Unit 2

Cognitive development. Language

development.
[Link] and toddlerhood
1. Prenatal development
2. Birth
3. Psychomotor development
4. Perception
5. Sensorimotor intelligence and its main
acquisitions
6. Imitation and sensorimotor play
 1. Prenatal development
ØNot only maturation, but
ØComplex behavioural organization
ØSensory responsiveness
ØCapacity for learning
ØOrigin of behaviour
ØZygote (fertilization)
ØEmbryo (0-8 weeks)
ØFetus (8/10 weeks-birth)
ØContinuous process
Between conception and birth, possible
aggressions and toxic agents
•Specific action
•Non-specific action
•Embryopathies
•Fetopathies
 Etiology of intra-uterine diseases

ØInfections, diseases
ØPhysical agents
ØChemical agents
ØEndocrine causes
ØNutrition
ØImmunology (blood incompatibility)
 2. The process of birth

Ø Causes?
Ø Phases (dilatation, birth, expulsion of the placenta)
Ø Neonatal period (0-4 weeks)
Ø The newborn is about de 50 cm and weights around 3 kg
Ø The head of a newborn is about a quarter of his body
Ø Possible problem: anoxia or hypoxia
Assessment of newborns
The APGAR scale, developed in 1952 by Virginia Apgar,
measures:
• Appearance
• Pulse
• Grimace
• Activity
• Respiration
Primitive reflexes

Ø Rooting reflex
Ø Sucking reflex
Ø Grasping reflex
Ø Moro reflex
Ø Babkin reflex
Ø Stepping reflex
 3. Psychomotor development

GROWING PROCESS
•Endogenous factors
•Exogenous factors

Development: Organized process, follows a maturation

calendar
ØDetermined by genetic factors
ØInfluenced by environmental factors
 GROWING PROCESS (II)

ØA continuous and progressive accumulation of

changes that transforms the body
ØWeight-for-age characteristic curves
ØAfter birth, fast growth for the two first years
ØAfter the third year, slower changes until
puberty
Brain development

•The brain develops from the centre to the cortex

(automatic becomes controlled)

•Brain maturation is necessary, but stimulation is also

required in order to produce development
 Psychomotor development

ØAim: Complete control of the body, to the point of being

able to use all its possibilities (action and expression)
ØPrinciples:
§ Cephalocaudal
§ Proximodistal
This process improves
ØGross psychomotor skills (coordination of
muscles involved in locomotion and balance)
ØFine psychomotor skills (dexterity)develops
later
 Postural control
The ability to change and maintain the position of the body. With some
individual differences, it follows a schedule:
Ø1 month: prone, lifts head
Ø3 months: raises chest with arms
Ø4 months: sits with support
Ø7 months: sits without support
Ø8 months: stands up with help
Ø9 months: stands holding on
Ø10 months: crawls
Ø11 months: walks with help
Ø12 months: walks without help
Ø18 months: runs, and starts to jump
4. PERCEPTION
 [Link] of perceptual
development
ØAsotiationism: every perception is acquired
ØGestalt: perception as a field effect, the whole is more
than the addition of the parts
ØPiaget: Perception reflexes the cognitive organization.
It is centrated ( focused on one salient aspect of the
situation, neglecting other possibly relevant aspects).
Progressive decentration as the cognitive structures
change
 Uses of perception
It connects us with the world throughout the senses.
Perceptive behaviour is determined by:
Ø The genetic code
Ø The personal history of learning
Visual perception

ØThe visual system of a newborn is immature

ØBut they can see, and they have visual preferences
ØThey can follow a moving object (coordination of both
eyes in response of a moving object)
ØLower visual acuity
 Visual exploration

Newborns can not only see, but do small visual

explorations. They prefer
ØStructured images
ØHorizontal over vertical
ØAngles
ØSmall compositions
ØSolid objects over drawings
ØExploration increases as the child grows up
Ø4-5 weeks: organised and coordinated eyes and head’s
movements
Ø10 weeks: exploration of the whole figure, not only the
outline
Ø14-15 weeks: broader exploration of the visual field
Visual preferences

The most attractive properties of stimuli for babies are:

•Bright
•Contrast
•Movement
•Colour
•Sound
•Complexity

The visual preferences are also determined by

Ø Habituation
Ø Selective attention
Ø Curiosity
 Environmental familiarization

ØStarts with the distal receptors (eyes, nose, ears)

ØAround 5-6 months: can take objects with a hand and
manipulate them
Ø7 months: certain locomotion, active and interactive
exploration
Ø Throughout exploration, discovery of the physical
properties
ØAt first, exploration is conditioned by stimuli, and
afterwards it depends on the characteristics of the subject.
It becomes progressively more controlled, cognitive and
motivated.
 4. Hearing and other senses

Children can hear before birth

ØA 24 weeks the fetus has a cochlea
Ø At 32 weeks the fetus responds in a different way to different
stimulation (intensity, frequency)
Newborn babies
ØHave normal hearing
ØCan find the origin of a sound and direct their eyes or
head towards it
ØReact in different ways to different sounds:
§ Strong and sudden noises irritate them
§ Sounds of moderate intensity are relaxing
§ They prefer some sounds over others
§ Human voice
§ They can distinguish different voices after a few
days
 Other senses
All of them work at birth, and develop later
ØNewborns can detect smells, and distinguish between them
ØTastes are detected too
• Positive reaction to sweet flavours
• Negative reaction to bitter and salty
ØThe skin senses responsible for processing touch, texture,
temperature and pain
• Are developed at birth
• During the first days become more acute
 ØThe different senses don’t work in isolation, they are coordinated to
provide the child with complex information about the environment
ØPerceptive development is also linked with motor development
ØPerception, movement and manipulation are closely linked

Perceptive development is the basis of further developments

 5 SENSORIMOTOR INTELLIGENCE AND ITS
MAIN ACQUISITIONS
•Mainly based on Piaget’s theories, with further additions
•Qualitative development of the intellectual structures

•Stages of development
ØSensorimotor stage
ØPreoperational stage
ØConcrete operational stage
Ø Formal operational stage
 Sensorimotor stage (0-2 yrs)

•From reflexes to a relatively coherent organization of

sensorimotor actions in the close environment
•Practical organization that involves perceptive and
motor adjustements, not symbolic manipulation
•Experience of the world in senses and actions
•Object permanence
•Stranger anxiety
Preoperational stage (2- 7 yrs)
• Symbolic representation, represent things with
words and images
• Pretend play
• Egocentrism
• Language development
Concrete operational stage (7-11 yrs)
• Grasping concrete analogies
• Thinking logically, but only about concrete events
• Conservation
• Mathematical transformations
Formal operational stage (11 yrs-adulthood)
•Superior adult thought
•Thinking about hypothetical scenarios
•Processing abstract thoughts
SENSORIMOTOR STAGE

ØIntelligent behaviour before language development

ØSchemata that organise the sensorial information
and develop reactions to stimuli
ØAdaptable behaviour, schemata are modified in
response to the environment
 Main acquisitions of the sensorimotor
stage
ØThe ability to coordinate and integrate information of
the different senses
ØThe ability to know that the world is a permanent
place, independent of our perception (object
permanence)
ØThe ability to orientate behaviours towards goals
 SUBSTAGES OF THE SENSORIMOTOR STAGE

Substage 1 (0 -1 month)
ØInnate adaptations
ØReflexes
Substage 2 (1-4 months)
ØFirst acquired adaptations
Primary circular reactions
 Circular reaction
•Segment of behaviour associated to a consequence
that the child tries to reproduce by repeating that
behaviour
•The result is a stronger motor schema
Primary circular reactions
•Simple schemas discovered by chance that the child
tried to reproduce because he finds them pleasurable
Object permanence
ØDuring the first two substages, the child finds and loses objects as
he interacts with them. But when they disappear, he doesn’t look
for them

ØThe object has ceased to exist when the child can’t see, touch,
smell, hear or taste it

ØThere is no object permanence

Substage 3 (4-8 months)
Secondary circular reactions
ØCoordinations of simple schemata whose initial
consequences are by chance
ØAlso called “Procedures to make interesting sights
last”
ØThe origin of the intentional action
Object permanence

The object is found as long as they can see part of it, but not if it
disappears
 Difference between primary and
secondary circular reactions
ØPrimary: are repeated because of the pleasure the action causes;
secondary: are repeated because of the results of the action
ØPrimary: focused on the body; Secondary: there’s interest in external
objects.
Substage 4 (8-12 months)
ØCoordination of schemata applied to new
situations
ØIntentionality
ØNew combinations of schemata to reach goals
ØActive exploration of new objects
ØActions oriented towards objectives
Object permanence
The scheme is starting to develop
Ø9 - 10 months they look for an object if they had seen it being
hidden. But if the object is moved as the child watches, he looks
for it in the first hiding place
Substage 5 (12-18 months)
Active experimentation of new coordinations: tertiary
circular reactions:

ØAppear as a result of a flexible coordination of the secondary

schemata
ØExperimenting new means to achieve a goal
ØAre used to “see what happens”, to explore the properties of
the objects

Discovery of new means by active experimentation

ØLast substage that doesn’t include mental
representations, and first to try new activities
ØAccidental discoveries of the consequences,
but with changes, not just repetition
ØFor the first time the child looks for new
solutions to new problems, learning by trial and
error
ØThey try different things to get different
results
Object permanence
ØChildren follow the object movements, and look for it where
they saw it last
ØThey don’t take into account the movements they hadn’t
seen
Substage 6 (18 a 24 months)

•Internalization of schemata
•New coordinations created by coordinations of mental
representations
•Representational ability: there’s no need for trial and error
•Mental essay of the possible solutions
•Deferred imitation
Object permanence
ØThe concept of object permanence is fully developed
ØThe child follows visible and invisible movements,
even without seeing the action of hiding the object
ØThere is a mental representation of the object
.
6. – IMITATION AND SENSORIMOTOR GAMES
Imitation
Imitations helps to improve schemata. Repetition strengthens them,
and helps with coordination and generalization
ØFirst imitation: rigid, similar to reflexes
ØAfter a year they become more flexible, selecting behaviours
depending on needs
ØAt the end of the stage: imitation with parts of the body that
they can’t see
ØDeferred imitation shows representational ability
 Sensorimotor play

•The explanation of play is psychogenic, an expression of the

cognitive development.
•Play comes from the sensorimotor schemata
•Piaget describes the evolution of play in three stages:
ØSensorimotor play or practice play (repeated patterns of
movement or sound, and games in which objects are made
to repeatedly disappear and reappear)
ØSymbolic play
ØGames with rules
 Further research

1. Construction of tests and scales of development

2. Study of the invariant sequence of stages
3. Evaluation of the task used to determine the object permanence
(competence-achievement)