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Infant Cognitive Development

Infant Cognitive Development. Child Psychology Dennis H. Karpowitz Don’t generalize to later childhood, adolescence or adulthood. Piaget’s Concepts. Four stages Schemes - organization of experience First schemes are action based Adaptation through assimilation and accommodation

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Infant Cognitive Development

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  1. Infant Cognitive Development • Child Psychology • Dennis H. Karpowitz • Don’t generalize to later childhood,adolescence or adulthood

  2. Piaget’s Concepts • Four stages • Schemes - organization of experience • First schemes are action based • Adaptation through assimilation and accommodation • The beginnings of organization.

  3. Piaget’s Sensorimotor Stage • Infants & toddlers “think” with theireyes, ears, hands & other senses • Circular reactions • Bases for building schemes • Centered in the infants body

  4. Sensorimotor Substages • 1. Reflexive schemes (first month) • Reflexes - building blocks • Sucking, grasping & looking • 2. Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months) • Simple motor skills, environ. response • Oriented to basic needs.

  5. Sensorimotor Cont. • 3. Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months) • Repeat actions that effect environment • Well practiced imitation • 4. Coord. of Secondary Circular Reactions(8-12 months) • Intentional, goal directed, problem solving • Means-ends sequences • Object permanence.

  6. Senorimotor Cont. • 5. Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months) • Repetition with variation - new outcomes • Advanced object permanence - no AB errors • 6. Mental Representation (18-24 months) • Representations of absent objects & past events • Problem solving through symbolic means • Deferred imitation • Functional play >>> make-believe play.

  7. New Research on Sensorimotor • Infants display many cognitive capacities earlier. For example: • Object permanence signs at 3.5 months • AB performance before 12 months • Object understanding early • Deferred imitation at 6 weeks for faces • Deferred imitation flexible in toddlerhood

  8. Evaluation of Piaget’s Concepts • Earlier emergence, especially the familiar • Continuous development • Motor development related to knowledge • Looking & listening impt., not just action • Modular nativist view • Interaction of nature and nurture • Wealth of research and applications.

  9. Information Processing • Mental strategies operate on and transform information • 3 types of memory: • Sensory register • Short-Term memory - Active work • Long-Term Memory - unlimited storage • Categorization improves retrieval.

  10. Information Processing Cont. • Attention is essential to learning and memory.

  11. Information Processing Cont. • Attention in infancy & toddlerhood • Gradually more efficient • Preterm & newborn infants slow athabituation & dishabituation • By 4 months, more flexible • Sustained attention improves in 1st year • Increasingly more interested in others &what others do

  12. Information Processing Cont. • Memory • 3 months, recognize a stimulus after 24 hours • Recognition is a type of memory • 6 months, recall a stimulus • Infantile amnesia, develops because: • Brain development during early childhood • Emergence of autobiographical memory

  13. Information Processing Cont. • Categorization • 1st year, categories based on function & behavior • 2nd year, categorize during play

  14. Information Processing Cont. • Evaluation • Continuity from infancy to adulthood • Not a broad, comprehensive theory • May be combined with Piaget’s theory • Very helpful in terms of understanding learning processes

  15. Social Context of Cog. Devel. • Vygotsky - mental functions originatein social interaction • Zone of proximal development, scaffoldingessential to: • Advanced play • Language • Problem-solving

  16. Individual Differences - Tests • Mental tests measure cognitive products • Mental tests measure • Perceptual & motor responses • Early language • Problem solving • Bayley Scales of Infant Development • Infant test may not reflect abilities due todistraction, tiring, hunger.

  17. Indiv. Differences - Tests Cont. • Poor predictors of later intelligence • 2-17 years of age, IQ change of 28.5 points • Developmental Quotient (DQ) not IQ • Better prediction for low scorers • Better predictors of later intelligence: • Habituation-dishabituation response • Piagetian tasks.

  18. The Home Environment • Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) • Important predictive qualities: • Organized home • Stimulating physical setting • Parental encouragement

  19. Infant & Toddler Day Care • 57 % of mothers working witha child under two years of age. • High quality day care has a positiveimpact on mental & social development. • What about moderate & low quality? • Developmentally appropriate practice • Weak government regulation • Weak government funding.

  20. At-Risk Infants and Toddlers • Poverty - gradual decline in IQ & DQ • Interventions in homes and centers • More intense interventions best.

  21. Language Development • First word 8-18 months • Two words 18-24 months • Behaviorist Perspective • All environment • Operant conditioning • Imitation (modeling).

  22. Language Development Cont. • Nativist perspective - Chomsky • Language Acquisition Device (LAD) • LAD = Built in set of rules for language • Language milestone sequence samethroughout the world • Broca’s area - language production • Wernicke’s area - language comprehension.

  23. Language Development Cont. • Apes language development limited even with great practice • No one underlying grammar system • Interactionist Perspective • Innate abilities and environmental influences • Native capacity, social desire, rich language stimuli • Evidence supports the interactionist position.

  24. Language Development Process • Cooing about 2 months of age • Babbling about 6 months of age • Language experiences with adults necessary • 4 months infants & adults follow gazeof each other • Games like pat-a-cake & peek-a-boodemonstrate turn-taking • One year, babies use preverbal gestures.

  25. Lang. Devel. Process Cont. • First Word, 8-18 months, Mean 12 months • Important people • Objects that move • Familiar actions • Outcomes of familiar actions • Underextension • Overextension.

  26. Lang. Devel. Process Cont. • Two words • 18-24 months, 10-20 new words/week • Telegraphic speech • Comprehension vs. production • At all ages, comprehension precedesproduction.

  27. Individual & Cultural Differences • Girls ahead of boys • Referential style - label objects • Expressive style - feelings and needs • Referential style precedes expressivestyle.

  28. Supporting Language Devel. • Child Direct Speech (CDS) • High-pitched • Exaggerated expression • Very clear pronunciation • Infants & toddlers prefer CDS • Make-Believe play • Reading to toddlers • Conversational give and take.

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