Download Session 6 : Perceptual Development and Learning Capacities

Session 6 : Perceptual
Development and Learning
Capacities
Manju Nair
Vision
•
By 2 months children can focus as well as an
adults can.
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Colour vision is adult like by 4 months.
•
Visual acuity [fineness of discrimination] and
tracking reaches adult like proficiency by 6 months.
Three aspects of vision:
•
Depth Perception
•
Pattern Perception
•
Object Perception
Hearing
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Sense of musical phrasing by 4 to 7 months
•
Between 6 and 12 infants begin to detect sound
regularities that will facilitate later language
learning.
Learning and
Perceptual
Development
•
Infants understand the world through an intermodal
system of perception, i.e they may perceive the shape of
the object either by touching or looking at it.
•
Amodal sensory perception is not specific to a single
modality e.g. rate, rhythm, duration etc.
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It is believed that infants learn by looking at the invariant
features of the environment. Acting on the environment is
important for this and this leads to discovery of certain
affordances e.g. motor capabilities.
The Sensory System
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The 7 Senses are:
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1. Tactile or Somatosensory System– sense of touch
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2. Visual System— sense of sight
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3. Auditory System—sense of hearing
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4. Gustatory System—sense of taste
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5. Olfactory System—sense of smell
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6. Vestibular System– sense of balance
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7. Proprioception System– sense of body position
Learning Capacity of
Infants
• Infants are born with capability to learn and
according to Behaviorists, capable of two
forms of learning: classical conditioning
and operant conditioning.
• Babies enjoy novel stimulation [habituation]
and they also learn through imitation.
• New borns depend on reflexes for
classical conditioning.
• Unconditioned stimulus leads to
unconditioned response, e.g. taste of
sweet breast milk leads to sucking.
• A neutral stimulus has to be introduced
along with unconditioned stimulus for
learning to occur.
• When learning occurs, the neutral stimulus
or conditioned stimulus leads to a response
similar to reflexive response.
• This response is called the conditioned
response. If the two stimuli do not occur
together it leads to extinction of response.
Newborns learn best when the stimuli has
survival value.
• Responses such as fear are very difficult to
classically condition.
• Operant conditioning is dependent on the
infant acting on the environment. It is
dependent on reinforcers or punishment.
• E.g. sucking faster and visual or auditory
stimulus.
• Operant conditioning helps study infants
preferences and what they can perceive.
Habituation
• Habituation is the process by which the
strength of a response decreases
through repeated stimulation.
• Human brain is attracted to novelty
from birth.
• A process by which responsiveness
returns to a high level is called
recovery.
Imitation
• Finally newborns learn through imitation.
Imitation helps them socialize and also
learn appropriate social behavior such as
smiling.
• Imitation happens much earlier than what
we previously assumed, i.e. almost soon
after birth.
What is cognition?
Cognition refers to: inner processes and products
of the mind that lead to knowing.
Mental activity include: attending, remembering,
symbolizing, categorizing, planning, reasoning &
problem solving.
Human species depends on mental faculties for
survival.
Piaget’s Cognitive
Developmental Theory
The processes children use to construct knowledge
are:
Schemas, Assimilation, Accommodation,
Organisation, Equilibrium.
Schemas
They are specific psychological structures or
organized ways of making sense of experience.
They are organized representations of actions (e.g.
reflexes), thoughts (e.g. concepts), and processes
(e.g. problem solving strategies)
Schemas or schemata provide the framework with
which we interpret new experiences and construct
new schemata or integrate new information into
existing schemata.
Adaptation
It is the tendency of organisms to modify
themselves to meet environmental demands
through direct interaction with the environment.
This is done in two ways, through Assimilation and
through Accommodation.
Assimilation
Assimilation occurs when children incorporate new
information into their existing schemas.
During Assimilation they use their current schemas
to interpret the external world.
Accommodation
Accommodation occurs when children adjust their
new schemas to fit new information and
experiences.
In Accommodation, they create new schemas or
adjust old ones after noticing that current ways of
thinking do not fit the environment completely.
Equilibrium
When children are trying to make sense of new
experiences they experience what is called a
cognitive conflict [cognitive dissonance] or
disequilibrium.
When this occurs children are trying to organize
and reorganize the existing schemas and may form
new schemas.
This resolution of conflict and reaching a state of
mental balance is called Equilibrium.
Piaget’s Stages of
Cognitive Development
The first stage that lasts from birth to about 2 years
is called the Sensorimotor Stage.
The Sensorimotor stage is further divided into six
stages; that a new born undergoes till he reaches
the age of two.
The Sensorimotor
Substages
Reflexive schemes.
Primary circular reactions.
Secondary circular reactions.
Coordination of secondary circular reactions.
Tertiary circular reactions.
Mental representation.
Sensorimotor Substage
Characteristics
Reflexes [0 to 1 month]
During this substage understands environment
purely through reflexes - looking sucking
Primary Circular Reaction [1 to 4
months]
Coordinating sensation and new schemas.
Repetition especially of pleasurable actions
Secondary Circular Reaction [4 to
8 months]
Intentional repetition to trigger a response in
the environment, more focused on the world
around.
Coordination of Action [8 to 12
months]
Combining schemas for desired outcome,
intentional action, exploring, imitation,
understanding objects.
Tertiary Circular Reaction [12 to 18
months]
Trial and error experimentation.
Early Representational Thought
[18 to 24 months]
Develops symbols to represent
events and objects.
Object Permanence
Understanding that objects and events continue to
exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or
touched.
Acquiring object permanence, according to Piaget
is one of the infant’s most important
accomplishments.
Cause and Effect.
This is the understanding that particular actions
[cause] bring about certain reactions [effect].
This ability appears between 7 to 9 months, and is
considered to be another important cognitive
development.
Some more Definitions
& Concepts
Circular reaction i.e. a repetition of a chance action
helps develop new schemas. This process is first
focused on the self then on external objects and
finally leads to experimentation and creatively
manipulating the environment.
Intentional behavior: a sequence of actions
combining schemas deliberately to solve problems.
Deferred imitation: ability to imitate behavior of
those not present.
Some more Definitions
& Concepts
Sensorimotor sub stage is characterized by these
Piagetian concepts such as: repeating chance
behaviors and intentional behavior, object
permanence, deferred imitation, beginnings of
categorization, problem solving and make believe
play.
Vygotsky’s Theory of
Cognitive Development
The influence of the environment is critical for
cognitive development.
Children live in a rich, social and cultural context that
affects the way their cognitive world is structured.
Through joint activities with more mature members of
their society, children master activities and ways of
thinking that are unique to and have meaning in their
own culture.
ZPD & Scaffolding
Zone of Proximal Development refers to tasks that
a child cannot yet handle alone but can do with the
help of a more skilled partner or partners.
Scaffolding is the changing levels of support that
the adult offers. The adult guides and supports the
child according to his current level of performance.
http://www.mrkeenan.com/?p=658 - Illustration Aparna R
Rajan
http://www.scss.tcd.ie/disciplines/information_systems/cri
te/crite_web/lpr/teaching/constructivism.html. Illustration
by Aparna R Rajan
Class Activity
•
If you were given an opportunity to design a Child
Care centre for infants and toddlers 0 to 3 years of
age, what would be some of the experiences,
opportunities, materials etc that you would
incorporate for the child’s optimum physical and
cognitive development.