Piaget observed the cognitive development of three infants - Laurent, Lucienne, and Jacqueline. His observations showed that in the first months of life, infants develop the ability to coordinate senses like vision and touch. They progress from reflexive behaviors to intentionally grasping objects and repeating circular reactions with objects. By 12-18 months, infants display curiosity and experimentation, and begin to understand means-ends and object permanence.

1. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF
INFANTS AND TODDLERS
RICHARD C. NARRA
SIENA COLLEGE, QC - TCP-

2. “Infants and toddlers are born ready to learn. They learn through
listening to language, trying out sounds, tasting foods and exploring
their environments in countless ways everyday”
-Kahlil Gibran

3. THE STORY OF LAURENT,
LUCIENNE AND JACQUELINE,
THREE CHILDREN OF PIAGET

4. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• At 21 days of age, Laurent finds his thumb after three
attempts; once he finds his thumb, prolonged sucking
begins.
• But, when he is placed on his back, he doesn’t know
how to coordinate the movement of his arms with
that of his mouth; his hands draw back, even when
his lips seek them.

5. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• During the third month, thumb sucking becomes less
important to Laurent because of new visual and auditory
interests. But when he cries, his thumb goes to the rescue.

6. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET'S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• Towards the end, Lucienne’s thrusts her feet at
the doll and makes it move. Afterwards, she
looks at her motionless foot for a second, then
kicks at the doll again.
• She has no visual control of her foot
because her movements are the same
whether she only looks at the doll or it is
placed over her head.

7. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• By contrast, she does have tactile control of her foot; when
she tries to kick the doll and misses, she shows her foot’s
movements to improve her aim.

8. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• At 11 months, while seated,
Jacqueline shakes a little bell. She
then pauses abruptly so she can
delicately place the bell in front of
her foot; then she kicks the bell hard.
• Unable to recapture the bell, she
grasps a ball and places it in the
same location where the bell was.
• She gives the ball a firm
kick.

9. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• At 1 year, 2 months, Jacqueline holds
in her hands an object that is new to
her; a round, flat box that she turns
over and shakes; then she rubs it
against her crib.
• She lets it go and tries to pick it up
again.
• She succeeds only in touching it with her
index finger, being unable to fully reach
and grasp it.

10. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• She keeps on trying to grasp it and
presses to the edge of her crib.
• She makes the box tilt up, but it
nonetheless falls again.
• Jacqueline shows an interest in
this result and studies the fallen
box.

11. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• At 1 year, 8 months, Jacqueline arrives at a
closed door with a blade of grass in each
hand.
• She stretches her right hand toward the
doorknob but detects that she cannot turn it
without letting go of the grass, so she puts
the grass on the floor, opens the door, picks
up the grass again, and then enters. But,
when she wants to leave the room, things
get complicated.

12. GLIMPSE OF PIAGET’S OBSERVATIONS OF CHILDREN’S
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY (PIAGET, 1952)
• She puts the grass on the floor and grasps
the doorknob.
• Then she perceives that, by pulling the door
towards her, she simultaneously chases away
the grass that she had placed between the
door and the threshold.
• She then picks up the grass and places it
out of the door’s range of movement.

13. WHAT IS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT?
Infancy refers to development in the
way a baby thinks.
This includes his/her language,
communication and exploration
skills.

14. Paying attention
Remembering’
learning talk
Interacting with toys
Identifying faces

15. Infants construct an understanding of
the world by coordinating sensory
experiences such as:
Sensorimotor stage is the first of the
four stages of cognitive development

16. Infants gain knowledge of the world
from the physical actions they perform it.
Seeing and hearing with physical,
motoric action
An infant progresses from reflexive, instinctual
action of birth to the beginning of symbolic
thought towards the end of the stage.

17. 1. Simple reflexes
2. First habits and
primary circulations
phase
3. Secondary circular
reactions phase

18. 5. Tertiary circular
reactions, novelty, and
curiosity 6. Internalization of schemes
(invention of New Means Through
Mental Combination)
4. Coordination of
reactions stage secondary
circular

19. Coordination of sensation and
action through reflexive
behaviors. Three primary
reflexes are described by Piaget:
sucking of objects in the mouth,
following moving or interesting
objects with the eyes, and
closing of the hand when an
object makes contact with the
palm (palmar grasp).

20. Over the first six weeks
of life, these reflexes
begin to become
voluntary actions; for
example, the palmar
reflex becomes
intentional grasping.

21. Coordination of sensation and two types of schemes:
1. Habits (reflex)
2. Primary circular
reactions
Primary reaction because the action is focused on the infant’s
body. Circular reaction because it is a repetition on an action
that initially occurred by chance.

22. Example:
Infants might repeat the motion of
passing their hand before their
face.
At this stage, passive reactions,
caused by classical or operant
conditioning, can begin. Infants
tend to repeat interesting
sensations.

23. Development of
habits
Infants become more object-oriented, moving beyond self-
preoccupation repeat actions that bring interesting or
pleasurable results. This stage is associated primarily with
the development of coordination between vision and
prehension.

24. 3 abilities on this stage
Intentional grasping for a desired object
Secondary circular object
Differentiations between ends and means

25. Intentional grasping for a desired object
Infants will intentionally
grasp the air in the
direction of a desired
object, often to the
amusement of friends
and family.

26. Secondary circular
object Repetition of an action
involving of an external object
begins. Example: moving a
switch to turn on a light
repeatedly.
This means that a secondary action is focused on an object outside the body of an infant. The
differentiation between means and ends also occurs. This is perhaps one of the most
important stages of a child’s growth as it signifies the down of logic.

27. coordination of vision and touch-hand-eye
coordination; of schemes and intentionally.
This stage is associated primarily with the development
of logic between means and ends.
This is an extremely important stage of development, holding
what is Piaget call the “first proper intelligence”

28. This stage marks the
beginning of goal orientation,
the deliberate planning of
steps to meet an objective.
This action is directed towards
a goal.

29. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty,
and curiosity (12-18 months)
Infants become intrigued by
the many properties of
objects and by the many
things they can make happen
to object; they experiment
with new behavior.

30. Tertiary circular reactions, novelty,
and curiosity (12-18 months)
This stage is associated
primarily with the discovery of
new means to meet goals.
Piaget describes the child at this juncture as the “Young
Scientist”, conducting pseudo-experiments to discover
new methods of meeting challenges.

31. Infants develop the ability to
use primitive symbols and
form enduring mental
representations.
This stage is associated
primarily with the beginnings
of insights, or true creativity.

32. This marks the passage into the
preoperational stage
Evidence of an internal
representational system.
Symbolizing the problem-
solving sequence before actually
responding

33. Object permanence is the
understanding that objects
continue to exist even when they
cannot be seen, heard, or
touched.