Psych Lecture 7: Early and middle childhood: Cognitive changes

Winter 2026

What is the average number of questions a child from 2-5 years can ask

Average of information seeking questions per hour

Total of over 100 questions of non-information seeking questions added

Pre-operational stage

Ages 2-7

Piaget’s liquid conservation task involves

Showing 2 wide small cups with equal amounts of water Switching the water from one of the small wider cups to a larger skinner cup

How children before age of 7 react to Piaget liquid conservation task

They think the quantity has changed because ‘one is higher than the other’

Focus on perceptually salient feature (here that feature is height)

Example of concentration: Focusing on one aspect while neglecting others

Piagets 3 mountain problem: Visual perspective taking task

Young children fail to differentiate between their own and the doll’s perspective

Egocentrism the idea derived from Piagets 3 mountain problem means

Perceiving the world from one’s own point of view without taking into account those of others

What does the Centrism in Egocentrism mean?

centration on perpetually more salient perspective (ones own)

What is egocentrism not to be confused with

Narcissism or egoism

What is the solution to this confusion between egocentrism and narcissism

Abstract visual representation (cognitive map) that allows navigation between different perspectives

What is Pretend play or make believe play

Children give objects and people meaning that is separate from the real immediately observable characteristics

Ex: “A stick is a horse”- The stick had 2 identities; real and pretense identity

Developmental emergence less than 2 years of age

Pretending mostly with real objects

Ex: Toy phone, pouring water into tea cup

Development emergence 2-3 years

More abstract objects can acquire pretense identity

Ex: Banana telephone; toy block is a toothbrush

Development emergence greater than 3 years

Flexibility in which objects have pretense identity depending on context

Ex: Toy block is toothbrush in game 1 but a carrot in game 2

Although pretend play is seperate from reality, it is about reality

Pretense is not random or w/o rules, children often apply familiar casual principles to pretense overall helps children activate new skills

Children learning about conventions

“In this game yellow means soap and green means sandwich”; “This piece of paper is worth $1 and this one $100”; Green means go and read means stop

Imaginary friends The scene says

It is frequent and enduring, 65% of children up to 7 years of age have imaginary companions at some point of their lives

Is there a dysfunction in children with imaginary friends

No there is no difference is personality, intelligence, peer acceptance and shyness

Showed richer narrative in stories, potentially better social perspective taking

What was Judy DeLoache: Scale Model experiment

Use an a small version of an object or environment for another object

Ex: using a smaller model of a room and hiding an object in the model room and asking the child to find the object in the original room

What is difficult about the Scale model experiment

It requires dual representation of symbolic relations: The object has to be represented in two ways at the same time as an object and as a symbol for the referent it represents

Scale model experiment results

2.5 year olds fail to notice the symbolic relation between the model and the real room

Starting at 3 years of age they are able to find the toy

Follow up study for Scale model experiment: Symbolic condition

Scale model represents large room = dual representation

Kids see the large scale and the smaller scale as two different places and therefore have a harder time finding the object

Follow up study for Scale model experiment: Non-symbolic condition

Scale model is the large room and the model and large room are identical

Kids think that the large room is shrinked by a shrinking machine and when looking for the object in the smaller model of the room they excel in finding the object

Children’s intuitive virology

4-5 year olds have a developing theory about the biological world illness and transmission like Germs can make you sick and close contact to a sick person increases your chance to get sick, certain behaviors transmits germs.

Important b/c: Preventative behaviors; health and safety

What is our understanding of 4-5 year olds and Biology

They can understand other unobservable biological processes like:

Heredity: A baby kangaroo raised by goats will hop around and grow a pouch

Continuity & change: Identify despite surface level changes like: Caterpillar to a butterfly is still the same being same with children and an adult

Categories vs inferences

Eagles, chickens, and penguins are births so a Porg (fictional) has to be a bird but do they all lay eggs?

Essentialism

Assumption that thing have an underlying quality (essence) that makes them what they are

Ex: Puppies have a “dogness” kittens a “catness” inside them

What does essence explain

Explains similarities that category members share, new information is generalized to other category members

Ex: Birds lay eggs; gillies are birds then gillies lay eggs

Executive function

Set of domain general capacities for goal directed tasks and problem solving

Includes: Working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility

What is working memory

Holding information in mind while mentally manipulating it

Ex: Following a recipe but confusing some of the information

Tasks: Digit span task, recall and reproduce order or number sequence, same order vs different order

What is Inhibitory control

Staying focused on a goal while stopping oneself before responding on impulse

Ex: Bear-Dragon task or Simon says

ADHD Characteristic: Inattention

Distractibility, difficulty staying focus on a task

ADHD Hyperactivity

High energy, fidgeting, restlessness

ADHD Characteristic Impulsivity

Acting without thinking, limited behavioral control

How is ADHD diagnosed

Has to impair performance and occur in two or more settings, oftenly diagnosed during early schooling (5-7 years), Is diagnoses in 5-10% of US Children What

Cause of ADHD

Much debate, likely related to differences in brain network for executive function (prefrontal cortex)