Exploring Lifespan Development, Berk Chapter 5

sensorimotor stage

In Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) infants acquire information about the world by sensing it and moving around within it. using sensory and motor exploration. cannot yet carry out many activities inside their heads

schemes

theories about or models of the way the world works. specific psychological structures organized ways of making sense of experience

adaptation

involves building schemes through direct interaction with the environment

assimilation

using current schemes to interpret the external world. the process by which infants apply their schemas in novel situations.

accommodation

adjusting old schemes and creating new ones to better fit environment. The process by which infants revise their schemas in light of new information

object permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived (visible)

preoperational stage

2-6 years. children have a preliminary understanding of the physical world.

cognitive equilibrium

stead, comfortable state. characterized by assimilation more than accommodation

cognitive disequilibrium

state of cognitive discomfort. shift from assimilation toward accommodation, then back toward assimilation.

Capacities that develop when Piaget suggested

Object search.

Make-believe play.

A-not-B

Capacities that develop earlier than Piaget suggested

Object permanence.

Deferred imitation.

Problem-solving by analogy

some suggest infants are born with __ __ in several domains

core knowledge

Cognitive Gains in Infancy and Toddler-hood attention

improved efficiency, ability to shift focus. less attraction to novelty, improved sustained attention.

Cognitive Gains in Infancy and Toddler-hood memory

longer retention intervals. development of recall by second half of first year.

Cognitive Gains in Infancy and Toddler-hood categorization

gradual shift from perceptual to conceptual categorization in toddlerhood.

sociocultural theory

complex mental activities develop through join activities with more mature members of childs society.

zone of proximal development

tasks too difficult for child to do alone but possible with help of more skilled partners

two theories of language development

nativist and interactionist

nativist (Chomsky)

language acquisition Device (LAD) contains universal grammar. infants biologically prepared to learn language.

interactionist

interaction between inner capacities and environmental influences. social interactionist view emphasizes social skills and language experiences.

first speech sounds

cooing at 2 months, babbling at 6 months

give and take

between 4 to 6 months pat a cake and peekaboo games.

preverbal gestures

at the end of the first year babies direct adults attention to influence their behavior and to convey helpful information. ex. points at toy they want their toy

deferred imitation

The ability to remember and copy the behavior of models who are not present

inferred imitation

requires inferring others' intentions; more likely to imitate purposeful rather than accidental behaviors

core knowledge perspective

A perspective that states that infants are born with a set of innate knowledge systems, or core domains of thought, each of which permits a ready grasp of new, related information and therefore supports early, rapid development of certain aspects of cognition.

underextension

when young children first learn words , they sometimes apply them to narrowly

overextension

occurs when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to. applying a word to a wider collection of objects and events than is appropriate.

joint attention

in which the child attends to the same object or event as caregiver who often labels it which contributes to early language development

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram--'go car'-- they focus on high content words, omitting smaller le when less important ones. more cookie

supporting early language learning with infants

respond to coos and babbles. establish joint attention. use infant- directed speech. play social games

supporting early language learning with

engage in joint make- believe. engage in frequent conversations. read often and talk about books.

Organization

A process that takes place internally, apart from direct contact with the environment. Once children form new schemes, they rearrange them, linking them with other schemes to create a strongly interconnected cognitive system.

Piaget's sensorimotor Stage 1: reflexive schemes

(Birth- 1 month) Newborn reflexes (see ch3, p-81-84)

Piaget's sensorimotor stage 2: primary circular reactions

(1-4 months) Simple motor habits centered around the infants own body; limited anticipation of events.

Piaget's sensorimotor Stage 3: secondary circular reactions

(4-8 months) Actions aimed at repeating interesting effects in the surrounding world; imitation of familiar behaviors.

Piaget's sensorimotor Stage 4: coordination of secondary circular reactions

(8-12 months) Intentional, or goal-directed behavior; ability to find a hidden object in the first location which it is hidden (object permanence); improves anticipation of events; imitation of behaviors slightly different from those the infant usually performs

Piaget's sensorimotor Stage 5: tertiary circular reactions

(12-18 months) Exploration of the properties of objects by acting on them in novel ways; imitation of novel behaviors; ability to search in several locations for a hidden object (accurate A-B search).

Piaget's sensorimotor Stage 6: mental representation

(18 months - 2 yrs) Internal depictions if objects and events, as indicated by sudden solutions to problems; ability to find an object that has been moved while out of sight (invisible displacement); deferred imitation; and make-believe play.

sensory register

sights and sounds are represented directly and stored briefly

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory. A number of items can be briefly held in mind while also engaging in some effort to monitor or manipulate those items.

central executive

The part of working memory that is responsible for monitoring and directing attention and other mental resources.

Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory

Jean Piaget's principle that from infancy to adolescence, children progress through four qualitatively different stages of intellectual growth.

Summary of Piaget's Sensorimotor Stage

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Repeating Chance Behaviors

*Primary Circular Reaction: simple motor habits centered around infant's own body; limited anticipation of events

*Secondary Circular Reaction: aimed at repeating interesting events in the surrounding world; imitation of familiar behaviors

intentional behavior

coordinating schemes deliberately to solve simple problems

goal-directed behavior

behavior in which several schemes are combined and coordinated to generate a single act to solve a problem

mental representation

internal depictions of information that the mind can manipulate

violation of expectation method

They may habituate babies to a physical event (expose them to the event until their looking declines) to familiarize them with a situation in which their knowledge will be tested. Or they may simply show babies an expected event (one that follows physical laws) and an unexpected event (a variation of the first event that violates physical laws). Heightened attention to the unexpected event suggests that the infant is "surprised" by a deviation from physical reality and, therefore, is aware of that aspect of the physical world.

make-believe play

children act out everyday and imaginary activities

problem solving

finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal

symbolic understanding

the realization that words can be used to cue mental images of things not physically present

Evaluation of Sensorimotor Stage

Some developments happen when Piaget described:

-object search

-a-not-b search error

-make-believe play.

Many appear to happen sooner than Piaget thought:

-object permanence

-secondary circular reactions

-deferred imitation

-problem solving by analogy

automatic processes

states of consciousness that require little attention and do not interfere with other ongoing activities

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

information processing model

model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer processes memory in a series of three stages

executive function

the cognitive ability to organize and prioritize the many thoughts that arise from the various parts of the brain, allowing the person to anticipate, strategize, and plan behavior

attention

focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events

memory

the ability to store and retrieve information over time

recognition

a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test

Recall

A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

Categorization

a cognitive process used to organize information by placing it into larger groupings of information

Evaluation of Information Processing Theory

-Demonstrates the quantitative and continuous aspects of development/

-Clearly demonstrates impressive infant abilities and the importance and development of memory/attention

-Does not completely refute Piaget's accounts of development.

Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development

include a cognitive scale, a language scale, and a motor scale.

Computing Intelligence Test Scores

Intelligence quotient (IQ): comparison with typical performance for age

-standardization

-normal distribution: bell-shaped curve

Infant tests and later performance:

largely used for screening

Standardization

defining meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

normal distribution

a bell-shaped curve, describing the spread of a characteristic throughout a population

home environment

is an important influence on school performance...differences in home and local neighborhood matter most in children's learning

Signs of Developmentally Appropriate Practice

-Physical setting

-Toys and Equipment

-Caregiver-child ratio

-Daily activities

-Adult-child interactions

-Teacher qualifications

-Relationships with parents

-Licensing and accreditation

The Nativist Perspective

human brain has an innate

capacity for acquiring language (language acquisition

device), possibly during a critical period of

time after birth; and that children are born with a

universal sense of grammar (Noam Chomsky).

language acquisition device (LAD)

Chomsky's term for a hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including the basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and intonation.

sensitive period

a point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible consequences

The interactionist perspective

A sociological approach that generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole.

Getting Ready to Talk

First speech sounds: cooing, babbling

Becoming a communicator: joint attention, give-and-take, preverbal gestures

cooing stage

at about 2 months the infant begins to make vowel-like sounds

babbling stage

beginning at about 6 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

The joint attention

the child attends to the same object or event as the caregiver

infant-directed speech

a type of speech directed toward infants, characterized by short, simple sentences