Theories of Cognitive Development
3 year old Maggie has a cat at home. When on a walk with her nanny, she points to a squirrel and says "Kitty!"
This is an example of Piaget's _____.
Assimilation
The first gross motor milestone experienced by an infant is ______. The first fine motor milestone experienced by an infant is ______, sparked by the _____ reflex.
Head control
Pre-reaching
Tonic neck
Language consists of 4 complex systems. What are they and can you briefly describe what they entail?
Phonology - sounds
Grammar - morphology and syntax
Semantics - lexicon and concepts
Pragmatics - language use
By age 2-3, children form _________, or smaller groups within categories. Can you give an example?
Category hierarchies
True or false: Early infancy is a critical period for language development, meaning aspects of language are difficult to develop afterward
True!
A notable development during Piaget's concrete operational stage is _____, or the understanding that an object's weight, mass, and volume remain the same even in different containers.
Conservation
The infant's ability to control their head and neck before they are able to control their limbs is an example of ______ development.
cephalocaudal
If a child is exposed to a second language between the years of 0-3, they are ________, while those exposed to a second language after the age of 3 are referred to as ________.
simultaneous bilingual
sequential bilingual
Children develop an understanding of the similarities and differences between their own and others' thinking, as well as how thinking influences behavior. This is called ______.
Theory of mind
Information processing theories view the child as _________.
Problem solver
Vygotsky theorized that children's cognition arises from social interaction with more knowledgable others, also referred to as _______. A key way they learn includes _______ (breaking up the skill into smaller, more manageable chunks).
guided participation
scaffolding
Advances in physical activity enhance the strength of ______ and improve cognitive flexibility
neural connections
Around 7 months, infants begin to ____, or repeat syllables and sounds. There are two kinds... can you name each and briefly describe what occurs?
Babble
reduplicated babbling = repetition of same sound (mamamama)
canonical babbling = approximating sounds of words they are familiar with (ma-ma, da-da)
Pretend play is important for development because _____
it expands understanding of the social world and other people's emotions and thinking.
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience difficulties in social interaction and communication. It has been theorized that impairment in _____ mechanisms might be a leading factor in these difficulties
Theory of mind
Information processing theory posits that developmental change occurs as a result of increased _____ capacity and _______ skills.
memory
problem solving
_____ can influence the timing of the motor development milestones
Sociocultural factors
Environmental factors
Around 9 months, infants begin using proto ____ (linguistic commands) and ____ (statements), which are early forms of ____.
imperatives
declaratives
pragmatics
The development of causal reasoning often develops between ____ and _____ (age).
6 and 12 months
Noam Chomsky believed key aspects of language (such as grammar) are ____, while Jerry Bruner believed language and grammar are ____.
innate
learned through social interaction
_______ are the mental processes individuals use to engage in goal-directed thinking and actions. Some examples are: inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory
Executive functioning
Each new motor skill is the result of 4 factors. Name 2 of them.
Central Nervous System development
Body's movement capacity
Child's goal
Environmental supports
There are two strategies for expanding vocabulary. Name each and briefly describe what they entail.
Expressive - phrases are more social in nature
Referential - isolated concrete words referring to objects in world around infant
A 5 year old is shown a box of chocolate and is asked to guess what's inside. They answer "chocolate." When the box is opened, the child sees that there are actually rocks inside. When asked what another child would guess to be inside the box, the 5 year old says "chocolate." This exemplifies the resolution of the _________.
false belief problem
Rehearsal = repeating information to oneself
Organization = grouping related items together
Elaboration = creating a relation between pieces of information