FIRST 2 YEARS
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
How does a baby & toddler begin thinking?
What are Piaget’s Stages of development?
• Sensorimotor stage (Infancy)
• Preoperational stage
• Concrete operation stage
• Formal operations stage (Adult)
What is Piaget’s sensorimotor stage of
cognitive development?
• Primary reactions (Reflexes and habits)
• Stage 1 (Birth – 1 month)
• Reflexes
• Stage 2 (1-4 months)
• Adapting to new items (e.g. breast to pacifier)
• Secondary reactions (Responds to other people)
• Stage 3 (4-8 moths)
• Making interesting interactions last
• Stage 4 (8-12 months)
• Anticipates interaction (e.g. putting Mother’s hands together to play)
• Tertiary Reactions (Acts independently)
• Stage 5 (1 – 1½ years)
• “Little scientist” experimenting
• Stage 6 ( 1½ - 2 years)
• Considers consequences
What is sensorimotor Intelligence?
• Learned through the senses
• Circular reaction
• Sensation – perception – cognition cycle around and around
Primary reaction
• Stage 1 ( Reflexes) (Birth – one month)
• Responding to own body (e.g. stepping reflex)
• Stage 2 (Habits) (1-4 months)
• Adapting reflexes to new situations
• (Acquired adaptation)
• E.g. Sucking from mom’s nipple to bottle to pacifier
• A sign baby is thinking
Secondary reaction
• Responding to other people & objects
• Stage 3 (Continuing interaction)
• 4-8 months
• Making interesting sights last
• E.g. clapping hands for “patty-cake”
• 8 Mos. Understanding object permanence
• Stage 4 ( Starting interaction)
• 8mos. – 1 year
• Infant has goals
• Initiates and anticipates
• Initiates
• E.g. Patty-cake
• Anticipates
• E.g. Running from an unwanted bath
Tertiary reaction
• Stage 5 (Acts independently - Experimenting)
• 1-1½ years
• Active experimenting
• “Little scientist”
• Stage 6 (Thought before action)
• 1½ - 2 years
• Thinks about consequences
• E.g. Toilet overflowed last time
• Mommy was mad at squeezing toothpaste
• Deferred imitation
• Copying behavior they saw earlier
Do you remember?
• What are the major differences between primary,
secondary, and tertiary reactions?
• What is the concept of “object permanence”?
• At what level of reaction will children begin
experimenting?
• What is this behavior called?
How do children process information?
What are “affordances”
• Opportunities to interact with people and things afforded
by the environment
• Visual Cliff
• Based on experience
• 6 month will go over cliff
• 10 Month will refuse
What do babies perceive?
• Movement
• Dynamic Perception
• Infant focusing on the chasing things that move
• E.g. A mobile spinning overhead, or a moving ball
• People preference
• Preference for looking at faces
• Recognizing caregivers
What types of memories do children have?
• Implicit
• Hidden
• Unconscious habits, emotions, procedures
• Crying
• Learning to move mobile
• Explicit
• Usually verbal
• Recalled on demand
• Words, data, concepts
• Reminders help
Do you remember?
• What is the visual cliff?
• When will children refuse to cross it?
• What is an example of dynamic perception?
Language
What is the universal sequence of
learning language?
• Reflexes, cooing, babbling, spoken words
• All babies, regardless of native language follow this sequence
• Listening & Responding
• Babbling
• E.g. ma-ma-ma, da-da-da
• All babies, regardless of native language or deafness
• Holophrase
• One word = phrase
• E.g. More, cookie, Dada!
• Naming explosion
• Nouns
• Grammar
What are the theories of language?
• 1. Learning theory
• 2. Social Pragmatic
• 3. Innate
• 4. Hybrid
1. Learning theory
• Based on B.F. Skinner
• Reinforcement
• E.g. Parents talking to children
2. Social Pragmatic
• Needed for communication
• Parents
• Outside world
3. Innate
• Noam Chomsky
• Children have an inborn ability to learn language
• E.g. Grammar
• Hypothesized a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) in the
brain.
• Enables universal inborn ability to learn language
• Language in general is experience-expectant
• Words are expected by the developing brain
• Specific language is experience-dependent
4. Hybrid
• Combination of the other three
• Multiple cues contribute to learning language
Do you remember?
• What is the universal sequence of learning language?
• What is an example of a holophrase?
• What is the concept of the “Learning Acquisition Device”
in the brain?