Chapter 6: Infancy: Cognitive Development

according to Piaget, an action pattern (such as a reflex) or mental structure that is involved in the acquisition or organization of knowledge.

according to Piaget, the incorporation of new events or knowledge into existing schemes

according to Piaget, the modification of existing schemes in order to incorporate new events or knowledge

the repetition of actions that first occurred by chance and that focus on the infants own body.

the repetition of actions that produce an effect on the environment.

the purposeful adaptation of established schemes to new situations

recognition that objects continue to exist even when the are not seen.

the imitation of people and events that were encountered or experienced hours, days, or weeks in the past.

the kind of memory shown in an infants ability to discriminate previously seen objects from novel objects.

referring to vocalization made by the infant before the development of language. (In language, words symbolize objects and events.)

prelinguistic articulated vowel-like sounds that appear to reflect feelings of positive excitement.

the child's first vocalization that have the sounds of speech.

the automatic repetition of sounds or words.

the use of pitches of varying levels to help communicate meaning.

The sum total of the words whose meanings one understands.

The sum total of the words that one can use in the production of language.

Use of language primarily as a means for labeling objects.

Use of language primarily as a means for engaging in social interaction.

Use of words in situations in which their meanings become extended or inappropriate.

Type of speech in which only the essential words are used.

The average number of morphemes used in an utterance.

The smallest unit of meaning in a language.

A single word that is used to express complex meanings.

The rules in a language for placing words in the proper order to form meaningful sentences.

In learning theory, those whose behaviors are imitated by others.

The decrease and eventual disappearance of a response in the absence of reinforcement.

In learning theory, the gradual building of complex behavior patterns through reinforcement of successive approximations of the target behavior.

The view that language learning involves an interaction between environmental influences and an inborn tendency to acquire language. The emphasis is on the inborn tendency.

In psycholinguistic theory, neural "prewiring" that facilitates the child's learning of grammar.

The superficial grammatical construction of a sentence.

The underlying meaning of a sentence.

In linguistic theory, the period from about 18 months to puberty when the brain is thought to be especially capable of learning language because of its plasticity.

The communication of meaning through the use of symbols that are formed by moving the hands and arms; the language used by some deaf people.

A disruption in the ability to understand or produce language.

A form of aphasia caused by damage to Broca's area and characterized by slow, laborious speech.

A form of aphasia caused by damage to Wernicke's area and characterized by impaired comprehension of speech and difficulty in attempting to produce the right word.

The view that the child's complex abilities to understand and produce language emerge from simpler processes that are biological, cognitive, and social in nature.

It is true that out of sight is out of mind for 2 month old infants. Apparently, they do not yet reliably mentally represent objects they see.

It is true that a 1 hour old infant may imitate an adult who sticks out his or her tongue. But such imitation is reflexive. that is, the infant is not observing the adult and then deciding to stick out his or her tongue.

It is true that psychologists can begin to measure intelligence - or at least the behaviors we associate with the concept of intelligence- in infancy.

Actually, infant crying is not a primitive form of language. Cries do not contain symbols, or represent objects or events.

Actually, the evidence suggests that correcting children's pronunciation may slow their vocabulary development.

When we consider the evidence from psycholinguistic theory and emergentist theory, it becomes apparently true that children are "prewired" to listen to language in such a way that they come to understand words and rules of grammar.