10: Representation

Psychology 3050: Representation Changes Across Age

Overview of Representation

  • Definition:

    • Representation is defined as the mental encoding of information.

Major Questions in Representation

  • Key Questions:

    1. When do children begin to mentally represent the world? Prenatally!

    2. How do children represent their world?

    3. How does representation change with age?

Representation in Infancy

  • Infants exhibit astonishing abilities to represent the world.

    • An important limitation exists: Symbolic Representation

    • Symbolic representation involves the use of symbols in which one thing represents or ‘stands for’ something else. Letters, Numbers, shapes, signs, dashboard lights, etc.

Older Children: Symbolic Representation

  • **Categories:

    • Representational Insight

    • Dual Representation

    • Appearance/Reality Distinction**

Representational Insight

  • Definition:

    • Representational insight refers to the knowledge that an entity can stand for something other than itself. A heart means love, a dove means peace, stuffed animals representing an actual animal, using a shoe as a phone, mud pie, “tea party”, etc.

  • Manifestation in Toddlers:

    • Toddlers begin to show representational insight through play, utilizing objects to represent other objects. Banana phone, block as a car, doll as a baby, etc.

  • Examples:

    • Example scenarios of using one object to represent another in play settings.

Dual Representation

  • Definition:

    • Dual representation is the ability to detect and mentally represent the relation between a symbol and its referent, meaning thinking about an object in two different ways at the same time. This banana IS a banana AND ALSO a phone.

  • Examples:

    • Understanding the relation between a scale model and its real counterpart.

    • Finding snoopy toy in big room after seeing the model. If they don’t get the relation, they won’t know right away where to look. Most 2.5 year olds fail, but 3 year olds pass.

Practical Illustration

  • Example Study: “The Amazing Shrinking Machine”

    • Experimental Layout:

    • The symbolic task involved a portable room located in a lab with opaque curtains (shown in Figure 1).

    • In the nonsymbolic task, a setup with the same portable room was altered with a shrinking machine.

    • Different phases of the experiment demonstrated the transition from symbolic representations to their nonsymbolic counterparts.

    • Figures:

    • Various sketches indicate the arrangement and the transition from large-scale to small-scale representation, as well as the character 'Terry the Troll' in before and after states.

    • Child is in big room. A toy is put there, and then it is shrunk down to see if child finds toy in the model. Most children know exactly where the toy is. Ie. if you ask a child to find toy in model after telling them it’s the same room, they can find the toy. If it’s different, they will not as they don’t understand symbolic representation.

Age-related Findings on Dual Representation

  • Age of Child vs. Performance:

    • 2 Years: Show in room & Find in room

    • 2½ Years: Show in photo & Find in room

    • 3 Years: Show in model (model behind glass) & Find in room

    • 3½ Years: Show in model, allow to play with model & Find in room

    • Progression over time; kids go from not being able to do to being great at it, until they are allowed to play with is like a toy.

Problems with Dual Representation

  • Findings:

    • Children often have challenges with the concept of dual representation as demonstrated through experimental tasks.

Appearance/Reality Distinction

  • Definition:

    • The appearance of an object does not necessarily correspond to its reality. Starts appearing around age 4

  • Examples of Distinction:

    • Understanding how objects can appear one way but be another beneath their surface, illustrated through various experiments and scenarios.

Research Example: De Vries Research with Maynard the cat

  • Illustration:

    • Maynard with a dog mask (pictures of Maynard showcasing different masks were included). Dog, rabbit,

    • The confusion that results when animals are masked and how children perceive reality in such situations. When the cat was masked, even though they played with the cat earlier and heard him, they now think Maynard is a dog! He has turned into a dog!

Other Examples Related to Appearance/Reality Distinction

  • Examples include:

    • Conservation (eg. shapes of glasses of water) Piaget: Kids focus on appearance of the object at the time!

    • Gender constancy if you’re a boy and put on a dress, you’re a girl now. You can change your gender as easily as you can change your clothes (gulp!!)

    • Dad shaves beard, now kid doesn’t recognize dad:(

Summary of Key Findings in Representation

  • Developmental Insights:

    • Infants possess some form of mental representation. DON’T say on the exam that they don’t. That’s not true.

    • Symbolic representation develops later.

    • Toddlers start developing representational insight.

    • Dual encoding develops gradually from ages 2 to 5.

    • Age Milestones:

      • By 2½ years, children can use pictures as symbols.

      • By 3 years, models can be used symbolically.

      • By ages 4-5 years, children can make distinctions in appearance versus reality.

Conclusions

  • Overall Developmental Trajectories:

    • Representational insight appears early in development.

    • Dual encoding develops slowly between ages 2 and 5, with discernible milestones.

    • The ability to distinguish appearance from reality becomes established between the ages of 4 and 5 years. They can then start coping with the conservation tasks.

Additional Notes

  • Fundamental Cognitive Constructs:

    • Internal representation is fundamental to cognition.

    • Symbolic representation is a crucial trait to humans.

    • Notable developmental differences exist in how individuals acquire symbolic representation as they age.