Cognitive Development Overview

Overview of Cognitive Development

  • Course: PSYC 3500

  • Instructor: Dr. Carolyn Baer

  • Term: Winter 2026

Prenatal Challenges

  • Prenatal Hazards:

    • Drugs:

    • Prescribed drugs

    • Antidepressants

    • Opioids

    • Marijuana

    • Nicotine (cigarettes and e-cigarettes)

    • Alcohol

    • Environmental Pollutants:

    • Lead

    • Mercury

    • PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls)

    • Pesticides and herbicides

    • Air and water pollution

    • Diseases:

    • AIDS

    • Chickenpox

    • Chlamydia

    • Gonorrhea

    • Herpes

    • Influenza

    • Mumps

    • Rubella

    • Syphilis

    • Zika

  • Teratogen Definition:

    • An external agent causing harm to a fetus.

    • Note: Some external agents are beneficial, e.g., vaccines.

Teratogens

  • Considerations:

    • Timing: Sensitive periods (e.g., Thalidomide exposure during weeks 4-6 affects limb development).

    • Individual Differences in Susceptibility: Variations among individuals.

    • Sleeper Effects: Some teratogens, like diethylstilbestrol, linked to health issues later (e.g., vaginal cancer in females aged 14-22).

    • Dose-Response Relation:

    • Example: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD)

    • More dramatic effects are observed with increased alcohol consumption.

Developmental Resilience

  • Key Insight: Every individual is unique and copes with challenges differently.

  • Positive Outcomes Are Supported By:

    • Intelligence

    • Positive well-being

    • Social responsiveness

    • Caregiver responsiveness

Recap of Prenatal Challenges

  • Takeaways:

    • Numerous teratogens can harm a developing fetus.

    • Effects vary based on several factors: timing, dosage, individual susceptibility, and possible sleeper effects.

    • Some epigenetic influences may be inherited.

    • Most importantly, human resilience exists—positive traits like intelligence and social responsiveness help mitigate challenges.

Cognitive Development Overview

  • Core Question:

    1. How does change happen?

    2. What conditions are necessary for such changes?

Lecture Outline

  • Topics to Cover:

    • Infants’ Perceptual Toolkit

    • Piaget’s Theory

    • Information Processing

    • Core Knowledge Theory

    • Dynamic Systems Theories

    • Sociocultural Theories

    • Deep Dive: Babies as Scientists

Infants' Perceptual Toolkit

  • Fetal Actions:

    • Grasping the umbilical cord

    • Sucking thumb

    • Showing preference for sweet flavors

    • Preferring caregiver’s amniotic fluid scent

    • Fetal preference for caregiver’s voice over a stranger’s voice

    • Developmental milestones noted from Week 1.

Sensation and Perception

  • Definitions:

    • Sensation: Registration of sensory information from external stimuli by sensory receptors.

    • Perception: The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, adapting behavior based on interpretations.

Habituation Paradigm

  • Concept:

    • Individuals, including infants, experience boredom when exposed repeatedly to the same stimuli.

  • Method:

    • Allow participants to habituate (experience something until bored), then present a changed stimulus.

    • Response:

    • If infants show re-engagement, they can differentiate the stimuli.

    • If they remain bored, they cannot tell the difference.

Infant Visual Perception

  • Research Findings:

    • According to Mayer et al. (1995) and Slater (2000), adult-like visual acuity may develop around age 3.

Infant Face Perception

  • Study by Fantz (1963):

    • Infants show longer fixation times on schematic faces versus other displays, indicating a preference for faces.

  • Age Milestones:

    • At Birth: No preference for human versus monkey faces.

    • 3-month-olds: Preference for human faces.

    • 6-month-olds: Can distinguish between two human and two monkey faces.

    • 9-month-olds: Can distinguish between human faces but begins to lose the ability to discriminate among monkey faces.

Perceptual Narrowing

  • Concept:

    • Synaptic connections that are useful are strengthened while irrelevant ones are pruned.

  • Racial Identity:

    • Similar trends appear in recognizing own-race versus other-race faces.

    • Both 3- and 6-month-olds can differentiate races, but by 9 months, preference shifts toward own-race.

Auditory Perception

  • Newborn Preferences:

    • Preference for familiar sounds like the "Cat in the Hat" study, mother’s voice/language, and consonance.

  • Methods:

    • Head-turn preference procedure where eyes are used as remote controls to speakers to measure responses.

  • Narrowing of Auditory Perception:

    • In experiments, adults notice changes only if outside the key; infants (8-month-olds) noticed all changes.

Intermodal Perception

  • Definition:

    • Perception and integration of information across multiple senses.

Intermodal Perception in Infants

  • Study by Meltzoff & Borton (1979):

    • Infants suck on one of two different pacifier shapes and then prefer to look at the matching shape when presented.

Summary of Infant Perception

  • Key Points:

    • Infants possess senses that feed into perceptual systems.

    • Visual acuity begins coarse, developing rapidly to mature levels by age 3.

    • Newborns prefer faces, with greater refinement by age 9.

    • Auditory ability narrows similarly.

    • Infants use both habituation and head-turn paradigms effectively.

Piaget's Theory

  • Key Insights:

    • Children are active participants in their own learning journey.

    • Born with:

    • Reflexes and perceptual abilities

    • Desire to adapt and ability to do so

    • Constructivism: Learning is an active construction of understanding.

Piaget’s Adaptation Process

  • Schemas:

    • Knowledge organized into schemas - patterns of thought and behavior.

  • Mechanisms:

    • Assimilation: Integrating new information into existing schemas.

    • Accommodation: Modifying schemas when new information doesn't fit.

  • Equilibrium: Achieving a stable understanding through assimilation and accommodation.

Piaget’s Stage Theory

  • Stages of Development:

    • Sensorimotor Stage: Ages 0 to 2

    • Pre-Operational Stage: Ages 2 to 6-7

    • Concrete Operational Stage: Ages 7 to 11-12

    • Formal Operational Stage: Ages 12+

  • Notes: The stages are invariant, qualitatively changed, domain-general, and universal.

Critiques of Piaget's Theory

  • Key Concerns:

    • Questions about mechanisms (e.g., neurobiological basis of assimilation)

    • Underestimation of children's intelligence

    • The complexity of learning processes

    • Skills develop variably across child development.

Summary of Piaget's Contributions

  • Takeaways:

    • Piaget highlighted children's active role in learning and attempted to explain developmental stages through assimilation and accommodation, though his theories are not universally accepted today.

Information Processing Theory

  • Approach:

    • Breaks down cognition into components to develop algorithms for predictable responses from children.

  • Key Insight: Children have limited cognitive capacities compared to adults.

Components of Learning

  • Memory Types:

    • Working Memory: Active thoughts

    • Long-term Memory: Stored knowledge

  • Executive Functions:

    • Inhibitory control (resisting urges)

    • Cognitive flexibility (adapting in the moment)

  • Learning Processes:

    • Associating events, recognizing and recalling memory, generalization, encoding information.

Learning Strategies Development

  • Strategies:

    • Rehearsal, chunking, and selective attention evolve with learning and experience.

  • Overlap Waves Theory: Emphasizes testing out different strategies as children learn.

Summary of Information Processing Theory

  • Recap:

    • The theory emphasizes dissection of cognition, memory and executive functions are central, and learning processes are basic yet wide-ranging.

Core Knowledge Theory

  • Fundamental Insights:

    • Evolution has equipped children to succeed.

    • Children do not inherently possess all knowledge; they need support to demonstrate knowledge effectively.

Examples of Knowledge Gaps

  • Object Permanence: Piaget believed infants lack it; however, core knowledge theorists argue infants possess this understanding but struggle to demonstrate it.

Competence vs. Performance

  • Definitions:

    • Competence: Knowing something

    • Performance: Demonstrating knowledge appropriately, often skewed by methods of testing.

Violation of Expectation Paradigm

  • Concept:

    • Presenting inconsistent information to assess baby expectations. Longer looking times indicate prior knowledge or expectations were violated.

Core Knowledge Domains

  • Innate Areas of Knowledge:

    • Objects

    • Number

    • Geometry

    • Agents

    • Social Partners

    • Language

Summary of Core Knowledge Theory

  • Takeaways:

    • Evolution has equipped humans for success.

    • Knowledge exists with signature limits, is universal, and helps form naïve theories on various domains.

Dynamic Systems Theory

  • Key Insight:

    • Children constantly evolve and change; capabilities influence perception and learning.

  • Change is analogous to evolutionary principles: testing and eliminating less effective strategies.

Reflexes in Infants

  • Common Reflexes:

    • Rooting, sucking, swallowing, Moro (startle), grasp, stepping reflexes.

Motor Milestones

  • Milestone Achievement:

  • Average age ranges provided for specific motor achievements.

    • Examples include crawling, sitting unsupported, and walking.

Variability in Motor Skill Development

  • Cultural Influences:

  • Some regions develop motor skills faster due to early exercises, while others may implement safety measures that slow development.

Summary of Dynamic Systems Theory

  • Recap:

    • Infants undergo constant changes, impacting connections made across various domains and motor milestones.

Sociocultural Theories

  • Core Insights:

    • Children exist within social settings, where peer interactions shape learning.

    • Learning through observation provides advantages beyond trial-and-error methods.

Over-Imitation in Children

  • Findings:

    • Children engage in over-imitation, mimicking irrelevant actions.

  • Tests conducted reveal different instructional styles impact imitation levels.

Other Key Theorists in Sociocultural Study

  • Lev Vygotsky: Emphasized the role of knowledgeable guidance in child learning.

  • Albert Bandura: Focused on observational learning and imitation.

  • Michael Tomasello: Discussed human skills, like shared attention and cooperation.

Summary of Sociocultural Theories

  • Recap:

    • Major emphasis on social learning through imitation, indicating a strong focus on cultural contexts and peer interactions.

Babies as Scientists

  • Current Research Focus:

  • Exploration into how babies learn, test hypotheses, and engage in metacognitive activities.

Metacognition in Babies

  • Definition:

  • Awareness of one's understanding and abilities.

  • Methods of studying include tracking confidence and uncertainty in various tasks.

Curiosity in Babies

  • Study Findings:

  • Babies show greatest interest in events of intermediate complexity, reflecting a preference towards learning new information.

Selective Trust in Babies

  • Trust Mechanism:

  • Infants learn to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information based on cues like confidence levels displayed by adults.

Experiments by Babies

  • Study Approach:

    • Infants demonstrate investigatory behaviors when surprised by unexpected events, indicating a form of scientific inquiry towards learning.

Summary of Babies as Scientists

  • Key Takeaways:

    • Babies display behaviors reflective of curiosity, selective trust, and hypothesis testing in their learning processes.

To Do List

  • Assignments:

    • Read assigned articles, post discussion questions, complete quizzes and reflective summaries related to cognitive development studies.