Chapter 5 Part 2: Cognitive Aspects of Development During Infancy

Equilibrium

a cognitive state where our experiences match our expectations

Disequilibrium

a cognitive state of disarray because experiences do not align with expectations

object permanence

the understanding that something exists even though it is not in sight or has been removed from the field of vision; accomplished between 18 and 24 months of age

Circular Reactions

actions that occur by chance and then are repeated and modified through practice

Attention

concentrating on a specific phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli

Basic Processes

frequently used, rapidly executed memory activities such as association, generalization, recognition, and recall; among the building blocks of cognition, in the sense that all more complex cognitive activities are built by combining them in different ways

Memory

the ability to encode, store, and retrieve information acquired through experiences

Explicit Memory

the information that you purposely try to recall, such as when you tell a friend about a movie you just watched

Implicit Memory

unconscious memories that influence our behavior

Association

the ability to form a connection between a stimulus and a response

Recognition

awareness or recollection of having seen something before

Habituation/Dishabituation

an experimental technique that allows researchers to measure recognition in babies

Imitation

the basic process of a newborn being capable of immediately imitating your behavior

Recall

the basic process of a newborn being capable of recalling observed behavior experiences

Episodic Memory

specific life event memories

Autobiographical Memory

the recollections of specific and personal events that are of significance

Infantile Amnesia

the inability to remember much about the first 3 or so years of life after birth

Language

a system of abstract symbols and rule-governed structures, the specific conventions of which are learned

Speech

orally expressed language

Phonology

the study of a language's sound

Phonemes

the simplest and most elementary sounds in speech, or the building blocks of speech

Prosody

refers to the timbre, rhythm, and tune of speech

Morphology

the study of the structure of words and the relationship between words

Morphemes

meaningful units of speech

Syntax

the rules for making grammatical sentences

Semantics

the ability to express meaning through language

Pragmatics

the ability to adjust speech in socially and culturally appropriate ways

Kangaroo Care

when a parent holds their infant on their chest with skin-to-skin contact

Holophrases

an early speech from used by infants in which single words convey a wide number of meanings

Underextension

when a child limits the meaning of a word too narrowly

Overextension

when a child applies the meaning of the word too narrowly

Overlaps

when a word is underextended on some occasions and overextended on other occasion

Fast-mapping

a language skill used by young children; the meaning of a new word is acquired by comparing it with one that is similar

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

an innate brain structure proposed by Chomsky that regulates the means by which an individual learns language

Infant-Directed Speech

speech that is more accentuated and of a higher pitch; also known as "motherese"