The First Two Years: Cognitive Development

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The First Two Years Cognitive Development
The Developing Person Through Childhood and
Adolescence by Kathleen Stassen Berger
Seventh Edition
Chapter 6

• Slides prepared by Kate Byerwalter, Ph.D., Grand
  Rapids Community College

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What is cognition?

• Cognition refers to thinking, including language,
  learning, memory, and intelligence.
• Jean Piaget (born 1896) was a pioneer in studying
  cognitive development in humans.
• More recent research has both validated and
  extended Piagets ideas about infants cognitive
  abilities.

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Sensorimotor Intelligence

• Piagets first stage of cognitive development,
  characterized by learning through senses and
  motor actions.

PHOTODISC
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Adaptation to New Ideas Includes

• Assimilation taking new information in by
  incorporating it into previous schemas
  (categories)
• Example A red ball bounces like a blue ball.
• Accommodation requires an adjustment of previous
  schemas upon new information
• Example A red tomato does NOT bounce like a red
  ball!

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Stages One and Two of Sensorimotor Intelligence

• Stage One the stage of reflexes
• Stage Two first acquired adaptations
• Example An infant sucks a bottle differently
  than the mothers nipple.
• Primary circular reactions repetitive actions
  with the infants own body

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Stages Three and Four of Sensorimotor
Intelligence

• Stage Three making interesting sights last
• Example infant smiles when someone shakes a
  rattle (secondary circular reaction).
• Stage Four new adaptations and anticipation
• The infant shows goal-directed behavior
• Object permanence begins

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Quiz Which stage is this?
ESBIN-ANDERSON / THE IMAGE WORKS
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Stage Five of Sensorimotor Intelligence

• Stage Five new means through active
  experimentation
• Piaget called infants in this stage little
  scientists because of their need for
  experimentation.
• Example An infant drops her spoon to see what
  will happen.

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Stage Six of Sensorimotor Intelligence

• Stage Six new means through mental combinations
• Infants can think before taking action, for
  example, wondering should I really pull that
  cats tail.
• Deferred imitation infants can copy the behavior
  of others, even days later

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Quiz This is an example of what?
LDWA-DANN TARDIFF / CORBIS
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Piaget and Research Methods

• Advanced research tools (i.e., habituation and
  fMRI), have shown that aspects of Piagets
  sensorimotor intelligence actually occur earlier
  for most infants than Piaget predicted.
• These findings do not negate Piagets work, only
  update it.

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What is habituation?

• Habituation is the process of getting used to
  (i.e., bored with) a stimulus after repeated
  exposure.
• An infant shows it by looking away.
• If a new object appears and the infant reacts
  (change in heart rate, sucking), it is assumed he
  recognizes the object as something different.

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Information Processing Theory

• Information processing theory focuses on the
  step-by-step description of the mechanisms of
  human thought at any age.
• Research on memory and affordances stem from
  this theory.

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Affordances

• Affordances opportunities for perception and
  interaction that environment offers
• These depend on
• Past experiences
• Current developmental level
• Sensory awareness of opportunities
• Immediate needs and motivation

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Visual Cliff

• The visual cliff is an apparatus to measure depth
  perception.
• Infants are interested in crossing the cliff
  until about 8 months, after they have had
  experience falling.
• The cliff affords danger for older infants.

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Visual Cliff
MARK RICHARDS / PHOTOT EDIT
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Movement and People

• Infants have dynamic perception, focused on
  movement and change.
• They have a people preference from the first days
  of life!
• Examples listen to voices, stare at faces, are
  soothed by touch

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Make it Real Memory

• Whats your prediction Can infants remember
  anything? For how long? What about a 1 or 2 year
  old?
• What is your earliest memory?

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Memory

• Even very young infants (3 months) can remember
  IF
• Experimental conditions are real life
• Motivation is high
• Special measures aid memory retrieval (repetition
  and reminders)
• Example Rovee-Colliers mobile experiment

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Mobiles and Memories
MICHAEL NEWMAN / PHOTOEDIT
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Memory (cont.)

• Deferred imitation begins by 9 months, becoming
  more elaborate with age.
• Example A young infant imitates hitting the dog,
  a behavior modeled by an older sibling.
• Implicit memory (for routines) develops sooner
  than explicit memory (for facts).

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First noises

• Infants are noisy!
• They coo, squeal, cry, yell, grunt, gurgle
• Infants prefer child-directed speech
• High-pitched, simplified, repetitive speech of
  adults

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Babbling

• Babbling is repeating certain syllables (e.g.,
  da-da-da).
• All babies babble, even deaf babies (although
  later and less frequently).
• Babbling is a way to communicate.

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First Words

• First words usually appear around 1 year.
• They are often familiar nouns.
• (Have you ever heard of an infants first word
  being stapler?)

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The Language Explosion

• The naming explosion refers to a language spurt
  once an infant begins talking.
• Infants learn about 50100 words a month.
• Culture shapes which words appear first.

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Sentences

• A holophrase is a single word that expresses an
  entire thought (e.g., juice).
• Two-word sentences appear around 21 months, and
  remarkably, follow proper grammar.
• Example more juice, not juice more

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Make it Real Language

• What fun sentences or words (good ones or
  mistakes) have you heard a young child make?
• Example I catched the ball.

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Theories of Language Learning

• There are 3 theories of how infants learn
  language
• They are taught (view of B. F. Skinner)
• They teach themselves (view of Noam Chomsky)
• Social impulses foster learning

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Theory One Infants Are Taught

• B. F. Skinner argued that infants learn language
  by
• Associating objects with words heard often
• Reinforcement and praise for correct words
• Correction of incorrect words

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Support for Theory One

• Careful research by Hart and Risley (1995) has
  demonstrated that infants of parents who spoke
  more words had superior language development.

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Theory Two Infants Teach Themselves

• Noam Chomsky argued that language is far too
  complex to be learned through step-by-step
  conditioning.
• Infants make up words they have never heard
  before (e.g., runned).
• He believed a language acquisition device (LAD)
  exists only in humans.

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Theory Three Social Impulses Foster Infant
Language

• This theory argues that the social desire to
  communicate drives infants to learn language.
• Example Upon hearing a new word, an infant looks
  to where the adult is looking before assuming an
  association between the word and object.

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A Hybrid Theory

• An emergentist coalition combines aspects of
  several theories.
• Different theories may apply at different ages.
• Culture plays a role in language learning.

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How about a bedtime story?
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A Note for Caregivers

• Engaging a young infant in the wonder of
  language, through reading, talking, singing,
  etc., is giving that infant an amazing gift. He
  or she will have a head start on learning
  language and developing a strong vocabulary!