Cognitive Development

1. Cognitive Development Jen Brace 4-11-06

2. Jean Piaget • “Father” of cognitive development • Studied his children Jacqueline, Lucienne & Laurent • Where does knowledge come from?

3. Piaget’s Theory of Development • Stage theory • Children think differently in different stages but similarly within a stage • Prolonged period of time in a stage, abrupt transition to next stage • Four stages • Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational and Formal Operational

4. Piaget’s Theory of Development • 3 processes to move between stages • Assimilation: Transform incoming information to fit existing way of thinking • Accommodation: Adapt thinking to new experiences • Equilibration: Integrate pieces of knowledge into unified whole

5. Sensorimotor Period • From birth to ~2 yrs old • Actions progress from simple reflexes to deliberate movements • Object permanence – realize object still exists even when it can’t be perceived • Internal representation – ability to think about objects/events not immediately present

6. Preoperational Period • From ~2 yrs to ~7 yrs • Learn to use symbols, signs and language • Egocentrism – cannot understand another person’s point of view • Failure of conservation – do not yet understand that quantity remains the same despite appearance

7. Concrete Operational Period • From ~7 yrs to ~11 yrs • Thinking becomes systematic, quantitative and logical • Success at all conservation tasks – number, solid quantity, liquid quantity • Decentration of perception – ability to classify objects in terms of more than one dimension

8. Formal Operational Period • From ~11 yrs to adult • Apply logical and systematic thought to abstract problems • Deductive reasoning – specific conclusions based on general hypotheses • Inductive reasoning – make generalizations based on specific observations

9. Strengths of Piaget’s theory • Good “feel” for what children’s thinking is like • Asks the right questions • Covers broad age span • Covers broad spectrum of developments in children’s thinking • Surprising observations

10. Weaknesses of Piaget’s theory • Underestimates competence – children succeed earlier than predicted • Can’t explain dissociations – success or failure depends on the way concept is tested • No discrete stages - development occurs gradually

11. Habituation • Infants like to look at objects that interest them • Infants get bored quickly • Procedure • Familiarization: Object presented repeatedly until infants no longer look at it much • New object introduced • Infants perceive difference between old and new object if they look longer at new object

12. Occluded rod experiment • 4-month-old infants familiarized with A, then presented with either B or C • Results – Looked longer at C than B • Conclusions • Broken rod more novel than unbroken rod • Rod in display A was originally perceived as unbroken

13. Drawbridge experiment • 4.5 month old infants • Two conditions • B is ‘possible’ • C is ‘impossible’ • Results – Looked longer at C • Conclusions • Infants know box exists, even when hidden • 4.5 month olds understand object permanence

14. A-not-B experiment • Experimenter hides toy under cover A • 9-month-old infant successfully retrieves toy • After several successful retrievals, experimenter then hides toy under cover B • Results - Child still searches under cover A, even though he/she watched the toy being hidden • Conclusions – 9 month olds do not understand object permanence

15. Problems for Piaget • Piaget - Children don’t understand object permanence before 8-12 months • Underestimates competence – 4-month-olds show some understanding of object permanence (occluded rod) • Can’t explain dissociation – 4.5-month-olds looking at drawbridge understand object permanence but 9-month-olds searching for toys do not? • Learning may be gradual rather than stage-like

16. Information-Processing Theories • Thinking = information processing • Representation of information • Processes - applied to representations • Constraints - memory limits constrain representation and processing • Cognitive development = change in information processing capability • Precise analysis of change mechanisms • Change produced through continuous self-modification • Outcomes of child’s actions change information processing in the future

17. Memory representations & capacity • Infants remembered that kicking made mobile move after 2 months • Working memory span increases with age • - Iconic memory capacity also increases with age (1st grade = 2.5 digits, 4th grade = 3 digits, adults = 3.5 digits)

18. Rehearsal as information processing • Increase in rehearsal speed leads to increase in working memory capacity • Older children do better on recall tests because they use rehearsal as a memory strategy

19. Sociocultural Theories • Vygotsky - father of sociocultural theories of development • Cognitive development occurs in social interaction • Developmental change occurs through internalization of socially shared processes • Psychological functioning is mediated by cultural tools & language