Psych 321 ch6

Schemas

Mental structures that organize experiences and help children make sense of the world.

Assimilation

The process of incorporating new experiences into existing schemas.

Accommodation

The process of changing schemas based on new experiences.

Equilibration

The process of reorganizing schemas to achieve a state of balance or equilibrium.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's first stage of cognitive development, occurring from birth to 2 years, where infants learn through their senses and actions.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

Naive Physics

A child's basic understanding of physical properties and movements of objects, developing around 3-4 months.

Information Processing Theory

A cognitive approach that compares human thinking to the workings of a computer, focusing on how information is processed in the brain.

Habituation

The process by which infants stop responding to a stimulus after repeated exposure, focusing instead on novel stimuli.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to remember events from early childhood, typically from the first few years of life.

Egocentric Frame of Reference

A way of thinking where a child considers objects' positions only in relation to themselves.

Language Perception

The ability of infants to distinguish between different sounds (phonemes) and begin to understand spoken language.

Naming Explosion

A rapid increase in vocabulary, particularly in naming objects, occurring around 18 months of age.

Joint Attention

A social aspect of communication where both parent and child focus on the same object or event.