Question 1

Which is the chronological order of the characteristics of the first five sensorimotor substages as defined by Piaget?

Accepted Answer

The correct chronological order of Piaget's first five sensorimotor substages is: spontaneous movement, repeated action focused on own body and immediate environment, repeated action focused on objects, coordinated sequences of action, and means-end analysis.

Question 2

Which is an example of behavior demonstrating means-end analysis?

Accepted Answer

Means-end analysis involves understanding the relationship between actions and outcomes. Baby Derell pushing aside a pillow to get to his favorite toy demonstrates this as he is using a specific action to achieve a desired result.

Question 3

You observe 6-month-old Renata repeatedly hitting her hand on the floor and making a sound. What substage, according to Piaget, are you likely observing?

Accepted Answer

At 6 months old, Renata is likely in the secondary circular reactions substage, where infants repeat actions that produce interesting effects in their environment, such as hitting the floor to make a sound.

Question 4

Baby Andreas watches his father shave and, hours later, mimics this behavior. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

Deferred imitation is when an individual observes a behavior and then replicates it after a delay, as Baby Andreas does by mimicking his father's shaving hours later.

Question 5

Baby Jamal watches as a parent puts his stuffed bunny repeatedly in a certain location and retrieves the stuffed bunny from that location. Next, the parent puts the stuffed bunny in the same location, but then moves the stuffed bunny to another location while Jamal watches. Jamal continues to search for the stuffed bunny in the first location. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

This scenario is an example of the A-not-B error, where an infant continues to search for an object in the first location it was hidden, despite seeing it moved to a new location. This error is common in infants who have not yet fully developed object permanence.

Question 6

The ability of an infant to re-enact an action that they observed earlier is called

Accepted Answer

Deferred imitation is the ability of an infant to reproduce an action they have observed at a later time, indicating memory and learning.

Question 7

The _______ view asserts that infants have greater innate cognitive ability than Piaget assumed.

Accepted Answer

The nativist view suggests that infants are born with significant innate cognitive abilities, which contrasts with Piaget's theory that cognitive development is primarily a result of interaction with the environment.

Question 8

Violation-of-expectation experiments have been used to examine whether infants

Accepted Answer

Violation-of-expectation experiments are designed to test whether infants have an innate understanding of physical principles, such as gravity, by observing their reactions to events that defy these principles.

Question 9

A researcher shows 4-month-old Asako a sieve with relatively large holes. First, the researcher drops rocks onto the sieve, and the rocks do not pass through. Next, the researcher pours sand on another sieve that looks exactly the same but has a transparent barrier so that the sand does not pass through. What do you think the researcher is testing with this experiment?

Accepted Answer

The researcher is testing Asako's understanding of solidity and substance, as the experiment involves observing whether Asako can differentiate between objects that should pass through the sieve based on their physical properties.

Question 10

Five-month-old Shaheen does not look longer when he sees an object "floating" in air without support. This would refute a claim that he

Accepted Answer

Five-month-old Shaheen not reacting to an object "floating" in air suggests he does not have an innate understanding of gravity and support, as he does not find the lack of support surprising.

Question 11

A researcher who believes that infants are hardwired to understand certain concepts such as object permanence or gravity is most likely a proponent of

Accepted Answer

The nativist view suggests that certain skills or abilities are innate and hardwired into the brain at birth, such as understanding object permanence or gravity.

Question 12

In an approximate number sense experiment, researchers observed that 9-month-old Jasmine was able to distinguish number arrays that differed by a ratio of 2:3, while 6-month-old Kylie was not. What can we conclude about the about the two infants' number sense?

Accepted Answer

Jasmine's ability to distinguish number arrays with a 2:3 ratio suggests her approximate number sense is more developed than Kylie's, who cannot make such distinctions.

Question 13

According to critics of the nativist view of cognitive development, which is a possible alternative explanation of infants' longer looking times during experiments?

Accepted Answer

Infants' longer looking times may be due to their attention being drawn to perceptual features of the stimulus, rather than reflecting innate expectations, which challenges the nativist view.

Question 14

How might a proponent of a developmental systems view explain an infant's lack of success in the traditional A-not-B task as described by Piaget?

Accepted Answer

A developmental systems view would consider multiple factors, such as the infant's tendency to repeat actions (perseveration) and the influence of feedback from previous actions, rather than solely attributing the error to a lack of understanding of object permanence.

Question 15

What do modified A-not-B experiments that involve manipulations of infants' posture demonstrate?

Accepted Answer

Modified A-not-B experiments show that sensory feedback, such as changes in posture, affects infants' performance, highlighting its importance in these tasks.

Question 16

Why do information-processing researchers sometimes examine infants' heart rate as an index of attention rather than (or in addition to) infants' gaze?

Accepted Answer

Looking at something alone does not necessarily mean that the infant is processing information about the stimulus.

Question 17

The stage of attention when an infant starts to process stimuli and learning occurs is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Sustained attention is the stage where infants begin to process stimuli more deeply, allowing for learning and cognitive development to occur.

Question 18

A researcher notes that 9-month-old Sebastian is watching a picture and his heart rate has steadily slowed down from when the stimulus was first presented. What is the researcher's mostly likely interpretation?

Accepted Answer

Sebastian's steady heart rate slowing down indicates he is processing the stimulus and is in the sustained attention phase, where focused attention is maintained.

Question 19

_______ is the degree to which something is attractive or noticeable to an infant.

Accepted Answer

Stimulus salience refers to how much a stimulus stands out and captures attention, making it attractive or noticeable to an infant.

Question 20

An experimenter finds that 3-month-old Ava is better able to discriminate faces when seeing the faces paired with their talking voices compared to seeing the faces alone. This is evidence in support of the _______ hypothesis.

Accepted Answer

The intersensory redundancy hypothesis suggests that infants are better at processing information when it is presented through multiple sensory modalities, such as both visual and auditory, rather than through a single modality. Ava's improved ability to discriminate faces when paired with voices supports this hypothesis.

Quiz 5: Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood