Download Chapter 5

Cognitive Development During
The First Three Years
Chapter 5
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
1
Did You Know…




Parental responsiveness to a child’s needs
can affect the child’s intelligence?
Early intervention can boost IQs of at-risk
children?
Newborns as young as 2 days prefer new
sights to familiar sights?
Brain growth spurts coincide with changes in
cognitive behavior?
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
2


Use of gestures helps babies to learn how to
talk?
Infants and toddlers who are read to
frequently learn to read earlier?
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
3
There are 6 Approaches to
Studying Cognitive Development






Behaviorist: how behavior changes in response to experience
Psychometric: measures quantitative differences in abilities that make
up intelligence
Piagetian: looks at changes, or stages, in the quality of cognitive
functioning. Concern is for how the mind structures its activities and
adapts to the environment
Information processing: focuses on perception, learning, and problem
solving
Cognitive Neuroscience Approach: seeks to identify what brain
structures are involved in specific aspects of cognition
Social-contextual approach: examines the effects of the environment
on learning. Specifically, parents.
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
4
Behaviorist Approach
Babies are born with the ability to learn
 Classical Conditioning

Learning based on associating a stimulus that does
not ordinarily bring about a response with
another stimulus that does elicit the response

Operant Conditioning
Learning based on reinforcement and
punishment
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
5
Classical Conditioning
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
6
Infant Memory

Infantile amnesia: Inability to remember events
prior to age 3 years
•

Theories:
•
Piaget: the brain is not yet developed
•
Freud: these memories are repressed, because they are
emotionally troubling
Operant conditioning with mobiles
•
Babies can remember mobiles they played with days or weeks
ago
•
Infants and toddlers can remember toy trains and mobiles
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
7
Psychometric Approach

IQ Tests
•

Psychometric tests that seek to measure intelligence by
comparing a test-taker’s performance with standardized norms
Developmental Tests: psychometric tests that compare a
baby’s performance on a series of tasks with standardized
norms for particular ages
•
Bailey Scales of Infant and Toddler Development: Measures
current development, not future functioning. Designed for ages 1
to 3½ and indicates strengths, weaknesses, and competencies in
the following developmental areas: cognitive, language, motor,
social-emotional, and adaptive
•
•
•
Mental Scale
Motor Scale
Behavior Training Scale
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
8
HOME


Intelligence was once thought to be fixed at birth, but we now
know it is influenced by inheritance and experience.
What characteristics of the home environment may influence
intelligence?
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
9
HOME

Home Observation of the
Environment
Measures the influence of home environment on
children’s cognitive growth.

Among other things, assesses:
–
–
–
Parental responsiveness
Number of books in home
Presence of educational playthings
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc 10
Early Intervention

Early intervention: process of providing
services to help families meet young
children’s needs
Project CARE:
•
•
•
Involved 174 children from North Carolina born into atrisk homes. An experimental group was enrolled in
Partners for Learning, a full day education program at a
university center. The program had low teacher-student
ratios and fostered cognitive, linguistic, perceptualmotor, and social skills.
By age 3 the average IQ for these children was 105,
where as the control group’s average was 84 to 93
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
11

Most effective interventions:





Start early and continue through preschool years
Time-intensive
Provide direct educational experiences
Include health, family counseling, and social services
Tailored to individual differences and needs
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc 12
Piagetian Approach: The
Sensorimotor Stage

Sensorimotor Stage: the first of Piaget’s four stages. During
this stage infants learn about themselves and their world
through their developing sensory and motor activity. Babies
change from creatures who respond primarily though reflexes
and random behavior to goal-oriented toddlers.
•
Consists of 6 stages:
•
•
During the first 5 stages babies learn to coordinate input from their senses and organize their
activities in relation to their environment
During the 6 stage they learn to use symbols and concepts to solve simple problems.
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc 13
Piagetian Sensorimotor Stage
Substage
Age in
Mos
Description
Reflexes
Up to 1
Gain control over reflexes
Primary Circular
1-4
Repeat pleasurable chance
behaviors (thumb sucking)
Secondary Circular
4-8
Repeat interesting actions
Coordinate
Secondary Circular
8-12
Purposeful & deliberate behavior
Tertiary
12-18
Curiosity and experimentations
Mental
Combinations
18-24
Symbolic thought; insight
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
14
Circular Reactions
Process
by
which infants
learn to
reproduce
desired
occurrences,
originally
discovered by
chance
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
15
Object Permanence


Realizing that an object exists even when out of
sight
Prior to 8 months
If I drop my toy and I can’t see it….it is gone!
…..THIS is why peek-a-boo is so much fun!

8-12 months
You hid my toy…I’m looking for it the last place I saw it!

After a year
You hid my toy…I’m looking for it!
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
16
Representational Thinking

Pictorial Competence
–
–
–
Ability to understand the nature of
pictures
Develops about 19 months of age
Seeing a picture of sun
and saying “suh”
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
17
Dual Representation
Hypothesis

Pictorial competence develops slowly
because it is difficult for children to
simultaneously mentally represent:
– a picture
AND
– the object the picture represents
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
18
Info-Processing Approach

Info-Processing Approach:
Analyze the separate parts of a complex task to figure out
what abilities are necessary for each part of the task and at
what age these abilities develop

Habituation
A type of learning in which familiarity is
indicated by reduced response

Dishabituation
Increase in responsiveness after presentation
with a new stimulus
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
19
Visual Preferences

Novelty Preference
–
–
Paying more attention to new visual
stimuli
Demonstrating ability to tell new from old,
or ‘visual recognition memory’
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
20
Cross-Modal Transfer

Using one or more senses to
guide another sense
Feeling your way through a dark
room, then finding the way visually
when lights are on
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
21
Information Processing:
Categorization

Perceptual
Based on how things look
Birds and planes both have
wings and can fly

Conceptual
Based on what things are
Chairs, tables, and sofas are
all furniture items
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
22
Information Processing: Causality
Understanding that one event causes
another
 Allows us to control and predict world
 Develops at around 6 months

Manipulating a mobile
with hands or feet
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
23
Cognitive Neuroscience:
Types of Memory

Explicit
–
Conscious or intentional
Facts, names and events
–
Develops in late infancy or toddlerhood
–

Implicit
–
Unconscious recall
Habits and skills – procedural memory
–
Develops in early infancy
–

Working
–
–
–
Short-term storage of active information
Develops during second half of first year
© 2009
by the McGraw-Hill
This may account for why object permanence
develops
laterCompanies, Inc
24
Social Contextual Approach:
Learning from Caregivers



Interactions with adults during activities
Helps bridge level of knowledge between
adult and child
Cultural Differences
–
–
US children engage in more play activities
Guatemalan children engage in more work
activities
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
25
Language Development

Language
A communication system based on word,
grammar and cognitive development

Literacy
The ability to read and write
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
26
Early Vocalizations

Crying
Newborns

Cooing
Repeating vowel sounds – ‘ahhhh’
6-8 weeks

Babbling
Repeating consonant sounds – ‘ma-ma-ma’
6-10 months
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
27
Recognizing Language
Sounds



Precedes language ability
Fetuses’ heart rates slow when they hear
familiar nursery rhymes
By 6 months, babies learn to recognize
basic sounds of their native language phonemes
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
28
Gestures

Conventional Social
Waving bye-bye, nodding head to mean ‘yes’

Representational
Holding arms up means ‘pick me up’

Symbolic
Blowing means ‘hot’

Learning gestures helps babies learn to talk
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
29
First Words

Linguistic Speech
Verbal expression that conveys meaning
First word usually around 10-14 months of age

Holophrase
Simple syllables that have complete meanings
‘Da’ could mean “Where is Daddy?”

‘Naming explosion’ occurs at 16-24 months
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
30
First Sentences

Telegraphic Speech
2-3 words expressing one idea
‘No do’ means “Do not do that”

Competence in syntax gradually
increases
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
31
Early Speech Characteristics


Understanding of grammar precedes
use of it
Underextension of word meanings
The word ‘doggy’ only refers to your dog

Overextension of word meanings
All men with gray hair are ‘Grampa’

Overregularizing of rules
“I thinked about it!
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
32
Theories of
Language Acquisition

Nature v. nurture?
Is linguistic ability learned or inborn?

Behaviorist view: Reinforcement and imitation
Child says “Kitty” which is reinforced by the appearance of the family
cat

Chomsky’s nativism
–
Brain has the innate capacity to learn language, reinforcement and
imitation contribute, but they can’t fully explain linguistic ability.
–
–
Chomsky believed in nativism: human brains come equipped with
the capacity to learn language
–

Word nuances are too many and complex
Language Acquisition Device (LAD): programs children’s brains to analyze the
language they hear and to figure out its rules. Support comes from infant’s
ability to differentiate similar sounds
Synthesis of innate capacity and behaviorist principles most
likely
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
33
Influences on Early Language
Development
Maturation of the brain
 Social interaction with parents and
caregivers

© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
34
Language is a Social Act

Prelinguistic Period
Adults repeat sounds baby makes helping the baby
advance to toward true speech

Vocabulary Development
Parent holds ball while saying “This is a ball”
Parents can boost vocabulary development by
repeating words and pronouncing them correctly
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
35
Child-Directed Speech
‘Parentese’ – baby talk
 Simplified words
 Exaggerated vowel sounds
 May help children learn native tongue
faster

© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
36
Adult Reading Styles
with Children

Describer
–
–

Comprehender
–

Adult focuses on describing events in story
Invites child to do so, too
Encourages child to look deeper into meaning of
story (What will the lion do now?)
Performance-oriented
–
Introduces themes of story and asks questions
after reading
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
37
Dialogic Reading
Shared reading
 Child becomes the storyteller
 Adult is active listener
 Adult asks open-ended
questions

‘Why do you think
the bunny is afraid?’
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
38