Cognitive Development

What is cognition?

Cognition is a set of mental abilities and processes related to:

• knowledge acquisition

• problem-solving

• memory

• attention

• learning

Piaget’s View — how did he view children?

active scientists = they learn through exploration and interaction

Piaget’s View — key processes

• assimilation = interpreting new experiences using existing schema

• accommodation = changing schemas to fit new information

• equilibration = balancing assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding

ex. a child calling all four-legged animals “dog” (assimilation), then learning that a cat is not a dog and adjusting the schema (accommodation)

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor (0-2 yrs) = infants learn through sensory and motor interactions

2. Preoperational (2-6 yrs) = language develops; thinking is egocentric and not logical

3. Concrete Operational (7-11yrs) = logical thinking about concrete situations

4. Formal Operational (12+ yrs) = abstract and hypothetical reasoning

The Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years) — key features

• learning through sensory input and motor actions

• initial reliance on reflexes (e.g sucking, grasping)

The Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years) — milestones

• object permanence

• goal-directed behavior = coordinated actions toward a purpose

• deferred imitation = imitating an action after a delay

What is Object Permanence?

• the awareness that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible

• before 8 months = no object permanence

• 8-12 months = incomplete (A-not-B error)

• 12+ months = fully developed

What is the A-not-B error?

infants look for an object where they last saw it (A) not where they saw it moved (B)

Preoperational Stage (2-6 yrs) — key features

• emergence of symbolic thought (ex. pretend play, drawing)

• use of language, but thinking is still:

  • egocentric

  • centrated (focuse on one aspect)

  • lacking conservation (understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance)

What is egocentrism?

the inability to understand another’s perspective

What is Piaget’s Three - Mountains Task?

• child is shown a model of three different mountains, each with unique features

• a doll is placed on the opposite side of the model

• in pre operational stage, children usually pick the photo representing their own view not the doll’s → demonstrating egocentrism

• by 7 years old (Concrete Operational Stage), children can correctly choose the doll’s perspective

What is centration?

focusing on one aspect of a situation and ignoring others

What is the conservation task?

child thinks a taller glass has more liquid even if the volume is the same

Criticisms of Piaget

1. underestimated infant’s abilities

2. overestimated consistency = children may show different skills at different times

3. vague concepts: terms like “schemas” are hard to test

4. undervalued social and cultural influences

What is the core knowledge perspective?

• suggests infants are born with innate cognitive systems including:

  • knowledge of objects

  • number

  • language

  • basic understanding of agents and goals

what is habituation?

getting used to stimuli = early measure of attention

What happens to their attention?

It becomes more selective and sustained

What happens to their memory?

it develops from implicit to explicit forms

What is deferred imitation?

older infants show deferred imitation = copying a gesture hours later