Infant Cognition

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Infant Cognition

• What do babies know about the world?

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Piagets Theory
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss psychologist Fath
er of modern cognitive developmental psychology
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Infant Cognition Piagets Claims

• Out of sight, out of mind
• No concept of object permanence
• Senses are uncoordinated
• No intermodal perception

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Object Permanence

• Objects continue to exist when they are out of
  sight

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Piagetian Search Tasks

• Show infants a toy, and as they reach for it,
  hide the toy under a cloth
• 0 - 8 months No search
• 8 - 12 months A-not-B error
• 12 - 18 months Invisible displacement
• 18 - 24 months Object permanence

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• A-not-B Error Video Clip
• Malena
• May 19, 2006
• age 9 months, 27 days

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Why do babies make the A-not-B error?

• Poor memory
• Task is easier if locations are very distinct
• Cant resist the first location
• Reach to A even when object is visible at B
• Babies look to B first, but reach to A

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Tests of Object PermanenceEliminating the need
for a motor response

• Present infants with an event that violates
  object permanence
• Are babies surprised by such an event?

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Baillargeons Test of Object Permanence
3.5-month-olds
Baillargeon, 1987
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Baillargeon Video ClipIts a Kids
Worldhosted by Alan Alda
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Amazing Infant Cognition

• Object Permanence
• Baillargeon rotating screen two Minnies
• Support / Gravity
• Baillargeon box on platform
• Physical Causality
• Spelke object contact makes things move

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Physical CausalityThe Role of Contact
6-month-olds Habituation Event
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Physical CausalityThe Role of Contact

• Test Events
• Impossible

Possible
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Physical CausalityThe Role of Contact

• If infants understand contact as a mechanism for
  cause and effect, they should look longer at
  (dishabituate to) the ________________ event.
• Results
• 6-month-olds look longer at impossible event.

impossible
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Intermodal Perception

• Integrating information from two or more senses
  when perceiving an object or event
• e.g., the coordination of sight and sound

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Intermodal Perception Integrating Sight and
Sound(Spelke, 1976)
Where does baby look?
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Intermodal PerceptionSight and Sound Findings

• 4-month-olds can integrate sight and sound
• Wide range of phenomena
• Emotion (facial expressions with voice)
• Gender (male voice with male face)
• Speech sounds (vowel sounds with mouth movements)
• Speech synchrony (soundtrack with mouth
  movements)
• Number (items in a display with number of
  drumbeats)

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Intermodal Perception Integrating Sight and
Touch (Meltzoff Borton, 1979)
Infants suck bumpy or smooth pacifier for 90
seconds (without seeing it). Then they see
pictures of two spheres bumpy smooth
1-month-olds can integrate sight and
touch (newborns can do it Kaye Bower, 1994)
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Intermodal Perception Integrating Sight and
Proprioception (Meltzoff Moore, 1977, 1989,
1994)
Imitation at birth Newborns can make their own
facial expressions match those of another person.
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Summary

• Knowledge about the physical world appears early
  and develops rapidly
• Infant perception and cognition are coordinated
  and active

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Piagets Stages

• Sensorimotor (birth - 2 years)
• Preoperational (2 - 7 years)
• Concrete Operational (7 - 11 years)
• Formal Operational (11 years - adult)

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Limitations of Preoperational Thought

• Centration
• Egocentrism
• Appearance as reality
• Transductive reasoning

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Centration

• Focusing on one aspect of a problem, ignoring
  other relevant aspects
• Examples
• Conservation
• Class inclusion

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Conservation of Number
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Conservation of Liquid
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Class Inclusion
Are there more apples or more fruit?
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Egocentrism

• Thinking everyone sees things the same way you do
  
• Difficulty taking anothers perspective
• Examples
• Three-mountains task
• Egocentric speech

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Three Mountains Task
Child is asked to pick the picture that shows
what the diorama looks like from the partners
point of view.
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Egocentric Speech

• Child and partner - separated by a barrier - have
  identical sets of cards
• Child has to describe one card to the partner

Its the dinosaur!
The one with a tail.
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Appearance as Reality

• Tendency to confuse what something looks like
  with what it really is
• Example
• Fear of Halloween costumes

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Appearance as Reality
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Transductive Reasoning

• Reasoning from one particular to another
• Indifference to cause-and-effect relations
• Example
• Unconventional connections

I havent had a nap, so it isnt afternoon.
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Strengths of Preoperational Thought

• Symbolic representation
• Pretend play