Core Knowledge Theories

Core Knowledge Theories

Introduction

• The lecture is on core knowledge theories, a concept that may be new to many students.
• The lecture will cover an overview of core knowledge theories, specific examples of core knowledge infants possess, and a comparison of Piaget's theory with core knowledge theory.
• Textbook Chapter 2 contains a section on cognitive development theories, but the lecture content should be the main focus.

Overview of Core Knowledge Theories

• Core knowledge theories suggest that infants are born with innate knowledge present from the start (as early as one to two months old).
• This innate knowledge is controversial but implies that knowledge exists before sensory exploration.
• Knowledge is in specific domains of evolutionary importance, not general knowledge like calculus or geography.
• Infants possess domain-specific learning abilities alongside general learning abilities like attention and processing speed.
• Core knowledge systems are claimed to be the same in all infants worldwide, regardless of culture.
• This knowledge is biologically based, evolved over time, and independent of experience, learning, or culture.
• Smilke and Kinzler (2007) wrote a classic article on core knowledge, outlining five domains:
  • Objects and their mechanical interactions: understanding how physical objects interact.
  • Agents and their goal-directed actions: inferring another person's goals.
  • Number and magnitude: distinguishing between small numbers (one vs. two or three) and relative amounts (lots vs. small amount).
  • Spatial layouts and geometric relationships: orienting oneself in space.
  • Social partners: differentiating between members of their social community and others, preferring to imitate those from their community, using language as a cue.

Features of Core Knowledge Theories

• Domain-Specific Knowledge: Focuses on innate knowledge in specific areas of evolutionary importance (objects, space, number, actions, and social partners).
• Active Child: Infants are biologically equipped to actively acquire knowledge from the environment.
  • Similar to Piaget, but core knowledge theories suggest infants build on existing sophisticated knowledge.
  • Piaget believed infants construct knowledge from scratch.
• Nativism and Constructivism: While some focus on core knowledge from birth, others emphasize building sophisticated understanding on top of this core foundation.
• Continuous Development: Cognitive development is continuous, not stage-like, with core knowledge systems shaping later understanding.
  • Conflicts with existing knowledge promote surprise and curiosity, motivating further learning.

Research Methods

• Researchers infer what infants know using experimental techniques because infants lack language skills.
• Common techniques:
  • Habituation techniques
  • Preferential looking methods

Preferential Looking Method

• Infants are presented with two visual displays, and researchers record how long they look at each.
• Longer looking time at one display indicates discrimination and preference.
  • For example, infants look longer at a regular face than a scrambled face, indicating preference.

Habituation Paradigm

• Looking time is measured as the infant is repeatedly shown a visual display.
• Initially, looking time is high, but it decreases as the infant habituates (gets bored).
• Introducing a novel display increases looking time again, indicating the infant recognizes the difference.

Core Knowledge: Objects and Events

• Infants understand that solid objects cannot pass through each other.
• Experiment:
  • Habituation: Infant watches a block rotating on a surface through 180 degrees.
  • Test: A block is placed on the surface to obstruct the rotation.
    • Possible Event: The rotating block hits the obstructing block and stops.
    • Impossible Event: The rotating block appears to pass through the obstructing block.
• If infants look longer at the impossible event, it suggests they know solid objects shouldn't pass through each other.

Data and Results

• Looking time is plotted against trials.
• During habituation, looking time decreases as the infant becomes bored.
• In the test phase:
  • Possible Event: Looking time increases slightly compared to habituation.
  • Impossible Event: Looking time increases significantly and remains high, indicating surprise.

Inferences

• Infants understand objects move as connected, bounded wholes.
• They expect objects to move on connected, unobstructed paths.
• Objects interact by touching, not at a distance.
• Infants can track and represent approximately three objects at a time.
• These abilities are present as early as two to three months old, suggesting they don't depend on prior visual experience.

Core Knowledge: Number

• Infants possess a basic understanding of number.
• Experiment:
  • An object (e.g., a toy bunny) is placed into a case.
  • A screen occludes the case.
  • A second object is added.
  • The screen is removed to reveal either:
    • Possible Event: Two objects.
    • Impossible Event: One object.
• Infants look longer at the impossible event, indicating they expected two objects.

Core Knowledge: Agents and Their Actions

• Infants use early psychological reasoning to understand social agents' intentional actions.
• Infants imitate adults, suggesting they infer that the adult's action has a goal-directed meaning.
• Infants understand actions as goal-directed and goals are achieved by efficient means.

Experiment: Testing Goal-Directed Actions

• Adult uses a blue stick to wipe a green box unnecessarily before using the stick to lift the lid.
• Children tend to imitate the needless action, wiping the stick across the box before opening it.
• This indicates that infants or toddlers are inferring that if the adult did it that way, then that must be for a reason, and that that must be part of the sequence of opening the box.
• Infants attribute meaning and purpose to the adult's action, even when the action has no purpose.
• Overimitation is crucial for children to be socialized into their culture, as they imitate actions they see cultural members doing.

Core Knowledge: Social Partners

• Social partners are those the infant perceives to be "like me" or part of their social world.
• There's evidence that infants can tell when they're interacting with other human beings that they can kind of tell the difference between someone who belongs to their social community and someone who doesn't, and they prefer to copy or imitate the person that belongs to their social community. And they use language as a main cue for that.
• Human communities show cooperation and reciprocity with their in-group members.
• Language is a cue to group membership.
• From birth, infants prefer their native language over a foreign language.
• They look longer at a person who speaks to them in their native language.
• Infants choose food items eaten by speakers of their language.
• They are more likely to imitate actions of someone speaking their native language.

Limitations of Core Knowledge Systems

• Domain-Specific: Each system represents only a small subset of things in the world.
  • For example, the object system deals with solid objects but not sand or water.
• Task-Specific: Each system solves a limited set of problems.
  • The number system discriminates between one and two objects but doesn't help with counting using number words.
• Encapsulated: Each system operates separately from other systems.
  • This aligns with the modularity of mind concept.
    • Number system can be impaired selectively (dyscalculia).
    • Difficulty understanding intentions can also be selectively impaired.

Core Knowledge and Further Development

• Core knowledge contributes to further development through violation of expectation, motivating exploration.
• Infants actively construct new understanding through the interaction of core knowledge and experience.
• Without core knowledge, infants wouldn't experience surprise.
• Surprise motivates increased visual and physical exploration of objects.

Differences Between Piaget's Theory and Core Knowledge Theory

Key Takeaways

• Explain what core knowledge theories are.
• Understand the habituation paradigm and preferential looking technique.
• Provide examples of infants' core knowledge: objects, agents, number, spatial layouts, and social partners.
• Identify differences between core knowledge theory and Piaget's theory.