CHAPTER 5 BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY According to Piaget, by acting on the environment, children move through four stages of cognitive development in which psychological structures, or schemes, achieve a better fit with external reality. In the sensorimotor stage, these spans the first two years of life, infants make strides in intentional behavior and understanding of object permanence. By the end of the second year, they become capable of mental representation, as seen in their sudden solutions to problems, mastery of object permanence, deferred imitation, and make-believe play. Displaced reference—the realization that words can be used to cue mental images of things not physically present—emerges around the first birthday and greatly expands toddlers’ capacity to learn about the world through communicating with others. Follow-up research on Piaget’s sensorimotor stage yields broad agreement that many cognitive changes of infancy are gradual and continuous and that various aspects of infant cognition change unevenly. However, many studies suggest that infants display a wide array of understandings earlier than Piaget believed. Secondary circular reactions, understanding of object properties, first signs of object permanence, deferred imitation, problem solving by analogy, and displaced reference of words emerge earlier than Piaget expected. Whereas Piaget thought that young babies constructed all mental representations out of sensorimotor activity, the core knowledge perspective maintains that babies are born with a set of innate knowledge systems, or core domains of thought. These permit a ready grasp of new, related information and therefore support early, rapid development. Information-processing theorists want to determine exactly what individuals of different ages do when faced with a task or problem. They assume that we use mental strategies to operate on information as it flows through three parts of the mental system: the sensory register, the short-term memory store, and the long-term memory store. The central executive, the conscious, reflective part of our mental system, ensures that we think purposefully, to attain our goals. Research indicates that several aspects of the cognitive system improve during childhood and adolescence: (1) the basic capacity of its memory stores, especially working memory; (2) the speed with which information is worked on; and (3) the functioning of the central executive, which directs the flow of information and engages in more sophisticated activities that enable complex, flexible thinking. Gains in executive function—including controlling attention, suppressing impulses, coordinating information in working memory, and flexibly directing and monitoring thought and behavior—are under way in the first two years. By the second half of the first year, infants are capable of recognition as well as recall, and both recognition and recall improve teadily with age. During toddlerhood, categorization gradually ...

1. CHAPTER 5 BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY
According to Piaget, by acting on the environment, children
move through four stages of cognitive development in which
psychological structures, or schemes, achieve a better fit with
external reality. In the sensorimotor stage, these spans the first
two years of life, infants make strides in intentional behavior
and understanding of object permanence. By the end of the
second year, they become capable of mental representation, as
seen in their sudden solutions to problems, mastery of object
permanence, deferred imitation, and make-believe play.
Displaced reference—the realization that words can be used to
cue mental images of things not physically present—emerges
around the first birthday and greatly expands toddlers’ capacity
to learn about the world through communicating with others.
Follow-up research on Piaget’s sensorimotor stage yields broad
agreement that many cognitive changes of infancy are gradual
and continuous and that various aspects of infant cognition
change unevenly. However, many studies suggest that infants
display a wide array of understandings earlier than Piaget
believed. Secondary circular reactions, understanding of object
properties, first signs of object permanence, deferred imitation,
problem solving by analogy, and displaced reference of words
emerge earlier than Piaget expected. Whereas Piaget thought
that young babies constructed all mental representations out of
sensorimotor activity, the core knowledge perspective maintains
that babies are born with a set of innate knowledge systems, or
core domains of thought. These permit a ready grasp of new,
related information and therefore support early, rapid
development. Information-processing theorists want to
determine exactly what individuals of different ages do when
faced with a task or problem. They assume that we use mental
strategies to operate on information as it flows through three
parts of the mental system: the sensory register, the short-term

2. memory store, and the long-term memory store. The central
executive, the conscious, reflective part of our mental system,
ensures that we think purposefully, to attain our goals. Research
indicates that several aspects of the cognitive system improve
during childhood and adolescence: (1) the basic capacity of its
memory stores, especially working memory; (2) the speed with
which information is worked on; and (3) the functioning of the
central executive, which directs the flow of information and
engages in more sophisticated activities that enable complex,
flexible thinking. Gains in executive function—including
controlling attention, suppressing impulses, coordinating
information in working memory, and flexibly directing and
monitoring thought and behavior—are under way in the first
two years. By the second half of the first year, infants are
capable of recognition as well as recall, and both recognition
and recall improve teadily with age. During toddlerhood,
categorization gradually shifts from a perceptual to a conceptual
basis. Information processing has contributed greatly to our
view of young babies as sophisticated cognitive beings.
However, it is better at analyzing cognition into its components
than at putting them back together into a broad, comprehensive
theory. Vygotsky believed that through joint activities with
more mature members of their society, children master activities
and think in ways that have meaning in their culture. According
to Vygotsky, children master tasks within the zone of proximal
development, a range of tasks too difficult for the child to do
alone but possible with the help of more skilled partners. Most
infant intelligence tests emphasize perceptual and motor
responses and predict later intelligence poorly. As an
alternative, some researchers use information-processing
measures, such as speed of habituation and recovery to novel
stimuli, which are good infant predictors of IQ from early
childhood through early adulthood. Home and child-care
environments, as well as early intervention for at-risk infants
and toddlers, exert powerful influences on mental development.
Improvements in perception and cognition during infancy pave

3. the way for the development of language. According to
Chomsky’s nativist theory, all children have an innate language
acquisition device that enables them to master the intricate rules
of their language. The interactionist perspective maintains that
language development results from interactions between inner
capacities and environmental influences. Babies begin cooing
around 2 months, followed by babbling around 6 months.
Gradually, babbling reflects the sound and intonation patterns
of children’s language community. First spoken words appear
around 1 year, and two-word utterances between 18 and 24
months. However, substantial individual differences exist in the
rate and style of early language progress. As toddlers learn
words, they may apply them too narrowly (underextension) or
too broadly (overextension). At all ages, language
comprehension develops ahead of language production. Adults
in many cultures speak to babies using infant-directed speech, a
implified form of communication that is well-suited to their
learning needs. Deaf parents use a similar style of
communication when signing to their deaf babies.
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Chapter 5
Cognitive Development in
Infancy and Toddlerhood
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Exploring Lif
Psychological structuresOrganized ways of making sense of
experienceSchemes change with age:first schemes: sensorimotor
action patternslater schemes: deliberate and creative
Piaget’s Theory: Schemes
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Building SchemesAdaptationBuilding schemes through direct
interaction with environmentAssimilationUsing current schemes
to
interpret the external worldAccommodationAdjusting old
schemes
and creating new ones
to better fit environment
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Berk
Cognitive equilibrium:steady, comfortable statecharacterized by
assimilation more than accommodationCognitive
disequilibrium:state of cognitive discomfortshift from

5. assimilation toward accommodation, then back toward
assimilation
Assimilation and Accommodation
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Birth to age 2 yearsBuilding schemes through
sensory and motor
explorationCircular reactions
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Sensorimotor Stage
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Sensorimotor SubstagesReflexive schemes
(birth–1 month)Newborn reflexesPrimary circular reactions
(1–4 months)Simple motor habits centered
around own bodySecondary circular reactions
(4–8 months)Repetition of interesting effects;
imitation of familiar behaviorsCoordination of secondary
circular reactions
(8–12 months)Intentional, goal-directed behavior; beginning
object permanenceTertiary circular reactions
(12–18 months)Exploration of object properties
through novel actionsMental representation
(18 months–2 years)Internal depictions of objects and events;
advanced object permanence (invisible displacement)

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Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of
sightRevealed by retrieval of hidden objectsAwareness not yet
complete: A-not-B search errorFull understanding revealed by
problems involving invisible displacement
Object Permanence
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Explori
Internal depictions:images (objects, people, spaces)concepts
(groups of similar objects
or events)Representation permitsadvanced object
permanencedeferred imitationmake-believe play
© mitgirl/Fotolia
Mental Representation
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7. Violation-of-Expectation Method
Figure 5.1
(Adapted from R. Baillargeon & J. DeVos, 1991, “Object
Permanence in Young Infants: Further Evidence,” Child
Development, 62, p. 1230. © 1991, John Wiley and Sons.
Reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Figure 5.1 Testing young infants for understanding of object
permanence using the violation-of-expectation method
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6 weeks: imitates facial expressions6–9 months: copies novel
actions with objects12–14 months: imitates rationally14–18
months: imitates actions that are intended but not completed
Deferred Imitation
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Evaluation of the Sensorimotor Stage
Some suggest infants are born with core knowledge in several
domains.Capacities that develop when
Piaget suggestedObject search
A-not-B
Make-believe playCapacities that develop earlier than Piaget
suggestedObject permanence
Deferred imitation
Problem solving by analogy

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Babies are born with a set of core domains of thought:innate,
special-purpose
knowledge systemspermit a quick grasp
of related informationsupport rapid early
development
© mocker_bat/Fotolia
Core Knowledge Perspective
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Expl
PhysicalLinguisticPsychologicalNumerical
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Suggested Domains
of Core Knowledge
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9. Exploring Lifesp
Research suggests that infants can discriminate quantities up to
3perform simple addition and subtractionrepresent large-number
valuesFindings are controversial
Infants’ Numerical Knowledge
© Rehan Qureshi/Shutterstock
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Information ProcessingSensory register: sights and sounds are
represented directly, stored brieflyShort-term memory
store:attended-to information is retained briefly and “worked”
onworking memory: number of items that can be briefly held in
mind while engaging in some effort to manipulate themLong-
term memory: permanent knowledge base
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Model of
Information Processing
Figure 5.3
Figure 5.3 Model of the human information-processing system
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10. Managing the Cognitive System’s ActivitiesCentral
executivedirects flow of informationcoordinates incoming
information with information already in the systemselects,
applies, and monitors strategies that facilitate memory storage,
comprehension, reasoning, and problem solvingAutomatic
processesrequire no space in working memorycan be done while
focusing on other information
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Improvements in the Cognitive SystemIncrease in basic capacity
of memory stores, especially working memoryIncrease in speed
with which information is worked onImprovements in executive
function
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Cognitive Gains in Infancy and Toddlerhood
Attentionimproved efficiency, ability to shift focusless
attraction to novelty, improved sustained attention
Memorylonger retention intervalsdevelopment of recall by
second half of first year
Categorizationgradual shift from perceptual to conceptual
categorization in toddlerhood
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11. PerceptualFirst categories are based on physical propertiesBy 6
months, babies categorize on basis of two correlated features
ConceptualShift to categories based on common function or
behavior during toddlerhood
Development of Categorization
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Exploring Lifespan Development
Complex mental activities develop through joint activities with
more mature members of child’s societyZone of proximal
development: tasks
too difficult for child
to do alone but
possible with help of
more skilled partners
© Zurijeta/Shutterstock
Vygotsky’s
Sociocultural Theory
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Bayley Scales:CognitiveLanguageMotorSocial-
EmotionalAdaptive BehaviorPredict later intelligence
poorlyLargely used for screening

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Infant and Toddler
Intelligence Tests
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Exploring Lifespan Development Third Edi
Intelligence quotient (IQ): comparison with typical performance
for agestandardizationnormal distribution: bell-shaped
curveInfant tests and later performance:largely used for
screening
Computing Intelligence
Test Scores
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Normal Distribution
of IQ Scores
Figure 5.6
Figure 5.6 Normal distribution of intelligence test scores
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13. Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment
(HOME) measures:parental emotional and verbal
responsivenessparental acceptance of childorganization of
physical environmentprovision of appropriate play
materialsparental involvement with childopportunities for
variety in daily stimulation
Features of a
High-Quality Home Life
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Physical settingToys and equipmentCaregiver–child ratioDaily
activitiesInteraction among adults
and childrenCaregiver qualificationsRelationships with
parentsLicensing and accreditation
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Developmentally Appropriate
Infant and Toddler Child Care
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IQ Scores of Treatment and Control Children in the Carolina
Abecedarian Project
Figure 5.7
(Adapted from Campbell et al., 2001.)

14. Figure 5.7 IQ scores of treatment and control children from
infancy to 21 years in the Carolina Abecedarian Project
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Theories of
Language DevelopmentNativist (Chomsky)Language
Acquisition Device (LAD)
contains universal grammar
infants biologically prepared to learn
languageInteractionistinteraction between inner capacities and
environmental influences
social-interactionist view: emphasizes social skills and language
experiences
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First speech sounds:cooingbabblingBecoming a
communicator:joint attentiongive-and-takepreverbal gestures
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Getting Ready to Talk

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First words:underextensionoverextensionTwo-word
utterances:telegraphic speechcopies adult word pairings
Starting to Talk
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GenderTemperamentEnvironment:verbal
stimulationcharacteristics of native language
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Individual and
Cultural Differences
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Supporting Early
Language LearningWith infantsRespond to coos and babbles
Establish joint attention
Use infant-directed speech
Play social gamesWith toddlersEngage in joint make-believe
Engage in frequent conversations
Read often and talk about books

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