Download Cognitive Development Dr M Worthington 15th Nov 2012

• Developed through observation.
• The thinking of children is qualitatively
different from thinking in adults.
• Knowledge and cognitive development
depend on the child’s pre-programmed
behaviours interacting with the world.
• Development follows sequential stages.
 Egocentrism = Inability to distinguish
perspectives
 Schemes/Schemas = Patterns of knowledge.
 Operations = logical procedures allowing
mental manipulation of thoughts/concepts.
 Assimilation = Attempts to understand novel
situations in terms of existing schemas.
 Accommodation = Ability to modify existing
schemas in order to understand novel
situations.
 Adaptation = Assimilation + Accommodation
1. Sensorimotor (0 - 18/24m)
2. Pre-Operational (18/24m – 7y)
3. Concrete Operational (7 – 11y)
4. Formal Operational (11y +)
 Through reflexive behaviour stimulusresponse/cause-effect relationships are
learned.
 Self is differentiated from external world
 Object permanence is achieved;
knowledge that objects continue to exist
even if we can no longer see them
 No understanding of temporal
relationships is evident.
Lack of Object Permanence
 Symbolic schemas used (e.g. play,
drawing).
 Egocentricity gradually declines as the
ability to understand alternative
perspectives develops (decentre).
 Perception influences judgement.
3 Mountains
Task
Conservation Task
 Logical thought appears.
 Mental or physical
actions can be considered
in reverse.
 Egocentrism disappears.
 Reasoning and thought can be purely
verbal/logical and self reflective
 Reasoning from other perspectives is possible
 Abstract concepts are understandable
 Systems of belief develop
 A complex self identity develops
• Problems with formal operations
– Formal operation is rarely reached by 11
– A good proportion of adults rarely or never
think in such away unless constrained to do
so by the task
• Underestimates children’s abilities – too
rigid
– Most researchers agree that children posses
many of the abilities at an early age than
Piaget suspected
 Growth in communication skills.
 Single words→short
sentences→competent but
unsophisticated language.
 Towards the end: Development of
linguistic pragmatics: Rules of appropriate
use.
 Social skills requiring appreciation of alternative
perspectives.
 Understanding of indirect questions, sarcasm,
 Development parallels reduction and
disappearance of egocentrism.
 Alternative perspective taking becomes
fully developed.
 Able to say what others know.
 Able to persuade rather than simply to use
crude requests.
 Development of humour
 Increased subtlety.
 Irony and satire.
 Understanding unfamiliar words inferred
from their context.
 Abstraction and understanding of abstract
concepts increases : egocentrism
decreases.
• Linguistic ability and communicative skill
are closely related to the Piagetian stages
• As abstraction develops egocentrism
declines whilst social skills of
communication (pragmatics) develop:
– Spoken language becomes complex and
directed at achieving goals in a social context.
– Abstract concepts become more readily
understood.
– Written communication develops as the
perspective/needs of the reader are appreciated.
Dr Mark Worthington
Clinical Psychologist
 Phonemes: Units of sound used to construct word
sounds
 Phonology; rules about structure & sequence of speech
sounds
 Grammar
 Morphemes: Word or meaning units, made up of phonemes.
 Syntax: rules in which words are arranged into sentences
 Semantics: how concepts are expressed through
sounds.
 Pragmatics: relationships between words and their
social uses, rules for appropriate and effective
communication
• Universal Language:
– A common underlying structure to languages
related to genetic factors that enable language
acquisition (language acquisition device).
• Conditioning is insufficient to account for
richness and speed of development.
• Language acquisition proceeds through
stages.
• Rate of acquisition is related to intelligence.
• Phonological
– Speech sounds – cooing/babbling (strings of
phonemes)
– Categorisation of sounds made by others
– End of year 1 – phoneme range specific to native
language, first words are spoken
• Semantic
– Understanding develops before production
– Recognition of familiar words, use of preverbal
gestures
• Pragmatic
• Phonological
– Recognise correct pronunciation of familiar words
– No word order (18m)  rigid word order learned
from interactions (24m)
• Semantic
– Vocabulary spurt 18-24m; 13  300 words
• Grammatical
– Telegraphic speech (two word combinations)
• e.g. ‘big house’ (attributive), ‘Daddy ball’ (agentobject)
• Pragmatics
• Phonological
– Phonological awareness and pronunciation
improve
• Semantic
– Rapid word learning
– Difficulty using words correctly – e.g.
Overextensions, underextensions
• Grammatical
– Simple 3-word sentences follow adult rules,
gradually get refined
– Grammatical morphemes added as these emerge
– over-generalisation of grammatical rules
• Phonological
– Simple utterances/sentences
• Semantic
– can understand metaphors
• Grammatical
– Generally correct grammar
– Begin to use future tense
– Understanding still greater than generation
 Semantic
 Verbal thought is apparent
 Grammatical
 Several clauses in sentences.
 Pragmatics
 Social rules apply
Resembles adult language
Awareness of own ability to use language
 Linguistic skills are a subgroup of
communication skills
 Many species display communicative
competence.
 At what point does word use become
language?
 Non-verbal behaviour is closely related.
 Signing as language?
 First year crucial for differentiation of
phonemes.
 Syntactic development over first few years.
 Full competence is never achieved following
early language deprivation.
 Similar evidence in deaf children’s acquisition
of sign language.
 Cognitive development necessary but
not sufficient for acquisition
 Relies on social context, learning
relationships between objects/people.
 Cognitive development leads.
 Language is one communication skill.
 Phonetic forms are reduced over time
according to native language.
 Isolation impairs later acquisition.
 Worse if also socially isolated.