Core Knowledge Theory

Class Notes 11/12

Core Knowledge (Nativist) Approach

• Child as primate scientist

  • Children have innate cognitive capabilities that are the product of evolutionary processes

  • Focus on distinct cognitive systems to support learning of human universals (e.g., language, social cognition, biological categorization, using numbers)

Nature vs. Nurture

• Are uniquely human cognitive capacities evident at birth or do they emerge over development?

• Nature + Nurture —> Development

Information Processing vs. Core Knowledge

• “All Purpose” Solutions

  • Domain-general cognitive processes that can be widely applied across domains and (presumably) developmental levels

• “Specialized” Solutions

  • Domain-specific attentional biases and modules particular to key universal domains

The “Core Knowledge” Systems

• Children have core knowledge in the form of either specialized learning mechanisms or informal theories present at birth

• Does not explain all aspects of cognition (e.g., no core knowledge system for wordle!)

• The Core Knowledge Systems:

  • Number

  • Place

  • Social Partners

  • Agents

  • Objects

  • Language

• Children are born PREPARED for learning most important information

  • Initial theories act as the foundation for future learning; with experience, theories are refined over time

  • These core knowledge systems/theories focus attention so infants can learn from their environment more rapidly and efficiently

Object Knowledge

• Infants are thought to have theories (or basic schema) about the physical world

  • Objects are solid (things can’t move through them)

  • Objects will fail if not supported

• These theories guide the way that children make sense of the world, and are refined over time with new experiences

Violation-of-Expectation Method

• It is the search for explanations after violations of expectations that propels learning forward

  • Ex. Solidity of Barriers: The understanding that objects are solids that other objects cannot pass through them

Familiarization/Habituation Phase

• A screen is lowered to hide a portion of the display

• Ball rolls behind the screen

• Screen is raised

• Ball is seen resting against the right hand wall

• Looking time is measured

Test Phase

• Possible Event:

  • Barrier is lowered to the floor of the display

  • Screen is lowered to hide portion of display

  • Ball rolls behind screen

  • Ball is seen resting against barrier

  • Looking time is measured

• Impossible Event:

  • Barrier is lowered to the floor of the display

  • Screen is lowered to hide portion of display

  • Ball rolls behind screen

  • Ball is seen resting against right-hand wall

  • Looking time is measured

The Core Number System

• Humans (even as infants) have an intuitive sense of number and are predisposed to attend to number in the environment

The Language System

• Humans (even as infants) are thought to have evolved with a special mechanism for learning language: The Language Acquisition Device

• It is proposed to a unqiue mental module for acquiring language

Critique of Nativist Theory

• Pros:

  • Has contributed new and important methodology

  • Describes infants and young children as more competent than previously believed

  • Compelling explanation for speed of learning in infancy

• Cons:

  • Can never fully distinguish innate versus experience

  • Doesn’t explain why older children sometimes seem less competent than infants

Application to Education

• Acknowledge and consider children’s prior knowledge and/or misconceptions when designing instruction

• Dedicate extra time to topics inconsistent with core knowledge

  • e.g., rational numbers