LEARNING GOAL 9.2: PREDICT THE RATIONAL ABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF A CHILD BASED ON PIAGET'S COGNITIVE

STAGES.

Cognitive Development

Brain Development in Infancy/Childhood

How much can you remember from infancy? Toddlerhood?

Babies start out with far more connections among their neurons (toddlers have approximately twice as many synaptic connections as adults); over time, some synapses are strengthened and some are lost

However, memory formation in these early networks functions differently… babies can imitate actions or recognize pictures as

much as three months later (Mandler/McDonough, 1995)

children can physiologically respond to people they haven’t seen since preschool (Newcombe/Fox, 1994)

Brain Development in Adulthood

Recall (remembering information without context clues) gets worse as we age, but recognition (remembering with context clues) stays constant

Why does memory worsen with age? Decrease in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine…

drastic decreases have been linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia

Shrinking prefrontal cortex = worse sleep = less processing

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Changes in How We Think

Jean Piaget (1954)Administered IQ tests to children, but

became fascinated by their incorrect answersIdentified four stages of cognitive

development

Piaget, Stage 1: Sensorimotor

Ages: 0-2 years (approximately)Experiences and understands the world

through senses and actions Example: grasps objects or chews on them

Develops sense of object permanence: that objects still exist even when you cannot see them Overview of object permanence Family Guy on object permanence The Onion on object permanence

Piaget, Stage 2: Preoperational

Ages: 2-6 years (approximately)Starts to use language and patterns to group

things meaningfully Example: Recognizes that a dog is a four-legged

animal, then starts calling anything with four legs a “doggie”

Egocentric: cannot consider another person’s point of view A test of theory of mind

Piaget, Stage 3: Concrete Operational

Ages: 7-11 years (approximately)Can think logically about concrete events and

objects Example: Can perform arithmetic (adding,

subtracting, multiplying) using real, known numbersUnderstands conservation: the idea that some

properties (mass, volume, number) stay the same even when an object’s form changes Pre-operational children – don’t understand conservation Concrete operational – this kid gets it

Piaget, Stage 4: Formal Operational

Ages: 12 and up (approximately)Can reason through abstract concepts and

hypothetical situations Example: can understand algebra and geometry

and use deductive reasoning to draw conclusions What if we had no thumbs?

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory

Piaget’s original study included only three participants – his children!

Some argue that cognitive development does not occur in discrete stages, but happens continuously and not necessarily in a fixed order

Piaget thought that babies couldn’t reason abstractly… but babies as young as 12 hours old have shown some logical ability (staring longer at objects they’re familiar with or at impossible events)