Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Theory suggests children explore their environment
and by acting on it, learn the properties of their world. Babies as little scientists.
 Sensorimotor stage spans the first two years, as babies learn through their senses
and locomotion, solving practical problems posed by their environment.
 Schemes – organized ways of making sense of experience- concepts. They
gradually move from action-based to mental representations.
 Adaptation and Organization are the 2 processes that cause changes in schemes.
 Processes of adaptation (building schemes through direct interaction with the
environment)
o Assimilation occurs as we expand our schemes to include new
information.
o Accommodation occurs when we create new schemes when new
information won’t fit anymore. We need a new concept to include new
experiences.
o We use these processes to achieve equilibrium, or status quo again after
being disturbed by much change and new information. (disequilibrium)
There is the most change in schema during the sensorimotor stage, so this
is the most complex period of development.
 Organization is another process of cognitive development- an internal process of
rearranging information to form new schemes internally and interconnect them.
 Substages of the Sensorimotor stage were deduced by Piaget through
observations of his own children.
o Circular reaction is a means of adapting first schemes. The baby
stumbles onto a new experience through his/her own accidental motor
behavior. These behaviors become circular as the baby tries to repeat
them. The first circular reactions involve the baby’s own body. Gradually
they extend to creating reactions in the environment. So Substage 1
involves reflexes. After one month, babies begin to get some control over
those reflexes- adapting the sucking response from breast, to nipple, to
pacifier. Substage 3 lasts from 4 – 8 mo. as babies sit up and manipulate
objects- attention is turned toward the environment. As they develop
motor control, they can control their actions and create new complex
behavior patterns- hitting, grasping.
o Intentional, goal-directed behavior occurs in Substage 4, as babies
combine schemes into complex sequences, no longer random reflexive
behaviors. Now behavior is ordered to solve problems.
o Object permanence is a significant accomplishment of the Sensorimotor
stage, as babies begin to understand that objects continue to exist even
when out of sight. Babies can anticipate occurrences and even try to
change events or model others’ behaviors. Substage 5 brings tertiary
circular reactions where babies try to repeat behaviors with variations to
see the results.
o Mental representations are internal symbolizations of information that
can be manipulated: Images (mental pictures of objects) and concepts
(categories used to group similar items.) This allows babies to experiment
in their heads- through trial-and-error.
 Invisible displacement occurs when babies finally solve object
permanence problems, finding objects out of sight.
 Deferred imitation is the ability to remember the behavior of a
model and display it later when the model is not present.
 Make-believe play is made possible by mental representations, as
babies act out roles they have observed in others.
Research methods have become much more complex since Piaget’s simple observations
of his own children. Sucking techniques allow babies to manipulate what they see or hear
by sucking hard at a certain rate.
 Violation-of-expectation method uses the concept of habituation to explore
what babies know of their environments. Baby is habituated to one physical
event, then looking time is measured in response to a possible or impossible
event. Recovery is generally longer to an impossible event, suggesting babies
have a certain inherent knowledge of the physics of their environment and are
surprised when events violate their expectations.
 Object permanence was thought by Piaget to not be present before 9 mo., but
researchers have found that babies simply make errors in searching for a hidden
object, not that they don’t realize the object is still present somewhere. So the
process of looking for a hidden object comes into a baby’s repertoire in stages. It
requires a certain development of frontal lobes to remember an object, remember
where the object last was seen, and make voluntary reaches to find the object.
 Mental representation was thought by Piaget to come in after 18 mo., but we see
8 mo. olds looking in the direction of a hidden object, indicating some
symbolizing of objects in memory.
o Deferred imitation occurs when a child watches another person and later
imitates the model. This presumes mental representation and memory.
Even 6 wk. old babies will imitate an adult’s facial expression a day after
seeing it on that person. Toddlers use imitation to expand their
sensorimotor schemes. They remember actions seen for several months.
o Problem solving occurs as early as 7-8 mo. as babies try to get toys that
are out of reach. By 12 mo. babies can apply a strategy learned in one
setting to another similar problem. So within one year babies show the
ability to mentally represent a problem and apply useful strategies in
solving it.
Core knowledge perspective believes that babies start out with innate knowledge
systems- core domains of thought. These prewired understandings allow us to
grasp new information in a rapid process. Babies show an innate understanding of
various physical principles of space: gravity, object solidity, object permanence.
Babies also have a primitive numerical knowledge allowing them to distinguish
small quantities from each other. They seem to have linguistic knowledge which
allows them to discern their native language and the structure of language. Finally
they seem to have some psychological knowledge, shown by recognition of
different emotional states, intentionality, beliefs and desires, empathy for pain.
Infant cognitive development is less stagelike than Piaget thought. (LIFE article)
Cognitive attainments of infancy & toddlerhood
 Birth- 1 mo Reflexes as well as the ability to suck on a nipple to start an
interesting sound or sight.
 1 – 4 mo. Awareness of object permanence, object solidity, gravity;
deferred imitation of an adult’s facial expression over 1 day.
 4 – 8 mo. Basic numerical knowledge and imitation of adult’s novel
actions over 1 day.
 8 – 12 mo. Ability to search for a hidden object and solve problems by
analogy to a former, similar problem.
 12 – 18 mo. Deferred imitation of adult’s novel actions over a long delay
(months) and in different environments.
 18 mo. – 2 years Inference of others’ intentions and imitation, imitation of
social roles in make-believe play.
Information processing theory
 Structure of the Information-Processing System
o Sensory register stores all sights/ sounds/ sensory stimuli briefly, seconds
unless you attend to a particular sensation.
o Working or short-term memory is the component where we work on a
limited amount of information, using mental strategies and information
filed in long-term memory. As we learn some information very well, using
it becomes automatic and expands working memory’s capabilities.
o Long-term memory is our permanent knowledge base, virtually limitless.
The capacity of the information processing system increases with age and
maturity, as does the neural processing speed.
Processes of information manipulation
o Mental strategies are techniques of manipulating information so we can
retain it for later use. This includes paying attention, repetition, using
mediators, practice.
o Central executive is a part of working memory which directs where the
information goes- decides what to attend to, connects new information
with information in LTM in an orderly way, selects strategies for solving
particular problems, and monitors success, tweaking the process as
needed.
o Attention is a skill that must be developed. It is seen through habituation
research- showing that newborns take 3 – 4 min. to habituate to a new
stimulus, but 4 – 5 mo. olds only take 5 – 10 sec. One reason is that infants
get locked on a stimulus and can’t break their gaze. So attention involves
not just watching, but shifting attention as needed. Attention is more
flexible by 6 mo. By age 2 yrs. toddlers can voluntarily sustain attention or
shift it toward a goal. Attention span is essential for learning.
o Memory is also a skill to be developed. Rovee-Collier demonstrated that
babies can learn a behavior (kicking to move a mobile) and retain that
memory for some time. Three-month-olds retain such memory for 1 week
after training, and with a prompt, as long as 4 weeks. By 6 mo. memory
lasts 2 weeks, & with prompting, 6 weeks.
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Recognition memory is noticing when a stimulus is similar to one
seen previously. Simplest form of memory, assessed with
habituation studies, using looking time.
 Recall memory is more difficult because it requires one to
remember something with no cues. It requires accurate mental
imagining of a past experience. Babies can recall by one year,
since they can find hidden objects and use deferred imitation.
o Categorization has to do with storing information in an orderly fashion so
it can be called up when needed. Mandler showed that babies have
inherent concepts of different things that they use to understand new
stimuli. Babies not only categorize things, they order people and
emotional information such as tone of voice, gender. These categories are
perceptual (based on appearance or object parts) and conceptual (based
on common function.) As babies age and have more experience of the
world they use conceptual categories more.
o Autobiographical memory is our memory for our personal experiences,
particularly one-time events that seem significant to us in some way. Yet
we have very little memory for events that occurred before age 3. This is
known as infantile amnesia. There seem to be several things happening
to block our recollection from such early times.
 Frontal lobes are not developed sufficiently to allow complex,
long-lasting memory so early. When the frontal lobes begin
developing during toddlerhood, these children can develop explicit
memory systems- where children remember consciously, with
awareness rather than implicitly without conscious awareness.
 Autobiographical memory is a special form of recall, particularly
enhanced by emotionality. Other, more mundane memories don’t
have the power to stick without the emotional energy.
 The child must have a sense of self- recognizing him/herself as a
separate entity in order that events around the person be recalled in
relation to the self.
 Personal memories need to be structured in a narrative for them to
be meaningful. Preschoolers need some training by adults in
structuring their events in narrative form. The interest in memoryladen conversations increases around 2 – 5 yrs. Parents will talk in
more detail and more often with girls. So girls will report mor0e
coherent early memories than boys. Collectivist cultures
discourage a lot of talk about self, so Asians report later personal
memories than most Caucasians.
Social context of early cognitive development- Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory
included the aspect of social interactions in determining what is learned and how new
skills are learned.
 Zone of proximal development is the range of tasks that a child cannot handle
alone but can do with the help of more skilled partners. He described this
interaction as scaffolding. An adult may be the mentor, but other children can
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also be tutors to a child. The mentor offers much help and structures the task and
as the learner gains skills, the mentor pulls away the aid. So culture informs the
tasks, as a group decides what skills are most important for a child to master.
Make-believe play and caregiver interactions show children imitating the tasks
of those experts around them. Many make-believe interactions are begun by a
parent or sibling and these interactive experiences offer younger children
opportunities to practice various role behaviors and integrate cultural values.
Individual differences in Early mental development- Intelligence testing method
 Infant Intelligence Tests are challenging to design, since babies don’t talk. So
what is used is perceptual and motor responses, & responses to language.
o Bayley Scales of Infant Development can be used for 1 mo. to 3 ½ years
old children.
 Mental Scale- turning to a sound, building a tower of cubes
 Motor Scale- assesses gross and fine motor skills
Intelligence Test Scores use scores on a standardized test to compare one child
against the average of large numbers of people:
 Norms- average skills for people of different ages
 Normal or Bell curve is the statistical measure of intelligence of a
population. Most scores fall around the average- 100, spreading out to the
ends of extreme mental retardation and extreme giftedness.
 Intelligence quotient- IQ is a score of an individual on measures of cognitive
facility.
 Developmental quotient- DQ is a measure of an infant’s cognitive function,
but they don’t measure the same functions as an IQ. They are more likely used
to screen for special needs and early intervention those children who may
benefit from educational or social enhancements.
 Home environment and mental environment
o Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) is
a checklist used to assess the quality of a child’s home life to see if the
child or parent needs additional help. The following areas are of interest,
but language interactions most clearly predict intelligence and academic
achievement later in life:
 Emotional/ verbal responsiveness of the parent
 Acceptance of the child
 Organization of the physical environment
 Provision of appropriate play materials
 Parental involvement with the child
 Variety in daily stimulation
Day Care standards- Developmentally appropriate practices are standards that must
be met by child-care settings in order to meet children’s physical and psychological
needs. Child care quality can really help a child from a deprived home setting overcome
possible deficits. Unfortunately US day care ranges in quality and only 20 -25% of day
cares are considered adequately stimulating. The following are markers to assess:
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Physical setting
Toys and equipment
Caregiver-child ratio
Daily activities
Interactions among people
Caregiver qualifications
Relationships with parents
Licensing and accreditation
Interventions for At-Risk infants range from organized child-care programs
with education and nutritional services, to training and support for parents, to
home visits by social service workers.
 Carolina Abecedarian Project set up a program for babies from povertystricken homes- the treatment group received year-round child care,
cognitive stimulation, social skills training, and preschool experiences.
Compared to control children who only received nutritional and health
services, treatment children showed an IQ advantage even at 21 years of
age. They graduated at a higher rate from high school and had much
greater reading and math skills.
Language Development significantly contributes to cognitive development. How do
children learn language?
 Theories
 Behaviorist perspective- language development is due to operant
conditioning, being reinforced for making sounds that could be primitive
language. Social learning predicts that children will imitate other speakers in
order to learn language. What doesn’t add up, however, is when children
generate novel words and expressions that they never have heard before, yet
are meaningful linguistically.
 Nativist perspective- language development is due to having an internal
structure in the brain which allows for common grammatical organization- a
language acquisition device. This device holds a set of rules that are
common to all languages. So children can speak in an organized fashion as
soon as they develop a vocabulary. It does require responsive interaction with
other speakers to develop language, though. There is a sensitive period for
learning language and if there is no hearing or no active speech or signing to
respond to, the child won’t learn language.
 Interactionist perspective takes into account both biological predispositions
to master language and environmental triggers and shaping to learn language.
Language is a social contruct, so children gradually learn language through
interactions that meet needs with others. Once again, the sort of language
exposed to determines how a child thinks and what is determined to be
important for a child to learn. (Eskimos have 50+ words for snow- because
understanding the environment is very important to these people.)
Milestones of language development
 2 mo. Cooing and babbling- First sounds are vowel sounds with an “oo”
quality. Then babbling appears, as consonants are added. Even deaf
children babble, but their speech development ends at that point. With
intense therapy deaf children can master spoken language.
 4 mo. Give-and-take occurs as babies respond to speech directed at them.
Parents begin labeling objects for babies, and they take turns in games like
pat-a-cake and peekaboo.
 8 – 12 mo. Preverbal gestures show up as pointing and trying to get
others to cooperate with them. This is the beginning of a baby
understanding that s/he can use language to get needs met.
 12 mo. First words are uttered that are understandable to others. They
begin with names of significant people, objects, familiar actions (bye-bye),
or outcomes & states (dirty, wet, hot). They use words that reflect what
they are learning- “all gone” as they learn object permanence. They also
include feeling words and label their feelings by age 2 yrs.
 18 - 24 mo. Vocabulary extension – children make errors as they begin
to use words:
o Underextension occurs when they use a word too narrowly, not
understanding that the word refers to a whole category.
o Overextension occurs when they use a word to encompass things
it doesn’t- like calling a strange man “Daddy”. As their
vocabularies broaden they don’t make these errors so often.
o Comprehension outstrips expression or production of
language- children understand much more than they can express.
 20 – 26 mo. Two-word utterances- Babies begin a spurt of vocabulary
development, learning as many as 20 words per week. They begin
combining words in a meaningful pattern, even though it’s not
grammatically correct. Telegraphic speech is leaving out the unimportant
words to get the message across with a minimum of language. “Want ___”
or “More _____”
Individual and Cultural differences- Girls develop language a bit earlier than
boys probably due to earlier general maturation. But it’s also true that people talk
more to little girls than boys. Language style is somewhat dependent on the
language style of parents and what children have available to model. American
children more often learn naming words for objects, Asian children more often
develop action words, verbs. This difference is reflected in the languages.
 Referential style is language directed to objects. The children that use this
style develop a broader vocabulary faster.
 Expressive style is language that uses more social words, relational terms.
Supporting early language development
 Child-directed speech is a speech style using short sentences, highpitched tones, distinct pronunciation of words, & repetition of words.
Babies prefer this speech and respond more actively to it. It promotes
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language comprehension. The more give and take caregivers engage in,
the easier it is for toddlers to develop speech.
Responding to child’s babbles gives the child a model of the give and
take of responsive language. It also communicates that what the child sees
and thinks is worth listening to and paying attention to.
Commenting on what child sees- this is particularly a part of reading
books to young children, and it helps them understand images.
Social games- pat-a-cake and peekaboo pair words with actions.
Joint make-believe play promotes different formats of conversation.
Simple conversations predict academic competence later.
Reading to toddlers, picture books expands babies’ understanding of
grammar, vocabulary, and structure of language.