to centration.
Transitive Inference: 4-year-olds can solve them with the right training.
Preschoolers have more trouble learning the relationships involved than older children do.

13. Egocentrism Egocentrism: inability to understand others’ perspectives
Perceptual egocentrism: not differentiating one’s own perceptual experience from that of another
Cognitive egocentrism: assume that others have the same knowledge, beliefs, and desires that they do
Ex: buying gifts for others
Perceptual egocentrism was tested by Piaget with the Three Mountain Task.
With less complex tasks children do not show the extent of egocentrism that Piaget found.
By age 6, children demonstrate a sharp reduction in cognitive egocentrism.

14. Piaget’s three-mountain task
Piaget’s three-mountain task. A preoperational child is unable to describe the “mountains” from the doll’s point of view - an indication of egocentrism, according to Piaget

15. Egocentrism in Preschoolers
Overcoming egocentrism
Knowledge of existence: Realizing other people have thoughts, viewpoints, & desires that differ from the child’s.
Awareness of need: Realizing it can be useful to consider another’s perspective.
Social inference: Reading another person’s actions and imagining that person’s point of view.

16. The Child’s Theory of Mind
Theory of mind: emerging awareness of their own
and others’ mental processes
Theory of mind knowledge dramatically increases between 2 and 5, peaking at 4.
Egocentrism may prevent children as young as 3 from recognizing false beliefs
Ability to distinguish between appearance and reality linked to false belief awareness
Distinguishing fantasy from reality occurs somewhere between 18 mos and 3 years

17. The Store Model 3 steps of memory: encoding, storage and retrieval
Memory has 3
Store model – computerlike view; assumes that we hold information in 3 parts of the metnal system; each is limited in the speed with which is can process information; sensory register and working memory limited in the capacity
Sensory register- The part of memory where incoming information from one of the five senses is stored very briefly.
Short-term (working) memory- The part of memory where consciously noted information is stored for seconds.
Long-term memory- The part of memory where information is stored for a long time.
Attention skills - Processes that control the transfer of information from a sensory register to working memory.
Memory skills - Processes that retain information in working memory and/or transfer it to long-term memory.
sensory register – sights and sounds are represented directly and briefly
Some believe that sensory info quickly fades – either it goes to short term memory, or fades
Reception is conscious part of memory, can only handles limited amount of information
Working (short-term) memory – infor is worked on; believe about seconds in the ST store; related to rehearsal
3. central executive directs the flow of information, coordinates with other information
selective attention to certain items; filter out those extraneous; age decreases number of items
Long-term memory – permanent, limitless; how information is stored – if it comes in verbally, is it stored verbally or visually
two changes with age: capacity and use of strategies; lists used to assess memory span
Utlizing the information: problem solving; strategies used; search strategies; strategies improve with age – at 4 years ask which houses are different, won’t be given a meaningful response; with age see more strategies and systemic action
Nonsystematic and unfocused -> systematic and focused
See also in games of 20 questions
3 steps of memory: encoding, storage and retrieval

18. Attention & Memory Attentional system not yet fully developed
Do not consider attention a limited resource that must be used selectively
Preschoolers demonstrate:
Recognition: perceive a stimulus as familiar
Free recall: spontaneously pull information out of long-term memory for current use
Short-term memory only holds 3-4 items
Recognition is easier than free recall
Process information slower when recalling
Tasks require more long-term memory space for young children
Lack of memory strategies for recall
Adults help by teaching memory strategies and building on skills child already has

19. Preschoolers’ Memory
Young children are often oblivious to the memory demands of a situation.
Abilities and Limitations
Preschoolers demonstrate both recognition and free recall in
their daily activities.
Usually do more poorly on recall tasks than older children and adults. They have a digit span of 3 to 4 items.
Adults help by teaching memory strategies and building on skills child already has
Speed of information processing is slower in younger children.
Tasks require more memory space for younger children.
They lack skill at using memory strategies. Will use obvious strategies at times.

20. Memory Development Forming Childhood Memories
Generic memory: Memory that produces a script of familiar routines to guide behavior
Episodic memory: Long-term memory linked to time and place
Autobiographical memory: Memory of specific events in one’s own life
According to the social interaction model, based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, children collaboratively construct autobiographical memories as they talk with parents or other adults about shared events.
We know little about the relationship between memory and language among children who begin to speak later because of different social and cultural practices, or among deaf children of hearing parents who cannot as easily converse with them.
Script:
An abstract representation of the sequence of actions needed to accomplish some goal.
A script only occasionally involves specific words or actions.
More often, it concerns a general idea about appropriate things to say and do.
Influences on autobiographical memory:
Remembering doing better than seeing
How adults talk about a shared experience can influence how well the child will recall it
Elaborative parents’ influence
Repetitive parents’ influence

21. Understanding of the social world.
Social cognition:
Understanding of the social world.
Deals with the impact of children's cognitive skills on their social relationships and the role of social interaction in supporting cognitive development.
Children start to learn how other people think and feel, what their motives and intentions are, and what they are likely to do.
They begin to understand that other people’s perspectives sometimes differ from their own, helping their communication abilities.
They can respond more appropriately in their interactions with others.

22. An Overview of Preschool Cognitive Development
Cognitive advances during preschool years include:
emerging understanding of causation
ability to distinguish living & nonliving things
qualitative understanding of many concepts related to quantity
gradual development of ability to distinguish appearance and reality
expanding attention & memory skills
increasing understanding of others’ perspectives & thoughts

23. Vygotsky and Psychometric Approaches
Measurement of intelligence in early childhood
Stanford-Binet
Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Revised
Influences on intelligence
Vygotsky
Zone of Proximal Development: adults effectively guide child in reachable tasks
Scaffolding ehlp child acquire tools for learning
Influences on Measured Intelligence
Factors that influence test results include temperament, match between cognitive style and the tasks posed, social and emotional maturity, ease in the testing situation, preliteracy or literacy skills, socioeconomic status, and ethnic background
Scaffolding
Parents give the children feedback when their directions needed clarifying. Parents prove to be highly sensitive to children's scaffolding needs; they give more directive prompts to 3-year-olds, whose directions tend to be less clear than those of 4-year-olds. The parents use fewer directive prompts as the children gained experience in giving clear directions.

24. Language Development Vocabulary
Fast mapping: child forms an idea of a new word’s meaning after hearing it once or twice in conversation
Metaphor, a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that usually designates one thing is applied to another, becoming increasingly common in the preschool years

25. Grammar and Syntax
At 3, children typically begin to use plurals, possessives, and past tense
They still make errors of overregularization
By ages 5 to 7, children’s speech is quite adultlike, but they still have not mastered the fine points of language

26. Pragmatics and Social Speech
Pragmatics: The practical knowledge needed to use language for communicative purposes
Social speech: Speech intended to be understood by a listener

27. Communication
Private speech: talk to themselves while playing, collective monologues
Limited ability to adjust speech to the needs of their listeners
Private Speech
Talking aloud to oneself with no intent to communicate with others
Normal and common in childhood, accounting for 20% to 50% of what is said by 4- to 10-year-olds
Piaget viewed it as cognitive immaturity
Vygotsky saw it as very important for development and social experiences
Piaget (1962/1923) saw private speech as a sign of cognitive immaturity. According to Piaget, young children are egocentric—unable to recognize others' viewpoints and therefore unable to communicate meaningfully. Instead, they simply vocalize whatever is on their mind.
Vygotsky did not look upon private speech as egocentric. He saw it as a special form of communication: conversation with the self.

28. Social Interaction and Preparation for Literacy
Emergent literacy: development of these skills, knowledge, and attitudes that underlie reading and writing
Social interaction can promote emergent literacy
Reading to children is one of the most effective paths to literacy
Children are more likely to become good readers and writers if parents provide conversational challenges the children are ready for--if they use a rich vocabulary and center dinner-table talk on the day's activities or on questions about why people do things and how things work.

29. Language benefits of reading/ being read to
Consider grammar, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics – what are the benefits of early reading to a child?
Very young child?
Preschool age child?

30. Language and Literacy: Reading to Children*
Be a good role model by reading yourself and reading to your child
Provide varied reading material
Encourage activities that require reading
Establish a reading time
Encourage children to write
Ask an older child to read to a younger sibling
Establish a reading routine
Encourage your child in all reading efforts
*How can I improve my child’s reading? (1993) KidSource.org