Exam 5: Physical and Cognitive Development in the First Two Years

Piaget's work regarding the knowledge that infants possess has been criticized because he relied on the limited motor abilities of infants.

Which of the following accurately describes what Wyatt, a 14­month­old, will do on being confronted with a steep slope when he is still a novice (new) walker?

In regard to toilet training:

What is meant by the statement; "In late infancy, children begin to think representationally"?

The current thinking on inborn cognitive capabilities is:

During the first year, children's heads:

Perceptual motor exploration is essential for increasing knowledge about, and control over, an infant's environment. Discuss studies of the development of reaching and grasping skills as they relate to an infant's increased knowledge of, and greater control over, his environment.

A spurt of prefrontal cortical development has been observed to occur:

How does research on children adopted from Romanian orphanages contribute to under­ standings of the relationship between brain development and experience? In your answer, be sure to discuss how the timing of early experiences may influence brain development.

Brain development during the second year of life:

Placing babies to sleep on their backs has had the unexpected effect of delaying the onset of crawling.

The finding that children look to the spot where a train disappears into a tunnel rather than toward the end of the tunnel where the train should appear challenges Piaget's theory.

What task has traditionally been used to assess object permanence? How else has object permanence been assessed in infants? What conclusions can be drawn from the results of studies using these approaches?

Frank's son, Harry, is 10 months old. Frank is trying to teach Harry to feed himself and has become frustrated because Harry does not want to do anything other than bang the spoon on the table. What should Frank do?

What separates the first two substages of the sensorimotor stage from secondary circular reactions?

Infants no longer reach for an object beyond their reach at about:

Perseveration refers to the infant's tendency to:

A criticism of traditional Piagetian tasks is that:

How does a child's understanding of object permanence change during stages 5 and 6?

Discuss the memory development that occurs during the period between 2½ and 18 months of age.