Chapter 2

Cognitive
and Motor
Development

Domains of Human Development

Cognitive
Development

Motor
Development

There is a strong
relationship
between human intellectual
function and movement:
Any intellectual change is
also accompanied by a
change
in motor function.

Objectives
Describe Piagets Theory of Cognitive
Development.

Sensorimotor
Preoperations
Concrete Operations
Formal Operations
Postformal Operations

Explain two general theories of intellectual

development in adulthood.
Discuss intellectual decline in older
adulthood.
Describe the link between knowledge

Jean Piaget (1896 1980)

Swiss psychologist,
developmental theorist,
and philosopher
Interested in the
process of thinking
Established the clinical
method of research
1896-1980

Collected data during

question-and-answer
sessions

Four Stages of Piagets Theory

Stage

Age/Period of
Occurrence
Sensorimotor
Birth to 2 years
Preoperational
2 to 7 years
Concrete operational 7 to 11 years
Formal operational
Early to midadolescence
11 to 12 years

Piagets Theory
Adaptation
Cognitive development occurs thorugh
this process
Adjusting to the demands of the
environment and intellectualizing those
adjustments
Two facets of adaptation
Assimilation
Accommodation

Piagets Theory
Assimilation
Children interpret new experiences
based upon their present
interpretation of the world.
Child assimilates past experience
Past experience tells child to use
one hand to grab large ball because
it worked with rattles and smaller
objects.

Piagets Theory
Accommodation
Adjustments or modifications in the thinking
process that will become a part of a childs
new cognitive repetoire.
Child accommodates new information
Child is unable to grasp the ball with one
hand.
He accommodates by using two hands or
adapting the one-handed grasp.

daption = Assimilation + Accommodatio

Criticisms of Piagets Theory

Theory lacks scientific control.

Piaget used his own children to study.
Subjects were not studied across the lifespan.
Piaget may have underestimated a childs
capabilities.
Theory does not discern between
competency and performance.
Theory does not account for the influence of
motivation and emotion.
Stages of developoment were too broad.
Developoment is described, but never
explained.

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage
Substage

Age of Occurrence

1.

Exercise of reflexes

Birth to 1 month

2.

Primary circular reactions

1 to 4 months

3.

Secondary circular reactions

4 to 8 months

4.

Secondary schemata

8 to 12 months

5.

Tertiary circular reactions

12 to 18 months

6.

Invention of new means

through mental combinations

18 to 24 months

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage
EXERCISE OF REFLEXES
Birth through 1 month
Repetition of reflexes helps child to
form the foundation for cognitive
understanding
Reflexive movements are innate
Reflexive movements lead to new
behaviors

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage
PRIMARY CIRCULAR REACTIONS
End of month 1- month 4
Increased voluntary movement
Primary reactions because always
occur in close proximity to the infant
Circular reactions because conscious
effort to repeat movements

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage

SECONDARY CIRCULAR REACTIONS

4 months - 8 months
Continuation of primary circular reactions but
incorporation of more enduring behaviors
Example: Banging pots and pans
Integration of vision, hearing, grasping and
movement behaviors
Example: See rattle. Reach rattle. Shake
rattle.
Imitation behaviors
No permanence
Example: Remove object. Object is gone.

Object Permanence
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=BFUI
nSY2CeY&feature=related

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage SECONDARY SCHEMATA
8 months to 1 year
New behaviors facilitated by increasing
movement capabilities
Example: Crawling and creeping
Repetition of experimentation and trial-anderror exploration continue
Prediction of some actions and situations
Example: Parent rolls ball to child. Child roles
it back. Child anticipates parent rolling the
ball to him again.

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage
TERTIARY CIRCULAR REACTIONS
1 year -11/2 years
Active experimentation to acheive results / learn
First level of visualizing an object beyond its
immediate use
Example: Child sees the ball and knows she can have
fun, but also realizes she does not have to play with it
right now it will be there later.

Can distinguish self from others

Example: Child seeks help from immediate family
members.

Infancy ~ Sensorimotor
Stage

INVENTION OF NEW MEANS THROUGH

MENTAL COMBINATIONS

11/2 years - 2 years

Recognition of objects and others as
independent from self
Understanding of properties of an object
Examples: Size, shape, color, texture, weight, use

Semimental functioning: Thinking with the

body is replaced with thinking with the mind
Example: Child can recall an event without a physical
reanctment of what happened.

Summary: Infancy ~ Sensorimotor

Stage
Increasing awareness of the difference
between the self and others.
Recognition that objects continue to
exist even though they are no longer
in view.
Production of the mental images that
allow the contemplation of the past,
present, and future.

What Sensorimotor Substage is pictured here?

dynamicgraphics/Jupiterimages

What Sensorimotor Substage is pictured here?

What Sensorimotor Substage is pictured here?

(c) Brand X Pictures/PunchStock

What Sensorimotor Substage is pictured here?

(c) Photodisc

Early Childhood ~ Preoperational

Stage
2-7 years
Most significant development:
Verbal communication and language
development linked to improved motor
abilities

Most significant limitation:

Children are unable to think logically

Early Childhood ~
Preoperational Stage
Substage

Age of Occurrence

1. Preconceptual

2 to 4 years

2. Intuitive

4 to 7 years

Early Childhood ~ Preoperational

Stage
2-4 years

PRECONCEPTUAL

Use of symbols to represent someone/thing

Example: A rock represents a turtle

Pretend play common

Example: Reading to Baby. Putting Baby to sleep.

Egocentrism a serious deficiency of this stage

Socializing somewhat reducing egocentrism.

Flawed thinking

Example: Drooping flower is sad unrealistic.

Transductive reasoning

Example: Missed breakfast, so it cant be morning.

Early Childhood ~ Preoperational

Stage
4-7 years

INTUITIVE

Reduced egocentrism

Example: Better at sharing

Improvement in the use of symbols

Example: Use of symbols in mathematics

Incapable of conservation

Example: When ball of clay transformed into

elongated sausage child believes its bigger

Cannot consider multiple aspects of a

problem at one time

Example: Bumblebee phenomenon in soccer

Why is the activity pictured here an

example of Preconceptual Substage?

(c) Royalty Free/CORBIS

Conservation
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=YtL
EWVu815o&feature=related

Later Childhood ~
Concrete Operational Stage
7-11 years
Begins when child gains ability to conserve

Improved ability to focus on more than one

variable in problem solving situations
Example: Develop strategies in game situations

Can only focus on objects, events or

situations that are real or based on
experience
Example: Unable to examine hypothetical or
abstract situations mentally

Later Childhood ~
Concrete Operational Stage
Reversibility

Reversibility

Ability to mentally modify, organize, or even

reverse thought processes
Example: Can reverse the order of the ball as
they go through the tube

Later Childhood ~
Concrete Operational Stage
Seriation

Ability to arrange a set of variables by a

certain characteristic
Example: Recognize height can determine
position in a game of basketball

Learning is enhanced through

movement
Example: Piaget suggests teaching space
or distance by having child move through
space or distance

Later Childhood ~
Formal Operational Stage
Begins at 11-12 years
Able to consider ideas that are not based
on observable objects or experiences
Abstract ideas are possible
Never achieved by many individuals

Formal Operations
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3
6PpYPPZM&feature=related

Later Childhood ~
Formal Operational Stage
Interpropositional thought
Allows child to relate one or more parts of
a proposition or situation to another part
to arrive at a solution to a problem.
Applicable to complex movement
Example: Position of two players
represents onset of a particular play.
Ability to read interrelationship (i.e.,
possible movement pattern) facilitates
better counter play.

Later Childhood ~
Formal Operational Stage

Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
A problem-solving style that allows child
to choose between possible solutions
and then pick the best one
Aids in emotional development and
emerging values
Example: Child ponders, Do I follow the
crowd or do I want to fit in?

Adulthood ~ Postformal
Operations

Adulthood not considered by Piaget

Others (Arlin,1975; Rybash et al., 1986)
proposed a 5th stage to Piagets Theory

Discovery of new questions

Logical thinking about abstract ideas
Detect inconsistencies in ideas and attempt
to reconcile them

Exists in a minority of people

Highly educated
Culture that encourages new ideas and
freethinking

Adulthood ~ Theories of
Intellectual Development
Intellectual decline occur with age.
When, how much, why, what???

Growing field of study as baby

boomers become seniors.
Currently, two main theories
Total Intellectual Decline
Partial Intellectual Decline

Adulthood ~ Theories of
Intellectual Development
TOTAL INTELLECTUAL DECLINE
Traditional view of aging
Gradual, consistent, pervasive decline
in overall intellectual ability
throughout adult years
Lacks strong scientific support today
Studies partially backing this theory
Studies using Welchsler Adult Intelligence
Scale (WAIS)
Seattle Longitudinal Study

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
WAIS Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
11 components of intellectual ability
6 verbal, 5 performance

Found declines in intellect

Limitations
Test designed to assess psychopathological
behaviors not intellect
Reliability issues
Dated research

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
Seattle Longitudinal Study (1956-)
Participants: 5000+ participants aged 25 to 88
Measurement: 6 primary mental abilities
meaningful in daily work and life
Results:

Performance increased until late 30s or early 40s

Performance plateaued by mid 50s to early 60s
Declines began in late 60s
More decline when process was less central part of life
By age 88, all participants showed decline in at least
one intelligence ability, but none showed in all abilities

Conclusion: Few subjects showed global decline

in intelligence.

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
PARTIAL INTELLECTUAL
DECLINE
Widely accepted theory
Intellectual decline occurs in some
areas and not others
Much research support

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
Contextual perspective

Learning and memory depend on a large number

of non-cognitive and situational factors

Culture

Seniors in China are highly respected. Intellectual

decline in China is substantially less than in NA.

Self-fulfilling prophesy

Individuals who think negatively decline more

quickly.

Knowledge base

Greater base of information may helps offset

losses in processing efficiency.

Other factors

Ones goals, motivation, social activities, daily

routines, changes in emotion

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
Biological changes influence decline
Neural activation slows
Less efficient circulatory system

Brain decreases in size (variable)

Neuronal losses are very gradual

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
Type of memory influences decline
Implicit memory
Unintentional, automatic, without awareness
Tested without adult being aware of being tested
Develops until adulthood and shows no decline

Explicit memory
Deliberate and effortful
Tested by traditional tests of recall or recognition
Develops until adulthood but then shows decline

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
Time of learning influences memory
decline
Information learned early in life is easier
to retrieve
Information learned in later life more
susceptible to age-related decline

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
Time parameters influence decline
Decreased performance in timed
tasks
Older adults respond more slowly
Decline in speed of processing
information is well-documented

Adulthood ~ Theories ~
Intellectual Development
there are no simple rules
about when age differences in
memory will and will not
occur, and if they do, whether
differences will be small,
modest, or large
(Zacks et al.,
2000)

Adulthood ~ Theories ~ Intellectual Development

RECOMMENDATIONS
Practicing cognitive abilities will delay
or avoid decline.
A lifestyle that involves movement
can limit the decline of intellect.

Knowledge Development
and Sport Performance
How do children become experts athletes?

Knowledge Development
and Sport Performance
Two types of knowledge
Declarative knowledge
Factual information
What to do
Found in a novice performer

Procedural knowledge
Production system
How to do something
Found in an expert performer

Knowledge Development
and Sport Performance
French & Thomas, 1987
Purpose: Examine relationship between knowledge
development, skill development, and expertise.
Method: 8-12 year old basketball players of varied
skills; multiple instruments
Conclusion: Children learn what to do (i.e.
declarative knowledge) before they acquire the
physical skills to carry out their strategic plan
successfully (i.e. how to do it procedural
knowledge).
Ongoing Research: Best combination of motor and
cognitive instruction at what stages.