Deck 6: Infancy: Cognitive Development

Question 1

By the end of the primary circular reaction substage,Piaget's son Laurent was

A) discovering his hands by chance.
B) moving his hands in order to see them.
C) looking for toys that his father had hidden.
D) imitating his father's facial expressions.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Wyatt has learned that his round ball is called a toy.When Wyatt sees an orange or a grapefruit,he calls these toys as well.His thought process BEST represents

A) accommodation.
B) differentiation.
C) assimilation.
D) conceptualization.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is the most advanced substage in Piaget's sensorimotor period?

A) Coordination of secondary schemes
B) Primary circular reaction
C) Secondary circular reaction
D) Tertiary circular reaction

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Can a 3-month-old child visually track objects?

A) No
B) Yes
C) Yes,but only if the object moves very slowly
D) Yes,but only if the object is very brightly colored

Question 5

Which of the following represents a primary circular reaction?

A) Kala accidentally touches her nose with her thumb and then repeats it
B) Jose turns toward the sound of the phone ringing
C) Lorenzo kicks his mobile over and over because it makes it move
D) Megan pulls her blanket so it will bring her teddy bear close enough to grab it

Question 6

How do primary and secondary circular reactions differ?

A) Primary involve only reflexes,whereas secondary involve thoughts
B) They are the same,one is just engaging in a more complex behavior
C) Primary focus on the body,whereas secondary focus on the environment
D) Primary involve more important behaviors than secondary

Question 7

Emma is 7 months old.She shakes a rattle so it will make a noise she likes.This is an example of

A) secondary circular reaction.
B) simple reflex.
C) primary circular reaction.
D) tertiary circular reaction.

Question 8

When an infant visually tracks an object,what happens when the object moves out of view?

A) The infant will continue trying to find it
B) The infant will become visibly upset
C) What the infant will do depends upon the age of the infant
D) The infant will abandon the tracking without concern

Question 9

With coordination of secondary schemes,

A) the child can differentiate between how to achieve a goal and the goal itself.
B) the child is coordinating primary circular reactions.
C) the child engages in actions in a deliberate trial-and-error fashion to learn how things work.
D) the child is still engaging in most repetitions of behaviors by accident.

Question 10

Which of the following represents a secondary circular reaction?

A) Watching your foot pass before your eyes
B) Pushing a button on a toy to hear a sound
C) Imitating a face your mother makes
D) Opening a jar to get the cookies you saw your Grandma put in there

Question 11

During which stage of cognitive development would you witness a tertiary circular reaction?

A) Sensorimotor
B) Preoperations
C) Concrete operations
D) Formal operations

Question 12

Which of the following is the correct order of Piaget's stages?

A) Sensorimotor,concrete operational,formal operational,preoperational
B) Sensorimotor,preoperational,concrete operational,formal operational
C) Preliterate,literate,postliterate
D) None of these are correct

Question 13

Hazel got a puppy.She knows that puppies are animals.Her next-door neighbor has a cat.Hazel's mother tells her that both puppies and cats are animals.As a result,Hazel changes her scheme of animals to include cats.Changing a scheme to incorporate new information is called

A) assimilation.
B) reaction range.
C) augmentation.
D) accommodation.

Question 14

In which substage of sensorimotor development would you first witness goal-directed behavior?

A) Simple reflexes
B) Secondary circular reactions
C) Primary circular reactions
D) Tertiary circular reactions

Question 15

Cognitive development in children is the process by which

A) children perceive and mentally represent the world.
B) intelligence is developed.
C) children learn to imitate others.
D) children learn strategies for developing short- and long-term memory.

Question 16

Dylan picks up an object he has not seen before.He immediately puts it in his mouth.Dylan's behavior is representative of which stage of cognitive development?

A) Concrete operations
B) Oral-cognitive stage
C) Sensorimotor stage
D) Physio-emotive stage

Question 17

What is a circular reaction?

A) A behavior that is repeated
B) A connection between an observation and a memory
C) A connection between a stimulus and a response
D) A simple reflex

Question 18

Which theorist described children's attempts to learn about their environments as "experiments in order to see?"

A) Piaget
B) Vygotsky
C) Bronfenbrenner
D) Bandura

Question 19

Which is the BEST example of a simple reflex?

A) Reaching for a rattle
B) Purposefully searching under a blanket for a toy
C) Looking to see where your mother is
D) Turning toward the source of a loud noise

Question 20

According to Piaget (1963),children's cognitive processes develop

A) in a slow,continuous way from childhood to adulthood.
B) in an orderly sequence,or series of stages.
C) primarily by age 7,after which no new cognitive development occurs.
D) through a developmental sequence that varies greatly for each child.

Question 21

What does the phrase "A not B error" mean?

A) Children will not search for hidden objects unless given an incentive
B) Children will randomly search for hidden objects,but will quickly become frustrated and give up
C) A child may reach for a hidden object where it has always been,yet still reach there even when they see the toy hidden somewhere else
D) A child will search for a hidden toy but will quickly become distracted by other,more interesting objects

Question 22

According to Piaget,

A) children develop the skills that lead to object permanence by 3 months of age.
B) children develop an understanding of object permanence all at once.
C) children come to understand object permanence even without prior experience.
D) children develop object permanence before they develop emotional bonds to specific caregivers.

Question 23

Which substage of sensorimotor development serves as a transition to the symbolic thought of the next stage?

A) Tertiary circular reaction
B) Secondary circular reaction
C) Invention of new means through mental combinations
D) Coordination of secondary schemes

Question 24

At what age will a child begin to mentally represent objects?

A) 6-8 months
B) 18-24 months
C) 12-18 months
D) Not until 24-36 months

Question 25

What ability would be necessary for object permanence to occur?

A) Memory
B) Understanding the connection between what can be seen and not seen
C) The ability to form mental representations
D) All of these

Question 26

A child wants a toy that is too big to be pulled straight through the bars of her crib.She studies the toy for some time and then grabs it,turns it sideways,and fits it through the bars.This child is using

A) primary circular reaction.
B) invention of new means through mental combinations.
C) secondary circular reactions.
D) coordination of secondary schemes.

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of a tertiary circular reaction?

A) Kala accidentally touches her nose with her thumb,it makes her laugh,she then repeats the action,and it makes her laugh again
B) Jose turns toward the sound of the phone ringing
C) Lorenzo kicks his mobile over and over because it makes it move
D) After many tries,Megan turns her toy sideways and is able to pull it into the crib; now,whenever she wants the toy,she turns it sideways to pull it through

Question 28

When we evaluate Piaget's theory,we can conclude that

A) infant cognitive development occurs in discrete stages and at the ages put forth by Piaget.
B) his theory does not hold true cross-culturally.
C) subsequent research shows children develop cognitive skills much later than Piaget proposed.
D) his theory has been supported cross-culturally in terms of the sequence and pattern of events.

Question 29

With tertiary circular reactions,

A) trial and error is still used until an action accomplishes the goal.
B) trial and error is not needed.
C) the child will give up if something does not work the first time.
D) None of these is accurate

Question 30

Research has found that infants as young as 3.5 months of age have a rudimentary form of object permanence.Why then,do they not actively search for hidden objects until 8 months of age?

A) Coordination of acts does not occur until 8 months
B) Children do not "look in order to see" until 8 months of age
C) 8-month-olds do not yet perform primary circular reactions
D) 8-month-olds lack the ability to assimilate

Question 31

Object permanence refers to

A) an understanding that changes in shape do not change the object.
B) a realization that objects can look different,but still be the same.
C) recognition that things exist that cannot readily be seen.
D) None of these

Question 32

Elliot left his backpack on the bus to school this morning.Even though his backpack is not at school with him,he still knows it exists on the bus.This demonstrates which of Piaget's concepts?

A) Accommodation
B) Object permanence
C) Deferred imitation
D) Shaping

Question 33

Bettina Pollock and colleagues (2000)found that magpies

A) go from primary to tertiary circular reactions,bypassing secondary circular reactions.
B) hide food,but do not possess object permanence.
C) develop object permanence before hiding food.
D) use deferred imitation.

Question 34

Amir is 10 months old.He is able to push one toy aside in order to reach another that he wishes to play with.He is also able to imitate the gestures and sounds his parents make when they play with him.This is an example of

A) secondary circular reactions.
B) invention of new means through mental combinations.
C) object permanence.
D) coordination of secondary schemes.

Question 35

If an infant cries when the mother puts her down and walks away,and then stops crying when the mother picks the infant back up,does this represent an understanding of object permanence?

A) Yes
B) No
C) Yes,but only if the child is at least 2 months old
D) Not necessarily,it depends upon whether the child has a mental representation of the mother

Question 36

What is the earliest age that a rudimentary knowledge of object permanence has been found?

A) At birth
B) 3.5 months
C) 8 months
D) 12 months

Question 37

By what age will a child demonstrate tertiary circular reactions?

A) By 2-3 months
B) By 4-5 months
C) By 8-9 months
D) Not until 12-18 months

Question 38

By what age will a child demonstrate coordination of secondary schemes?

A) By 2-3 months
B) By 4-5 months
C) Not until 8-9 months
D) Not until 12-18 months

Question 39

Piaget may have underestimated infants' cognitive competence.For example,more recent research finds that infants develop object permanence,as well as _____________,earlier than Piaget hypothesized.

A) accommodation
B) deferred imitation
C) simple reflexes
D) trial-and-error problem solving

Question 40

If an infant reaches for a toy hidden under a cloth,what does this suggest?

A) What it means depends upon the age of the child
B) That the child has a mental representation of the object in mind
C) It is still random activity at this age
D) What it means depends upon the sex of the child

Question 41

In the studies of infant memory in which a mobile was tied to an infant's ankle,infant memory was improved by

A) priming.
B) increasing the number of times the infant was exposed to the memory item during the day he/she learned it.
C) giving the infant a reward when she/he learns the memory task.
D) Infant memory cannot be improved over time

Question 42

Research studies have shown that infants can imitate adults opening their mouths and sticking out their tongues.How early has this imitative behavior been observed in infants?

A) At 2 days of age
B) Less than 1 hour old
C) Not before 3 days of age
D) After 1 week

Question 43

Wynn's research on five-month-old infants using Mickey Mouse dolls revealed that infants

A) looked at the right and wrong answers equal lengths of time.
B) looked longer at the right answer than the wrong answer.
C) looked longer at the wrong answer than the right answer.
D) were capable of addition and subtraction.

Question 44

Mirror neurons are activated by

A) performing an act.
B) watching another perform the same act.
C) performing an act or watching another perform the same act.
D) performing or watching another perform an act,but this is only true for monkeys.

Question 45

Piaget's stages of cognitive development

A) have only been documented in Piaget's own children.
B) apply more directly to the cognitive development of girls than boys.
C) apply more directly to the cognitive development of boys than girls.
D) have been documented in children cross-culturally.

Question 46

Neonates who are breast-fed are able to remember and recognize their mother's unique smell.What does this illustrate?

A) Imitation
B) Memory
C) Object permanence
D) Deferred imitation

Question 47

A stage theory of cognitive development assumes that

A) development progresses according to discrete,age-based steps.
B) development occurs regardless of experience.
C) development is a continuous process that never ends.
D) development occurs at different ages for different children.

Question 48

Imitation is said to occur

A) when any act tried once is repeated.
B) only in response to another person engaging in the same behavior.
C) without thought.
D) only reflexively.

Question 49

If a one-hour-old infant sticks out her tongue in response to an adult doing the same,what has occurred?

A) The infant observed the adult and then decided to stick out her tongue
B) Learning has occurred
C) Deferred imitation has occurred
D) Given the age of the child,this is most likely an imitation reflex

Question 50

Improvement in infant memory probably indicates

A) enhanced encoding of information.
B) less efficiency in retrieving stored information.
C) that older infants use more memory pruning.
D) All of these

Question 51

Which of the following is TRUE of infant memory?

A) Infants demonstrate memory for experiences they had while in utero
B) Infants do not demonstrate reliable memory until about 3 months of age
C) Infants can only remember after 6 months of age
D) Infants can memorize things with only one exposure

Question 52

In contrast to Piaget,information-processing theorists focus on

A) unconscious desires and drives.
B) emotional development of the child.
C) how children manipulate or process information.
D) how reinforcements and punishments shape behavior.

Question 53

When does the first dramatic improvement in infant memory occur?

A) Prenatally
B) Between 1-2 months of age
C) Between 2-6 months of age
D) Between 6-8 months of age

Question 54

Deferred imitation means

A) the child can mimic only within 5 seconds what he/she has seen.
B) children can imitate from the moment they are born.
C) a child has a mental representation in mind long before the behavior is imitated.
D) imitation is a more automatic process than was assumed in the past.

Question 55

Zeena is 3 months old.She is taking part in a research study in which one end of a string is tied to her wrist and the other end is tied to a screen.When she moves her hand,the screen lifts and she can see a toy on the other side.How many days after learning this task will Zeena be able to remember it?

A) 12 hours
B) 1-2 days
C) 3-4 days
D) More than one week

Question 56

How many days after learning a task can a typical 2-month-old remember it?

A) A few hours
B) 12 hours
C) Up to 2 days
D) Up to 3 days

Question 57

Rovee-Collier and her colleagues (1993)tied one end of a ribbon to a brightly colored mobile and tied the other end ties to an infant's ankle.What did these studies measure?

A) Object permanence
B) Habituation
C) Memory
D) The age of onset of primary circular reactions

Question 58

Leah,a 9-month-old infant,watches as her mother pushes a button on a toy and the toy beeps.Several hours later,Leah pushes the button and the toy beeps.This is an example of

A) deferred imitation.
B) imitation.
C) instrumental learning.
D) classical conditioning.

Question 59

If an infant sticks out his tongue,what has occurred?

A) Memory
B) Imitation
C) A random act
D) Too little information to tell

Question 60

Jocelyn watches as her mother puts her toys in a basket.Two weeks later,after never having engaged in this behavior,Jocelyn attempts to put her toys in the basket.This illustrates

A) memory.
B) recognition.
C) deferred imitation.
D) All of these

Question 61

When would a child's Bayley test scores be average?

A) There are no norms,so an average score cannot be determined
B) When the infant can complete 100% of the items for his or her age group
C) When the infant passes the test at the age at which 50% of other infants pass the test
D) It differs from child to child based upon genetics and environment

Question 62

Jasdeep can tell the difference between a video game he has played before and a new one.This ability is referred to as

A) habituation.
B) sensory memory.
C) recognition memory.
D) classical conditioning.

Question 63

Which of the following is a measure of infant intelligence?

A) Apgar scale
B) Bayley scales
C) Vygotsky scale
D) Piaget scales

Question 64

Moving from reflexive imitation to purposeful imitation requires

A) improvements in cognitive abilities.
B) just the passing of time.
C) significant effort on the part of the child over an extended period of time.
D) the emergence of genetic programming.

Question 65

Which of the following is one of the motor-scale items from the Bayley test?

A) Infant glances back and forth from a rattle to a bell
B) Infant removes cup to obtain an item hidden underneath
C) Infant builds a tower with two cubes
D) Infant raises self to a sitting position

Question 66

Mai is 8 months old.She is being given an infant intelligence test composed of 178 mental-scale items,111 motor-scale items,and a behavioral rating scale.Which test is she taking?

A) Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
B) Bayley scales
C) Stanford-Binet IQ test
D) Vygosky's scaffolding test

Question 67

Susan Rose and her colleagues (2001)showed that visual recognition memory is

A) somewhat stable from age to age.
B) related significantly to brain myelination.
C) positively correlated with brain weight.
D) a good way to screen infants for sensory or neurological problems.

Question 68

Why might newborns possess an imitation reflex?

A) It contributes to caregiver-infant bonding
B) It helps ensure survival of the newborn
C) It may be due to "mirror neurons" in the human brain
D) All of the above

Question 69

How is infant intelligence assessed?

A) By comparing the abilities of one infant to others of the same age
B) It is not possible to test infant intelligence
C) By comparing infant abilities to genetic norms
D) By monitoring brain wave activity while the infant is presented with visual stimuli

Question 70

Which of the following is one of the mental-scale items from the Bayley test?

A) The infant builds a tower of two blocks after the examiner demonstrates the behavior
B) The infant raises herself to a seated position
C) The infant attempts to pick up a sugar pill that is out of reach
D) None of the above

Question 71

In terms of individual differences in intelligence among infants,

A) there are no individual differences in intelligence among infants.
B) infant intelligence develops in a discontinuous,stage-like process across childhood.
C) there can be a great deal of variability in intelligence among infants.
D) there is a genetic process of development that minimizes individual differences in infant intelligence.

Question 72

A study by Robinson and colleagues (2008)found that in low-income mothers and children

A) maternal scaffolding had no effect on child performance in the "child alone" task.
B) mothers who provided the most scaffolding had children who performed best on the "child alone" task.
C) mothers who provided the least scaffolding had children who performed best on the "child alone" task.
D) maternal scaffolding predicted child intelligence levels.

Question 73

Cognitive functioning in infancy

A) changes rapidly and is difficult to measure.
B) is very stable and should be used to assess potential areas for concern.
C) differs greatly depending upon the sex of the child.
D) accurately predicts success in later life.

Question 74

Sensorimotor tests of infant development

A) are strongly related to subsequent IQ scores.
B) are highly related to verbal and symbolic scores obtained in later childhood.
C) are not really similar to the intelligence measures used in later childhood.
D) strongly predict childhood success in school.

Question 75

A main reason to test infant intelligence is so that we can

A) ensure that gifted children are enrolled in gifted academic programs.
B) try to detect early sensory or neurological problems.
C) predict adult intelligence test scores.
D) determine if infants in the current generation are more intelligent than infants from past generations.

Question 76

Vygotsky's theory focused on

A) how children come to learn from skilled caregivers and older children.
B) the infant's ability to imitate what he/she sees.
C) how infants come to encode and store information from the environment.
D) levels of infant intelligence.

Question 77

How well do infant IQ tests,such as the Bayley scales,predict later school success?

A) Overall scores on the Bayley scales predict later school grades and IQ scores
B) Performance on the Bayley language items predict language skills at ages 6-8
C) The Bayley scales can predict math grades in elementary school
D) Items on the Bayley scales predict school success through college

Question 78

A child is shown two objects for 20 seconds.After this,one of the objects is replaced and the infant spends more time looking at the new object.What does this represent?

A) Visual recognition
B) Habituation
C) Memory
D) All of these

Question 79

Higher visual recognition scores in infancy are related to

A) attention deficit disorder in later childhood.
B) creativity in later childhood.
C) better memory in later childhood.
D) higher IQ scores later in childhood.

Question 80

In its simplest sense,the Bayley scales measure

A) mental and motor abilities.
B) genetic influences on intelligence.
C) environmental influences on intelligence.
D) social and emotional development.