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1. Introduction

2. Fact or Fiction?

3. Sensorimotor Intelligence

4. Information Processing

5. Language: What Develops in the First Two Years?

6. Closing Thoughts

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Introduction

[Video: Cognitive Development Introduction]

Fact or Fiction? Fiction Fact

1. If a 5-month-old drops a rattle out of a crib, the baby probably will not look down to search for it.

2. A baby is given keys to grasp, and if the baby is teething, it will be motivated to see if these keys afford an opportunity to chew.

3. Children the world over follow the same sequence in early language development.

4. When they first begin combining words, infants tend to put them in the correct order, as in “more juice.”

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What happens during the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development?

sensorimotor intelligence: Piaget’s term for the way infants think—by using their senses and motor skills.

Primary circular reactions

Secondary circular reactions

Tertiary circular reactions

Stage 1 (birth – 1 month) Stage 3 (4 - 8 months) Stage 5 (12 – 18 months)

Stage 2 (1 – 4 months) Stage 4 (8 – 12 months)

What happens in each stage of Sensorimotor Development?

Stage 6 (18 – 24 months) 5

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[Video: Piaget’s Stages of Sensorimotor Intelligence]

Primary Circular Reactions

primary circular reactions: When the infant senses motion, sucking, noise, and other stimuli, and tries to understand them.

How do infants adapt as they learn to suck a thumb?

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Secondary Circular Reactions

secondary circular reactions: Infants respond to other people, to toys, and any other object they can touch or move.

object permanence: The realization that objects (including people) still exist when they can no longer be seen, touched, or heard.

Where are you? Where is it?

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Secondary Circular Reactions

[Video: 9-Month Old Failing A-not-B Task]

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Stages Five and Six

What is Doll Play?

tertiary circular reactions: Infants explore a range of new activities, varying their responses as a way of learning about the world.

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Piaget and Research Methods

Can babies think before they talk?

EEG (electroencephalogram): Technique that measures electrical activity in the top layers of the brain, where the cortex is.

Piaget and Research Methods

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[Video: Understanding Neuroscience Methods: ERP]

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AffordancesWhen can you catch a ball?

affordance: An opportunity for perception and interaction that is offered by a person, place, or object in the environment.

dynamic perception: Perception that is primed to focus on movement and change.

Affordances

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[Video: The Visual Cliff Clip]

reminder session: A perception experience that is intended to help a person recollect an idea, a thing, or an experience, without testing whether the person remembers it at the moment.

1 week later when ribbon is attached

2 weeks later when ribbon is attached

More than 2 weeks later when ribbon is attached

After reminder session and ribbon is attached

Memory

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A baby learns that when it kicks, the mobile moves… then, as time passes, what happens?

Most babies kick to move the mobile

Not all babies remember to kick

Most if not all babies do not remember to kick

A day after the reminder session, babies remember to kick

Memory

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[Video: Research of Carolyn Rovee-Collier]

Environment Spoken

language heard

GenesBrain Mechanisms for understanding

and producing language

Behavior Mastery

of native language

design

provides input to

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How do we learn our native language?

What Develops in the First Two Years?

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[Video: Infant Speech Perception]

child-directed speech: The high-pitched, simplified, and repetitive way adults speak to infants. babbling: The extended repetition of certain syllables, such as ba-ba-ba.

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NewbornNewborn 2 months old

2 months old

3 months old

3 months old

6 months old

6 months old

The Universal Sequence: From Birth Through 24 Months

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The Universal Sequence: From Birth Through 24 Months

[Video: A Journey Through Infancy and Toddlerhood]

The Universal Sequence: From 9 Months Through 24 Months

9 months old

9 months old 12 months old12 months old

18 months old

18 months old

24 months old

24 months old

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holophrase: A single word that is used to express a complete, meaningful thought. (For example: “Dada!”)

naming explosion: A sudden increase in an infant’s vocabulary, especially in the number of nouns, which begins at about 18 months of age.

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The Universal Sequence: From 9 Months Through 24 Months

[Video: A Journey Through Infancy and Toddlerhood]

Four Theories About Language Learning

Theories of Language Learning

Infants need to be taught

Based on behaviorism (for example: baby says “ma-ma-ma”; mother reinforces by smiling, repeating the sound, praising/rewarding the baby)

Parents are expert teachers Frequent repetition of words is instructive Well-taught infants become well-spoken

children

Infants communicate in every way they can because humans are social beings

Early communication focuses on emotional messages of speech and not the words

Infants teach themselves

Language Acquisition Device (LAD): A hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and intonation.

Hybrid theory Some aspects of language

may be explained by one theory at one age and another theory at another age.

How language is learned depends on the age of the child as well as on the particular circumstances.

Theories of Language Learning

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Social-pragmatic

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Theories of Language Learning

[Video: Chomsky’s View of Language Development]

In a few sentences, how would you summarize the leap in cognitive development that infants make in their first two years? (Include thinking, memory, and language in your response). 33

Closing Thoughts