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Infants and toddlers: Cognitive Development
Chapter Objectives
After this reading, you should be able to:
Examine Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Describe the way information is processed.
Describe the development of speech and language milestones at this age.
INTRODUCTION
Infant and toddler development overall is fast and complex, and cognitive development is no exception! As the brain grows, many skills are developed and refined. This includes such skills as maintaining attention, problem solving, memory and representation. You can find details of these skills and their indicators in Domain 4 in the Continuum of Development (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014) linked on the course shell.
Several theorists have contributed to our understanding of human cognition.In this chapter we will explore and their perspectives. Cognition is the “mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses” (as cited in Lally & Valentine-French, 2019).
The theorists we will be learning about in this reading are Jean Piaget, Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, and Lev Vygotsky.
For Child and Youth Care Practitioners (CYCPs) the understanding of how learning and thoughts develop for infants and toddlers can provide a wealth of information we can use when planning and adapting activities and interventions for infants and toddlers, and later age groups. Knowledge of learning, memory, and stages of cognitive development can provide key information.
Our understanding that everyday interactions (such as the concept of Serve and Return (Harvard University, 2025) and meaning-making through daily life events, can support brain development and our ability to adapt and engage in activities through supporting learning adds to our practice in starting where a child is at. More on interactions next week.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
Previously, you were introduced to Jean Piaget’s perspectives on cognitive development. Piaget is the most noted theorist when it comes to children’s cognitive development. He believed that children’s cognition develops in stages.
He explained this growth in the following stages:
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth through 2 years old)
Preoperational Stage (2-7 years old)
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years old)
Formal Operational Stage (12 years old- adulthood)
In this week’s reading we will focus on his first stage which occurs in infancy and the toddler years. We will also examine more closely the aspects of his theories that apply to cognitive development during infancy and toddlerhood. These include the six substages of sensorimotor development: Schemas, assimilation, accommodation, equilibrium, disequilibrium and object permanence. Then, we will explore other theories and theorists that relate to cognitive development.
Schema, Assimilation, and Accommodation
Jean Piaget was one of the first theorists to map out and describe the ways in which children’s thought processes differ from those of adults. More specifically, he identified that children of differing ages interpret the world differently. He stressed that cognitive development occurs through constant interaction between their maturation and their experiences of the world, and that children are naturally curious. They want to make sense of their experiences, and in doing so, construct their understanding of the world. They are like scientists and construct theories about the world.
Piaget identified that knowledge and understanding moves from physical or concrete understanding of abstract thinking. Jean Piaget believed that we are continuously trying to maintain cognitive equilibrium, or a balance, in what we see and what we know (Piaget, 1954, as cited in Paris, Ricardo, Rymond, & Johnson, 2021). Children have much more of a challenge in maintaining this balance because they are constantly being confronted with new situations, new words, new objects, and so forth. All this new information needs to be organized; a framework for organizing information is referred to as a schema.
A child collects this knowledge together in schemas which help them to navigate events and relationships. In infancy, most schemas relate to their own actions: How can I control my body? How do parts of my body relate to each other? How can I use my body to manipulate objects? For example, infants eventually learn how to control their hands to interact with objects external to them. Then children’s thinking and understanding increases in complexity as they learn that the world can be represented through words, gestures, objects and concepts.
Children develop schemata through the processes of assimilation and accommodation to understand their world.
Assimilation and accommodation
These two processes, identified by Piaget, work together. When faced with something new, a child may demonstrate assimilation, which is incorporating the new information into an existing schema.
Perhaps a child’s family has a dog, so the child develops a schema for ‘dog.’ This includes information about the dog including physical characteristics such four legs, a tail, fur, the food it eats and its name. Then the child meets a neighbour’s dog. The child observes that the dog does not look exactly like their family dog and learns that it has a different name than their family pet, but they can readily make these mental adjustments and add the neighbour’s dog into their schema for dogs.
One day, when out on a walk in the neighbourhood the child sees a cat sitting in a window. The child sees that this creature has four legs, a tail and is covered in fur. The child, accessing their schema for dogs, points to the cat and says ‘dog!’ (When relating to speech and language, this is also known as over-extension). The family explains that this is not a dog, but rather a cat. In this case this new information cannot be assimilated into the existing schema for dogs so a new category is created for cats. The child would add information about the characteristics of cats, the fact that they are pets, they are given names and eat special food. This is an example of accommodation. New experiences of cats and dogs will continue to be assimilated into these schemas and the child will create new schemas to organize information about other animals.
For example, recognizing that a horse is different than a zebra means the child has accommodated, and now the child has both a zebra schema and a horse schema. Even as adults we continue to try to make sense of new situations by determining whether they fit into our old way of thinking (assimilation) or whether we need to modify our thoughts (accommodation).
These examples illustrate Piaget’s perspective that learning occurs through interaction between maturity and their experiences of the world. In their cognitive development children frequently encounter situations where it is simply not possible to assimilate an experience into an existing schema or category, illustrated in the image below.
Piaget described equilibrium as a period when accommodation and assimilation are usually in balance but sometimes more time is spent on accommodating than assimilating. The balance is upset and he referred to this as disequilibrium. This occurs when outmoded ways of thinking are replaced by more advanced schemas. As far as theories, they may find a critical flaw in their theory making it no longer effective to make predictions about the world. It is time to develop a new theory. This happens at three different times over the life span at age 2, 7 and 11. Piaget identified 4 stages of cognitive development which all children go through in sequence. Each stage is marked by a distinct way of understanding the world.
Piaget described intelligence in infancy as sensorimotor or based on direct, physical contact. Infants taste, feel, pound, push,hear,andmoveinordertoexperiencetheworld.
Let’sexplorethetransitioninfantsmakefromrespondingtotheexternalworld reflexively as newborns to solving problems using mental strategies as two years old. Piaget identified six substages with in the sensorimotor stage of development.
These substages represent a distinct way of representing the world.While Piagetmaintained that all children move through the stages in order, the ages may vary from child to child. Thus, the ages listed in the table below are only approximate.
Piaget’s Six Stages of Sensorimotor Development
Table: Piaget’s Six Stages of Sensorimotor Development (adapted from Paris et al., 2021). Click on the image to enlarge.
Object Permanence
One necessary modification would be when children develop object permanence. Infants seem to be able to recognize that objects have permanence at much younger ages than Piaget proposed (even as young as 3.5 months of age).
Object permanence is the understanding that even if something is out of sight, it still exists (Bogartz, Shinskey, & Schilling, 2000 as cited in Ramoo, 2022.). According to Piaget, young infants do not remember an object after it has been removed from sight. Piaget studied infants’ reactions when a toy was first shown to an infant and then hidden under a blanket. Infants who had already developed object permanence would reach for the hidden toy, indicating that they knew it still existed, whereas infants who had not developed object permanence would appear confused. Piaget emphasizes this construct because it was an objective way for children to demonstrate that they can mentally represent their world. Children have typically acquired this milestone by 8 months. Once toddlers have mastered object permanence, they enjoy games like hide and seek, and they realize that when someone leaves the room they will come back. Toddlers also point to pictures in books and look in appropriate places when you ask them to find objects.
The A-not-B Error
The data collected in more contemporary research (see examples below) does not always support Piaget’s claim that certain processes are crucial in transitions from one stage to the next. For example, in Piaget’s theory, an important feature in the progression into substage 4, coordination of secondary circular reactions, is an infant’s inclination to search for a hidden object in a familiar location rather than to look for the object in a new location.
Thus, if a toy is hidden twice, first at location A and then at location B, 8-12-month-old infants search correctly at location A initially. But when the toy is subsequently hidden at location B, they make the mistake of continuing to search for it at location A. A-not B error is the term used to describe this common mistake. Older infants are less likely to make the A-not-B error because their concept of object permanence is more complete. Researchers have found, however, that the A-not B error does not show up consistently (Sophian, 1985, as cited in Paris et al., 2021). The evidence indicates that A-not-B errors are sensitive to the delay between hiding the object at B and the infant’s attempt to find it (Diamond, 1985, as cited in Paris et al., 2021). Thus, the A-not-B error might be due to a failure in memory. Another explanation is that infants tend to repeat a previous motor behaviour (Clearfield et al., 2006; Smith, 1999, as cited in Paris et al., 2021).
Vygotsky: Development is Determined By Environmental Factors
Piaget certainly developed many theories during his career, but they have also received a great deal of criticism. Many believe that Piaget ignored the significant influence that society and culture have in shaping a child’s development, and focused only on progressing through stages.
Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), another child development researcher working at the same time as Piaget, concentrated more on the child’s immediate social and cultural environment and their interactions with adults and peers. He argued that development occurred first through children’s immediate social interactions, and then moved to the individual level as they began to internalize their learning. While Piaget saw the child as actively discovering the world through individual interactions with it, Vygotsky saw the child as more of an apprentice, learning through a social environment of others who had more experience and were sensitive to the child’s needs and abilities (Leon, n.d. as cited in Pye, Scoffin, Quade, & Krieg, 2022).
His sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. He believed that through guided participation known as scaffolding, with a teacher or capable peer, a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD; Lally & Valentine-French, 2019). His belief was that development occurred first through children’s immediate social interactions, and then moved to the individual level as they began to internalize their learning (Leon, n.d. as cited in as cited in Pye, et al., 2022). A good CYCP, caregiver, teacher, etc. identifies a child’s ZPD and helps the child stretch beyond it. Then the adult (CYCP, caregiver) gradually withdraws support until the child can then perform the task unaided. Researchers have applied the metaphor of scaffolds (the temporary platforms on which construction workers stand) to this way of teaching. Scaffolding is the temporary support that caregivers (or CYCPs, etc.) give a child to do a task.
When infants, children and adults are presented with a strong or unfamiliar stimulus, an orienting response usually occurs. The person reacts, looks at the stimulus and experiences changes in heart rate and brain wave activity. These indicate that the person has noticed the stimulus. After repeated presentations they become familiar with it and the response disappears. This is referred to as habituation. For newly born infants, everything in their environment is unfamiliar; the doorbell, a dog barking, the television, as examples. The infant may react to these stimuli, however, within a few days an infant may appear to hardly notice them. This means they have become accustomed or habituated to them.
Dishabituation occurs when a person becomes actively aware of the stimulus again. Orientation is important to keep us safe, but constantly responding to an insignificant stimulus is unnecessary so habituation keeps infants from wasting energy on insignificant events (Rovee-Collier, 1987). An infant may start to lose interest in playing peek a boo, but if you change the object that is hiding or the expression on your face they may become interested again.
Next week, we’ll talk about how the concept of serve and return through interactions with others can also support learning and brain development.
Theories of learning and memory
Ivan Pavlov
In the early part of the 20th century, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), was studying the digestive system of dogs when he noticed an interesting behavioural phenomenon: The dogs began to salivate when the lab technicians who normally fed them entered the room, even though the dogs had not yet received any food. Pavlov realized that the dogs were salivating because they learned that they were about to be fed; the dogs had begun to associate the arrival of the technicians with the food that soon followed their appearance in the room. The keyword here is “learned.” A learned response is called a “conditioned” response.
Pavlov began to experiment with this “psychic” reflex. He began to ring a bell, for instance, prior to introducing the food. Sure enough, after making this connection several times, the dogs could be made to salivate to the sound of a bell. Once the bell had become an event to which the dogs had learned to salivate, it was called a conditioned stimulus. The act of salivating to a bell was a response that had also been learned, now termed in Pavlov’s jargon, a conditioned response.
Notice that the response, salivation, is the same whether it is conditioned or unconditioned (unlearned or natural). What changed is the stimulus to which the dog salivates. One is natural (unconditioned) and one is learned (conditioned). The theory is referred to as Classical Conditioning.
Image: Pavlov’s experiments with dogs and conditioning. (Image by Maxxl² is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Let’s think about how classical conditioning is used on humans. One of the most widespread applications of classical conditioning principles was brought to us by the psychologist, John B. Watson (Leon, n.d. as cited in Pye, et al., 2022).
Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a form of learning whereby a conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes associated with an unrelated unconditioned stimulus (US), in order to produce a behavioural response known as a conditioned response (CR). The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus is usually a biologically significant stimulus such as food or pain that elicits an unconditioned response (UR) from the start. The conditioned stimulus is usually neutral and produces no particular response at first, but after conditioning, it elicits the conditioned response.
If we look at Pavlov’s experiment, we can identify these four factors at work:
The UR was the salivation of dogs in response to seeing or smelling their food. The US was the sight or smell of the food itself.
The CS was the ringing of the bell. During conditioning, every time the animal was given food, the bell was rung. This was repeated during several trials. After some time, the dog learned to associate the ringing of the bell with food and to respond by salivating.
After the conditioning period was finished, the dog would respond by salivating when the bell was rung, even when the unconditioned stimulus (the food) was absent.
The CR, therefore, was the salivation of the dogs in response to the conditioned stimulus (the ringing of the bell).
(Leon, n.d., as cited in Pye, et al., 2022).
NeurologicalResponsetoConditioning
Consider how the conditioned response occurs in the brain. When a dog sees food, the visual and olfactory stimuli send information to the brain through their respective neural pathways, ultimately activating the salivary glands to secrete saliva. This reaction is a natural biological process as saliva aids in the digestion of food. When a dog hears a buzzer and at the same time sees food, the auditory stimuli activate the associated neural pathways. However, since these pathways are being activated at the same time as the other neural pathways, there are weak synapse reactions that occur between the auditory stimuli and the behavioural response. Over time, these synapses are strengthened so that it only takes the sound of a buzzer toactivate thepathway leading to salivation.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is a theory of behaviourism, a learning perspective that focuses on changes in an individual’s observable behaviours. In operant conditioning theory, new or continued behaviours are impacted by new or continued consequences. Research regarding this principle of learning was first studied by Edward L. Thorndike in the late 1800’s, then brought to popularity influencing research by psychologist B.F. Skinner in the mid-1900’s. Much of this research informs current practices in human behaviour and interaction.
Skinner’s Research
Almost half a century after Thorndike’s first publication of the principles of operant conditioning, Skinner attempted to prove an extension to this theory—that all behaviours were in some way a result of operant conditioning. Skinner theorized that if a behaviour is followed by reinforcement, that behaviour is more likely to be repeated, but if it is followed by punishment, it is less likely to be repeated. He also believed that this learned association could end, or become extinct if the reinforcement or punishment was removed. To prove this, he placed rats in a box with a lever that when tapped would release a pellet of food. Over time, the amount of time it took for the rat to find the lever and press it became shorter and shorter until finally, the rat would spend most of its time near the lever eating. This behaviour became less consistent when the relationship between the lever and the food was compromised. This basic theory of operant conditioning is still used by psychologists, scientists, and educators today.
Shaping, Reinforcement Principles, and Schedules of Reinforcement
Operant conditioning can be viewed as a process of action and consequence. Skinner used this basic principle to study the possible scope and scale of the influence of operant conditioning on animal behaviour. His experiments used shaping, reinforcement, and reinforcement schedules in order to prove the importance of the relationship that animals form between behaviours and results. All of these practices concern the setup of an experiment. Shaping is the conditioning paradigm of an experiment. The form of the experiment in successive trials is gradually changed to elicit a desired target behaviour. This is accomplished through reinforcement, or reward, of the segments of the target behaviour, and can be tested using a large variety of actions and rewards. The experiments were taken a step further to include different schedules of reinforcement that become more complicated as the trials continued. By testing different reinforcement schedules, Skinner learned valuable information about the best ways to encourage a specific behaviour, or the most effective ways to create a long-lasting behaviour. Much of this research has been replicated on humans, and now informs practices in various environments of human behaviour (Leon, n.d., as cited in Pye, et al., 2022).
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement involves adding something to the situation in order to encourage a behaviour. Other times, taking something away from a situation can be reinforcing. For example, the loud, annoying buzzer on your alarm clock encourages you to get up so that you can turn it off and get rid of the noise. Children behave in a way to get their caregivers to do something e.g., whining and often, caregivers give in just to stop the whining. In these instances, negative reinforcement has been used.
The table below provides a visual summary of operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning tends to work best if you focus on trying to encourage a behaviour or move a person into the direction you want them to go rather than telling them what not to do. Reinforcers are used to encourage a behaviour; punishers are used to stop behaviour. A punisher is anything that follows an act and decreases the chance it will reoccur. But often a punished behaviour doesn’t really go away. It is just suppressed and may reoccur whenever the threat of punishment is removed.
Another problem with punishment is that when a person focuses on punishing a negative behaviour, they may find it hard to see what the other does right or well. Punishment is stigmatizing; when punished, some start to see themselves as bad and give up trying to change.
Reinforcement can occur in a predictable way, such as after every desired action is performed, or intermittently, after the behaviour is performed a number of times or the first time it is performed after a certain amount of time. The schedule of reinforcement has an impact on how long a behaviour continues after reinforcement is discontinued. So a caregiver who has rewarded a child’s actions, each time may find that the child gives up very quickly if a reward is not immediately forthcoming.
Think about the kinds of behaviours that may be learned through classical and operant conditioning. Sometimes, very complex behaviours are learned quickly and without direct reinforcement.
We’ll learn more in next week’s reading when we explore social and emotional development, but for now we’ll focus on how we process information and memory.
Information processing and memory
Infants learn to process information fairly quickly. When they are first brought home, everything is new and startling: the family dog, the doorbell, the television as examples. However, within a few days the infant may hardly seem to notice them and may even sleep through such sounds. They have learned to ignore sounds which had once startled them. This capacity helps to reduce stress and preserve energy for other tasks.
Information Processing Approach
This is an approach to human cognition which makes a distinction between computer hardware and computer software. This approach arose in the 1960s and is now considered a useful one to explain human cognition (Kail & Bisanz, 1992, as cited in Paris et al., 2021).
This approach sees human thinking as based on both mental hardware and mental software.
Mental hardware refers to neural structures that are built in and allow the mind to operate. Mental hardware has three components: sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory.
Sensory memory refers to information which is held in a raw and unanalyzed form, literally for a few seconds.
Working memory is the site of ongoing cognitive activity. Some theorists compare this to a carpenter’s bench where there is space for storing materials as well as space to work with them (sawing, nailing, gluing etc.) (Klatzky, 1980).
Long term memory refers to the limitless, permanent storage of knowledge of the world. It is like a computer’s hard drive. Our long term memory stores facts (Ottawa is the capital of Canada), personal information (my neighbours have a new dog), and skills (how to ride a bike).
Some researchers have noted other forms of memory which include:
procedural memory which is memory of how to do things
semantic memory which is memory for particular facts
autobiographical memory which is memory for specific events which have occurred for an individual.
Speech and Language Milestones
Another area of learning, is the development of language, a system of communication that uses symbols in a regular way to create meaning. Language gives us the ability to communicate to others by talking, reading, and writing. Although other species have at least some ability to communicate, none of them have language.
Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child describes the process of ‘serve and return,’ which outlines how back-and-forth interactions between babies and an adult (such as a caregiver, parent, etc.) support brain development early on, and demonstrate the interconnectedness of social and cognitive development. Having a simple conversation, regardless of an infant or toddler’s current language skills, can strengthen language development. Having said that, not every caregiver can do this regularly.
This is an example of how social determinants of health, such as social inclusion, income, and access to health care can have an impact on development. They describe “significant stress brought on by financial challenges, a lack of social connections, or chronic health issues can make responsive caregiving more difficult, and many caregivers experience several of these challenges at once” (Center on the Developing Child, 2025). Regardless, of how often a caregiver can practice serve and return, any opportunity is still beneficial!
Using theories of cognitive development, the progression of learning and understanding words provides additional milestones to identify. The image below gives a summary of these milestones. Click the image to enlarge.
There are many activities that can support toddlers in learning words, and developing their speech.
These can include:
Tell the child what you are doing. Say, “I am changing your diaper” and “I’m washing your face” when interacting with the child, speaking slowly and clearly. Tell them the names of favourite toys and other common objects around the house.
To help the child’s brain develop, play or read together instead of letting them watch TV, movies, or play games on a screen. When playing or reading with a child, leave the TV off. Even a show playing in the background matters! It keeps the child—and you—from focusing on and learning the most from the activity you are sharing.
Read to the child every day from books with colourful pictures, and point to the pictures while you read. Read books that are made of cloth or cardboard so that the child can hold them and turn the pages. Visit the library regularly.
Take turns when talking, such as asking the child a question and waiting for an answer. Let them take the lead in conversations. For example, if the child says “da-da-da,” repeat it to show that you are picking up on the conversation.
Praise the child when they correctly label a familiar object. When the child says “doggie” and points to a dog, reply, “yes, that is a doggie.”
Don’t imitate the child’s unclear speech, constantly correct, or embarrass the child by making them repeat unclear words, especially when other people are around. Correct the child in a positive way by rephrasing, repeating, and relabeling.
Sing simple songs with the child, such as “Happy Birthday.” Encourage the child to talk with others, including other children his or her age.
The domain of cognitive development can be seen as a Eurocentric approach to learning and cognition.
Different cultures emphasize different ways of learning, and are more integrated and holistic than the Western theories of cognitive development.
Indigenous Perspectives
While there is much diversity among Indigenous Peoples, and therefore among Indigenous way of knowing, teaching, or learning, many Indigenous education scholars have argued there are also some notable commonalities among Indigenous societies worldwide (Cajete, 1994; Deloria & Wildcat, 2001; Hampton, 1993; Henderson, 2002; Marker, 2004 as cited in Antoine, Mason, Mason, Palahicky & Rodriguez de France, 2018).
Indigenous ways of knowing, teaching, and learning are experiential because they emphasize learning by doing. In traditional pre-contact societies, young people learned how to participate as adult members of their community by practicing the tasks and skills they would need to perform as adults. In a contemporary setting, an emphasis on experiential learning means a preference for learning through observation, action, reflection, and further action.
Learning is also connected to a specific place, and thus knowledge is situated in relationship to a location, experience, and group of people.
In Indigenous communities, the most respected educators have always been Traditionalists and Knowledge Keepers. In pre-contact societies, Traditionalists had clear roles to play in passing on wisdom and knowledge to youth, and that relationship is still honoured and practiced today. Some Traditionalists are the knowledge holders of 60 different Indigenous languages in Canada, and language is a key component of Indigenous culture that should be integrated into our practices if we are to move toward Indigenization or decolonization of our practice.
This information is helpful for CYCPs, by acknowledging that personal experience is a highly valuable type of knowledge and method of learning, and creating opportunities within our activities, interactions, and interventions for children to share and learn from direct experience, their environment, and their community and relations.
For Child and Youth Care Practitioners (CYCPs) our understanding of learning, memory, and stages of cognitive development, along with opportunities to learn from the environment, community, and interactions with others, can provide key information to the understanding of how learning and thoughts develop for infants and toddlers can provide information relevant to planning and adapting activities and interventions for children.
Summary
In this chapter we:
Examined Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
Described the way information is processed.
Described the development of speech and language milestones at this age.
Corporate Author or Organization. (Year, Month Date). Title of web page in italics: Capitalize first word in title and subtitle. Publisher of website. Hyperlinked URL
