Cognitive Development in Infancy

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Cognitive Development in Infancy

• Lecture 7
• C6035 Human Development

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Piagets Theory of Infant Development

• Stage of Sensorimotor Development
• Schema basic unit for organized pattern of
  sensorimotor functioning
• Simple Reflexes Piagets first sensorimotor
  substage, which corresponds to first month after
  birth, where basic means of coordinating
  sensation reaction is through reflexive
  behaviors

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Piagets Theory of Infant Development

• First Habits/Primary Circular Reactions
• Second substage developing between 1 4 months
  of age, where infant learns to coordinate
  sensation types of schemes, or habits
• Secondary Circular Reactions is third substage,
  developing between 4 8 months of age where
  infant becomes more object-oriented moves
  beyond preoccupation with the self

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Piagets Theory of Infant Development

• Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions
  fourth substage between 8 12 months of age
  infant combines previously learned schemes in a
  coordinated way
• Tertiary Circular Reactions, Novelty, and
  Curiosity fifth substage between 12 18 months of
  age infants intrigued by variety of properties of
  objects what can do with objects
• Internalization of Schemes final sixth substage
  between 18 24 months infants mental
  functioning shifts from sensorimotor to symbolic
  plane begin use primitive symbols

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Piagets Theory of Infant Development

• Object Permanence infants understanding that
  objects events continue to exist, even when
  they cannot directly be seen, heard, or touched
• Evaluating Piagets Sensorimotor Stage - In this
  stage infant can organize coordinate
  sensations with physical movements, is
  nonsymbolic through most of stage, works way
  through six substages of cognitive development
  culminates into object permanence or beginning of
  symbolic thought

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The Information-Processing Perspective

• Habituation when a stimulus is presented to
  infant several times eventually becomes bored
  with it
• Dishabituation an infants renewed interest in a
  stimulus
• Memory central feature of cognitive development,
  pertaining to all situations in which individual
  retains information over time
• Imitation infant display imitative behaviors in
  first 72 hours of life infants of 9 months
  imitate actions performed 24 hours earlier

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Individual Differences In Intelligence

• Developmental Quotient overall score combines
  subscores in motor, language, adaptive,
  personal-social domains in Gesell assessment of
  infants
• The Bayley Scales of Infant Development widely
  used in assessment of infant development, are
  comprised of mental scale, a motor scale infant
  behavior profile

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Early Environmental Influences on Infant
Cognitive Development

• Nutrition studies poor nutrition is detrimental
  on cognitive development
• Nutritional supplements of protein increased
  calories have long-term impact on cognitive
  development
• Poverty Abecedarian Project found intensive
  intervention if begins in infancy has positive
  results on childrens intelligence
• Researchers agree early intervention for children
  reared in poverty has life-long positive effects
  on cognitive development

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Language Development

• What Is Language?
• system of symbols used to communicate with others
• Infinite Generativity individual's ability to
  generate infinite number of meaningful sentences
  using finite set of words rules
• Phonology study of languages sound system

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Language Development

• Morphology study of what language users know
  about units of meaning rules of combining
  morphemes which are a meaningful string of
  phonemes
• Syntax involves ways words are combined to form
  acceptable phrases sentences
• Semantics refers to meanings of words sentences

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Language Development

• Biological Influences Linguists know that there
  is a biological connection to language, as
  children all over the world read language
  milestones at about same time
• Biological Evolution belief by some scientists
  that brain, nervous system vocal system changed
  over hundreds of thousands of years

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Language Development

• Biological Prewriting concept introduced by Noam
  Chomsky that each child has a biological
  endowment known as the Language Acquisition
  Device which enables to detect certain language
  categories such as phonology, syntax semantics
• Critical Period concept that places learning a
  language in certain time periods of a childs
  development, interruption or enrichment during
  these time periods can have negative or positive
  effects respectively

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Behavioral and Environmental Influences

• How child learns language can be greatly affected
  by interaction with environment care-givers
• Motherese kind of speech used by mothers other
  adults to talk to babies - in a higher pitch than
  normal with simple words sentences
• Recasting rephrasing statement child has said,
  perhaps turning it into question.
• Echoing repeating what child says, especially if
  incomplete phrase or sentence
• Expanding restating in linguistically
  sophisticated form, what a child has said
• Labeling identifying names of objects

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How Language Develops

• Babys earliest communication is to attract
  attention from parents others in environment
• Receptive Vocabulary refers to words an
  individual understands which greatly increases
  in second year
• Spoken Vocabulary begins when infant utters its
  first word occurring at approximately 10 to 15
  months of age.

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How Language Develops

• Holophrase Hypothesis a single word can be used
  to imply a complete sentence - Infants generally
  use holophrastic words.
• Telegraphic Speech use of short precise words
  to communicate, this speech eliminates
  connectives intensifiers.
• MLU mean length of utterance, or number of
  morphemes per sentence which child produces in a
  sample of about 50 to 100 sentences, is a good
  index of language maturity

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Language Overview

• Language is a sequential acquisition in following
  pattern
• 1. emergence of words basic vocabulary
• 2. transition from one word to word phrase
  combinations
• 3. transition from single to complex sentences
• Most importantly, language acquisition is
  influenced by biological factors as well as
  childs rearing environment