Question 1

According to Piaget's theory, young infants do not understand that people and objects exist when they cannot be seen. This is known as __________.

Accepted Answer

Piaget's first stage is the sensorimotor stage. This stage begins at birth with reflexive actions and continues through the achievement of mental representations. Object permanence is the concept that people and objects exist even when they cannot be seen.

Question 2

According to Piaget's theory, children attain the ability to display deferred imitation in __________ of the sensorimotor stage.

Accepted Answer

In the Piagetian view, children display deferred imitation in Substage 6 of the sensorimotor period. In deferred imitation, a person who is no longer present is imitated.

Question 3

The information-processing approach to cognitive development examines three processes in terms of children's ability to process information: __________, __________, and __________.

Accepted Answer

Information-processing approaches to the study of cognitive development seek to learn how individuals receive, organize, store, and retrieve information. These are accomplished through encoding, storage, and retrieval processes.

Question 4

For Ashley's second birthday, her family went on a trip to Disney World, but now, just four years later, Ashley has little or no memory of this family trip. Ashley's inability to remember this major family excursion is due to __________.

Accepted Answer

Infantile amnesia is the lack of memory for experiences occurring before 3 years of age.

Question 5

Which measures mental and motor abilities in infants from 2 to 24 months?

Accepted Answer

The Bayley Scales of Infant Development evaluate an infant's mental and motor development from 2 to 24 months.

Question 6

Claude gets his mother's attention by making a kind of grunting noise and then looks at the ball just out of his reach. Claude's attempt to communicate his desire for the ball is an example of __________.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of prelinguistic communication, communication through sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitation, and other nonlinguistic means.

Question 7

Alfie calls for the "book" when he wants the menu in the neighborhood diner. Alfie's use of the word book to include the menu best illustrates which characterization of early speech?

Accepted Answer

All of these answers represent characterizations of early speech; however, the example best illustrates the use of overextension, or the broad application or overgeneralization of a word. Alfie applies the word book broadly to include the diner's menu.

Question 8

In the nativist approach to language development, theorist Noam Chomsky suggests that an innate mechanism directs language development. This neural system is called a(n) __________.

Accepted Answer

The nativist approach to language development is a theory that a genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development. Linguist Noam Chomsky hypothesized that a language acquisition device or a neural system that permits the understanding of language provides a child with the strategies and techniques for learning the language to which the child is exposed.

Question 9

Martha went from person to person asking whether they wanted some birthday cake, but when she asked the youngest children at the party, her voice pitch rose and she spoke with a type of singing quality. Martha was utilizing __________ with the children present.

Accepted Answer

Martha was using infant-directed speech. Infant-directed speech is a shift in language to a style of speech that characterizes much of the verbal communication directed toward infants. The term infant-directed speech is a gender-free term used in place of the former motherese.

Question 10

Research on deaf infants reveals which of the following comparisons in language development when compared with non-deaf infants?

Accepted Answer

The process of language acquisition for deaf children through signing has some striking similarities with the process of language acquisition for non-deaf children. Consider the fact that deaf children babble, using signs much as non-deaf children babble. In addition, mothers of deaf children also employ the use of infant-directed speech, in this case using a slower tempo for signing and often repeating signs.

Question 11

Piaget's theory of cognitive development comprises four universal stages that occur in a fixed order from birth through adolescence. These are, in chronological order, __________, __________, __________, and __________.

Accepted Answer

Piaget's theory is a stage-based theory that occurs in a fixed order from birth through adolescence. The four universal stages are, in order, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Question 12

Piaget's views of the ways infants learn could be summed up in which of the following equations?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's theory argues against knowledge from facts communicated by others, as well as through sensation or perception. Instead, Piaget espoused that action equals knowledge.

Question 13

The first time Aiesha saw a flying squirrel, she called it a bird. Aiesha is __________ the squirrel to her existing schema of bird.

Accepted Answer

Assimilation is the process by which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking. In this example, Aiesha is relating the flying squirrel to her current schema that a flying animal is a bird.

Question 14

Twelve-month-old Mitchell loves to play with his kickball. One day his father came home with a new ball for him to enjoy. Mitchell jumped up and down and shouted gleefully, "Kickball!" His father said, "No, Mitchell, this is a soccer ball." Mitchell is __________ the soccer ball to his existing schema of kickball.

Accepted Answer

Assimilation is the process by which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking. In this example, Mitchell is relating the soccer ball to his current schema of a ball of a certain size as a kickball.

Question 15

The first time 10-month-old Daniel tried to use a cup and a straw, he tipped the whole cup up like a bottle and got very wet. His mother quickly intervened and put the cup in an upright position. Soon, Daniel learned that he may tip up the bottle, but cups and straws must remain in an upright position. Daniel's modification to his drinking schema is the result of a(n) __________.

Accepted Answer

Accommodation involves changes in ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events. In this example, the new encounter is a cup and straw, as opposed to the familiar bottle. At first, Daniel treats the cup like a bottle, but he changes his way of thinking and therefore uses the cup and straw differently than he uses the bottle.

Question 16

According to Piaget, the earliest schemas are primarily limited to the __________ with which we are all born, such as sucking and rooting.

Accepted Answer

Schemas are, at first, related to sensorimotor activity, and the earliest schemas are primarily limited to reflexes.

Question 17

Three-week-old Alex will suck on anything that touches his lips whether it is his hand, his father's back, a cloth diaper, or a toy. This indiscriminate sucking is an example of a __________.

Accepted Answer

The earliest schemas are reflexes, and these simple reflexes represent the first substage of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. In this example, Alex is displaying the sucking reflex.

Question 18

Nicholas was a breastfed baby. However, when he was 3 weeks old, his mother introduced him to a bottle. Nicholas quickly learned to modify his __________ schema to the different sucking patterns required by the bottle.

Accepted Answer

The earliest schemas are reflexes, and these simple reflexes represent the first substage of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. In this example, Nicholas is modifying his sucking reflex.

Question 19

According to Piaget, a __________ is an activity that permits the construction of cognitive schemas through the repetition of a changed motor event.

Accepted Answer

Circular reactions are repetition of chance motor events that help a baby start building cognitive schemas.

Question 20

Three-month-old Lionel loved to suck on his fingers. He was quite fond of putting his fingers in his mouth and then pulling them out only to look them over for a minute or two before putting them back in his mouth. He repeated this behavior over and over. Lionel's behavior with his fingers illustrates a __________.

Accepted Answer

Circular reactions are repetition of chance motor events that help a baby start building cognitive schemas. In this example, Lionel is repeating the event of putting his fingers to his mouth and pulling them out again.

Quiz 6: Cognitive Development in Infancy