Cognitive Development of an Infant and Toddler Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Development of an Infant and Toddler Essay Piaget based the sensorimotor stage on his observations of his own children The Circular Reaction: a. Circular reactions are the means by which infants explore the environment and build schemes by trying to repeat chance events caused by their own motor activity. b. These reactions are first centered on the infants own body. Subsequently, they change to manipulating objects and then to producing novel effects in the environment. Substage 1: Reflexive Schemes a. Piaget regarded newborn reflexes as the building blocks of sensorimotor intelligence. b. At first, babies suck, grasp, and look in much the same way, no matter what the circumstances. Substage 2: Primary Circular Reactions-The First Learned Adaptations a. Infants develop simple motor skills and change their behavior in response to environmental demands. b. The first circular reactions are primary in that they are oriented towards the infants own bodies and motivated by basic needs. Substage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions-Making Interesting Sights Last a. Circular reactions of this substage are secondary in that the infants repeat actions that affect the environment. b. Infants can imitate actions that they have practiced many times. Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary Circular Reaction a. Intentional, or goal directed, behavior is the combination of schemes to solve problems. b. Piaget regarded meansend action sequences as the first sign that babies appreciate physical causality. c. Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight; it is not yet complete in this substage. d. AB search errors are committed by infants in this substage. Infants 8- to 12-months-old only look for an object in hiding place A after the object is moved from A to hiding place B. Substage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions-Discovering New Means through Active Experimentation a. Circular reactions in this substage are tertiary in that the infant repeats actions with variation-exploring the environment and bringing about new outcomes. b. Experimentation leads to a more advanced understanding of object permanence. Toddlers no longer make the AB search error. Substage 6: Mental Representation-Inventing New Means Through Mental Combinations a. mental representations are internal images of absent objects and past events. b. The toddler can now solve problems through symbolic means instead of trial-and-error. c. Representation allows deferred imitation-the ability to copy the behavior of models that are not immediately present. d. Functional play is motor activity with or without objects during the first year and a half in which sensorimotor schemes are practiced. e. At the end of the second year, representation permits toddlers to engage in make-believe play.