Title: Infant Cognition
1Infant Cognition
- What do babies know about the world?
- Jodie Baird
2Piagets Theory
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss psychologist Fath
er of modern cognitive developmental psychology
3Infant Cognition Piagets Claims
- Out of sight, out of mind
- No concept of object permanence
- Senses are uncoordinated
- No intermodal perception
4Object Permanence
- Objects continue to exist when they are out of
sight
5Piagetian 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
6- A-not-B Error Video Clip
- Malena
- May 19, 2006
- age 9 months, 27 days
7Why 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
8Tests 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?
9Baillargeons Test of Object Permanence
3.5-month-olds
Baillargeon, 1987
10Baillargeon Video ClipIts a Kids
Worldhosted by Alan Alda
11Amazing Infant Cognition
- Object Permanence
- Baillargeon rotating screen two Minnies
- Support / Gravity
- Baillargeon box on platform
- Physical Causality
- Spelke object contact makes things move
12Intermodal Perception
- Integrating information from two or more senses
when perceiving an object or event - e.g., the coordination of sight and sound
13Intermodal Perception Integrating Sight and
Sound(Spelke, 1976)
Where does baby look?
14Intermodal 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)
15Intermodal 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)
16Intermodal 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.
17Summary
- Knowledge about the physical world appears early
and develops rapidly - Infant perception and cognition are coordinated
and active