Deck 5: Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Question 1

According to Piaget, an infant who accidentally sucks her thumb, realizes that she likes it, and purposely repeats the behavior is demonstrating which substage of sensorimotor development?

A) Reflexes
B) Primary circular reactions
C) Secondary circular reactions
D) Coordination of secondary schemes

Answer 1

Primary circular reactions

Question 2

According to Piaget, the infant who reaches up to grasp her moving mobile repeatedly until finally she grabs hold of it is engaging in which technique in the sensorimotor substages?

A) Means-end behavior
B) Secondary circular reaction
C) Tertiary circular reaction
D) Reflexive actions

Answer 2

Secondary circular reaction

Question 3

In which of Piaget's sensorimotor substages is an infant who reaches under the couch to get his toy demonstrating?

A) Means-end behavior
B) Mental representation
C) Tertiary circular reactions
D) Reflexes

Answer 3

Means-end behavior

Question 4

Pediatricians are now screening 12-month-old children to see if they have developed object permanence. If they have not developed object permanence by this age, it could be an indicator of which developmental disability?

A) Autism
B) Mental retardation
C) Cerebral palsy
D) Spina bifida

Question 5

By sucking more vigorously in expectation of a contingency that has been given to them repeatedly, such as sugar water, newborn infants have demonstrated that they can learn. This is which method of learning?

A) Operant conditioning
B) Classical conditioning
C) Habituation
D) Dishabituation

Question 6

A 6-month-old infant randomly kicks her feet and discovers that there are bells on her right shoe. She begins to only kick her right foot to hear the sound of the bells. If placed in the same crib two weeks later, she will begin to kick her right foot. What will she be demonstrating by doing so?

A) Habituation
B) Memory
C) Dishabituation
D) Infantile amnesia

Question 7

What did G. J. Whitehurst's research on reading to toddlers demonstrate?

A) Reading to children in any fashion resulted in the same outcomes.
B) Dialogic reading helped children gain more vocabulary than typical reading.
C) Dialogic reading can hinder a child's natural ability to learn to read.
D) Toddlers can make vocabulary gains by looking at picture books.

Question 8

Noam Chomsky believed that everyone has an innate language processor, which he named the Language Acquisition Device or LAD. Which theory of language development is this?

A) The nativist view
B) The interactionist view
C) The behaviorist view
D) The biologist view

Question 9

Six month old Will is babbling in his high chair. Whenever he babbles the sound "da-da," his mother claps her hands and responds, "Will, you said Daddy!" Will's mother is reinforcing him to repeat the same utterance over and over. Which type of language theorist would say that language is shaped through such reinforcement?

A) Nativist
B) Interactionist
C) Behaviorist
D) Linguist

Question 10

Which theorists hypothesize that language development is part of a broader process of cognitive development and is influenced by both internal and external factors?

A) Interactionists
B) Linguists
C) Nativists
D) Behaviorists

Question 11

Sally unexpectedly runs into her sister with her 3-month-old nephew at the grocery store. She immediately begins to speak to her nephew in a high pitched, sing-songy voice, saying, "You are getting to be such a big boy!" What technique is Sally using that is seen throughout the world when talking to infants?

A) Expansion
B) Recasting
C) Infant-directed speech
D) Adult-directed speech

Question 12

When 1-year-old Andrew is asked if he would like milk or juice, he points to the juice bottle and says, "juice." His day care teacher replies, "Today you would like juice with lunch." Which language technique is the teacher using?

A) Recasting
B) Infant directed speech
C) Adult directed speech
D) Parentese

Question 13

In what order does language development proceed?

A) Babbling, cooing, expressive language, receptive language
B) Cooing, babbling, receptive language, expressive language
C) Babbling, first words, receptive language, expressive language
D) Cooing, babbling, telegraphic speech, expressive language

Question 14

Children whose parents talk to them often, read to them regularly, and use a wide range of words in their speech.

A) Begin to talk sooner
B) Use more complex sentences
C) Develop larger vocabularies
D) All of the above

Question 15

What is the ability to use sounds, signs, or symbols to communicate meaning called?

A) Receptive language
B) Expressive language
C) Gesturing
D) Expanding

Question 16

Manuel says, "Grandma," and waves good-bye. What is his use of a single word and a gesture to convey his message called?

A) Holophrases
B) Naming explosion
C) Inflections
D) Telegraphic

Question 17

What kinds of sentences do children produce between 18 and 24 months of age?

A) Fast mapping
B) Telegraphic
C) Egocentric
D) Pragmatic

Question 18

A child's first sentences are choppy and comprised of two or three words. What are these called?

A) Inflections
B) Phonemes
C) Telegraphic speech
D) Infant directed speech

Question 19

At what age do children have an understanding of between 20-30 words?

A) 2-3 months
B) 9-10 months
C) 12 months
D) 12-18 months

Question 20

What are children who live in bilingual homes likely to be able to do?

A) Know more vocabulary than their monolingual peers
B) Become affluent in two languages
C) Lag behind monolingual children in word knowledge
D) Read earlier than monolingual children

Question 21

Toddlers who speak using words linked to social relationships rather than objects are demonstrating which style of learning language?

A) Expressive style
B) Referential style
C) Interactionist style
D) Communicative style

Question 22

Which style of language learning is a child demonstrating if they are drawn to objects, spend more of their time in solitary play with objects, and interact with others mostly around objects?

A) Expressive
B) Referential
C) Social
D) Interactionist

Question 23

All babies throughout the world do which of the following with regard to language development?

A) They go through the same sequence of language development at the same rate.
B) They go through the same sequence of language development but the rate may be different depending upon where the child grows up.
C) They go through different sequences of language development at the same rate.
D) They go through different sequences at different rates depending upon where the child grows up.

Question 24

According to Piaget, what is the first stage of cognitive development, which can be divided into four substages?

A) Preoperational
B) Concrete operational
C) Formal operational
D) Sensorimotor

Question 25

Magdalena is 3 weeks old. She sucks instantly whenever anything is placed near her mouth whether it is her mother's breast, her hand, or her blanket. According to Piaget, this random sucking is an example of which technique in the sensorimotor substage?

A) Reflex
B) Circular reaction
C) Primary circular reaction
D) Secondary circular reaction

Question 26

What do primary circular reactions focus on?

A) The infant's own body
B) The outside world
C) The environment
D) The biological processes

Question 27

What do secondary circular reactions focus on?

A) The infant's own body
B) The outside world
C) The environment
D) Repetitive movements

Question 28

Five-month-old Averie loves shaking her toy bear in different ways to hear the different bell sounds it makes. According to Piaget, which technique in the sensorimotor stage is Averie demonstrating?

A) Reflex
B) Primary circular reaction
C) Secondary circular reaction
D) Tertiary circular reaction

Question 29

According to Piaget, what is problem solving in which several schemes are combined and coordinated to reach a single goal?

A) Target-directed behavior
B) Means-end behavior
C) Center-directed behavior
D) Focused behavior

Question 30

Martha attended her 4-year-old cousin's birthday party where the children played musical chairs. A few weeks later, Martha moved the chairs in her playroom in a circle, turned on her CD player and began to role play musical chairs. This deferred imitation demonstrates which technique in the sensorimotor substages?

A) Reflex
B) Beginning of mental representation
C) Coordination of secondary schemes
D) Tertiary circular reactions

Question 31

The infant who cries when her mother goes into another room, believing she is gone forever, may be demonstrating her lack of which concept, according to Piaget?

A) Object concept
B) Object permanence
C) Object stability
D) Object representation

Question 32

Babies love toys such as shape sorters, cabinets that open and close, pocketbooks with hidden treasures, and adults who play peek-a-boo with them. All of these help children to develop which concept that allows them to see that things that are out of sight are not gone forever?

A) Object permanence
B) Deferred imitation
C) Object concept
D) Violation of expectations

Question 33

During which period does the infant practice changing basic schemes such as grasping and sucking so that these schemes are coordinated schemes from different senses?

A) Substage 1: reflexes
B) Substage 2: primary circular reactions
C) Substage 3: secondary circular reactions
D) Substage 4: coordination of secondary schemes

Question 34

An infant is born on automatic pilot, using reflexes or built-in schemes. What substage is she in at birth?

A) Coordination of secondary schemes
B) Beginning of mental representation
C) Reflexes
D) Primary circular reactions

Question 35

Sarah picks up her spoon, turns over her cup and begins to tap on it. According to Piaget, this experimentation is typical of toddlers from 12-18 months of age who are in which substage of sensorimotor?

A) Primary circular reactions
B) Secondary circular reactions
C) Tertiary circular reactions
D) Beginning of mental representation

Question 36

In which substage is the child acting as a little scientist, experimenting in purposeful ways with familiar objects?

A) Primary circular reactions
B) Secondary circular reactions
C) Tertiary circular reactions
D) Beginning of mental representation

Question 37

What must a child be able to conceptualize before deferred imitation is possible?

A) Experimentation
B) Accommodation
C) Schematic learning
D) Internal representation

Question 38

In which substage is a child able to form internal representation?

A) Substage 4: coordination of secondary schemes
B) Substage 5: tertiary circular reactions
C) Substage 6: beginning of mental representation
D) Substage 2: primary circular reactions

Question 39

Critics of Piaget now realize that object permanence occurs earlier than he thought. Which areas of development did Piaget's experiments focus on to demonstrate mastery of this concept?

A) Social emotional development
B) Attachment
C) Motor abilities
D) Behavioral observations

Question 40

Infants in the first year of life learn through which methods?

A) Classical conditioning
B) Operant conditioning
C) Habituation
D) All of the above

Question 41

Johnnie knows what an apple, an orange, and a banana is, but he does not yet understand that they are all within the category of fruit. What is this idea that all of these distinct types of fruit belong within the same larger category?

A) Hierarchical categorization
B) Superordinates
C) Schemas
D) Categorical understanding

Question 42

Why aren't you able to remember your life as an infant?

A) Infants do not have memory
B) Infants memories are short and context bound
C) Infant's brains are not capable of remembering
D) Infant's require language to remember

Question 43

Who is the linguist who proposed the nativist theory of language development?

A) Piaget
B) Bowerman
C) Skinner
D) Chomsky

Question 44

Babies as young as a few days old show a preference for which of the following?

A) Infant directed speech
B) Adult directed speech
C) Vowels
D) Reinforcement

Question 45

Why is infant directed speech important in a babies' learning grammar?

A) The high pitch causes babies to pay attention to repeating grammatical forms.
B) Recasting holds toddlers attention.
C) Expansion directs them to the nouns and verbs used.
D) It builds on receptive language.

Question 46

What do children of mothers who use recasting do?

A) Learn the grammar they hear more quickly than children whose parents did not recast
B) Preferred this over infant directed speech
C) Cooed and babbled sooner
D) Read earlier and with more fluency

Question 47

What would you say to your 12-month-old if you were using recasting and she speaks in one word utterances, saying only "cheese" to tell you what she wants for lunch?

A) Repeat cheese back to her
B) Repeat cheese in a high pitched sing songy voice
C) Ignore her until she uses more words
D) Reply, "You would like a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch?"

Question 48

What is infant directed speech?

A) Babies learning to babble and coo
B) Caregivers echoing back infant babbling and cooing
C) A toddler's first attempts at speech
D) High pitched sing songy speech

Question 49

Your best friend's wife just had a baby. He feels a bit odd speaking in infant directed speech with his newborn. What are some reasons why he should consider doing so?

A) It allows infants to hear sounds from every language.
B) It puts the infant in charge of the language used.
C) It gets infants attention and helps them hear exaggerated language.
D) It helps them to become fluent faster.

Question 50

During which period of language development do toddlers' experience rapid vocabulary growth?

A) Telegraphic speech
B) Naming explosion
C) Expressive language
D) Holophrases

Question 51

What are a child's first words like?

A) Action words
B) Verbs
C) Holophrases
D) Names of things and people

Question 52

In telegraphic speech, what is missing?

A) Nouns
B) Verbs
C) Inflections
D) Intonation

Question 53

At what age do children focus on phonemes, rhythm, and intonation of language spoken in the home and have a receptive vocabulary of 20-30 words?

A) 2-3 months
B) 18-24 months
C) 9-10 months
D) 12-18 months

Question 54

What are word-gesture combinations that begin at about 12-18 months?

A) Telegraphic speech
B) Phonemes
C) Receptive language
D) Holophrases

Question 55

By what age do children begin to use telegraphic speech and have a vocabulary of 100-200 words?

A) 36 months
B) 12-18 months
C) 18-24 months
D) 9-10 months

Question 56

What do researchers refer to as the average sentence length?

A) Mean length of utterance
B) Naming explosion
C) Variation in expression
D) Holophrases

Question 57

What is the best known and most widely used test of infant intelligence?

A) The Denver Developmental
B) The Bayley Scales of Infant Development
C) The Stanford Binet
D) The Wechsler Scales of Intelligence

Question 58

What is the style of language in which words are used primarily to express feelings and needs about oneself and others?

A) Overextension
B) Expressive style
C) Referential style
D) Infant directed speech

Question 59

A newborn sticking out his tongue while watching his father do the same is demonstrating their early ability to ______.

A) imitate
B) habituate
C) remember
D) defer

Question 60

According to Baillargeon, knowledge about objects is not built-in, but______ .

A) strategies for learning about objects are innate
B) infants begin to hypothesize about objects from the time they are born
C) infants are little scientists ready to experiment with familiar objects
D) object learning is innate

Question 61

If every time an infant cries his needs are met by his mother, and so he comes to anticipate that his mother will come to his aid when he needs something. What is this understanding known as?

A) Schematic learning
B) Categorical understanding
C) Contingencies
D) Expectations

Question 62

If your alarm goes off in the morning and you do not have a schema for morning routine, what might you do next?

A) Shut it off and wonder what to do next
B) Get up and get in the shower, eat breakfast and start your day
C) Reset it for a later hour and go back to sleep
D) None of the above

Question 63

What is hierarchical categorization?

A) The idea that smaller categories are nested within larger ones
B) The notion that some objects are more important in a culture than others
C) The concept that schemas are learned in order of importance
D) The idea that all of life lies on a continuum

Question 64

An example of a child who has not developed an understanding of hierarchical categorization is which of the following?

A) Milagros knows that she has a doll but not that a doll is also a toy
B) Willie knows that a cat is an animal and thinks a banana is too
C) Juan knows that a ball is round but not that a grapefruit is also round
D) Damarr knows that his sister is a girl but not that his mother is

Question 65

What is it about infant directed speech that catches the infant's attention?

A) It is louder than normal speech
B) It is similar to telegraphic speech
C) It is familiar
D) It is high pitched

Question 66

What techniques do parents whose children have larger vocabularies and learn to read sooner use to help them learn language?

A) They use good quality and large quantity of words with their children.
B) They speak infant directed speech more than other parents.
C) They label things in the environment for the child.
D) They engage in baby talk so their children can comprehend what they are saying.

Question 67

"Bababababa" and "Dadadadadada" are two examples of what early sounds?

A) Coos
B) Babbles
C) One word utterances
D) Telegraphic speech

Question 68

An infant making the sounds "aaaaaaaaa" and "eeeeeeeeee" are two examples of what early language stage?

A) Cooing
B) Babbling
C) Receptive language
D) Holophrases

Question 69

Like their early memories, children's first words are______ ?

A) Irregular
B) Not easily understood
C) Context bound
D) Familiar

Question 70

What is the rate of vocabulary development like for the child under age 2?

A) It is slow and steady with new words being added every day.
B) It occurs in spurts with rapid increase over a period of a few months.
C) It is erratic and sometimes regresses.
D) It follows a systematic pattern mirrored by all areas of development.

Question 71

Young children frequently make up early sentences using which parts of speech?

A) Two verbs such as "go run"
B) Two adjectives such as "pretty fast"
C) Two nouns such as "mommy shoe"
D) A noun and a verb such as "run mommy"

Question 72

In order to understand what a child means by a two word sentence, the listener must know what else?

A) The child's unique language patterns
B) The context within which the words are spoken
C) The child's primary language
D) The child's abilities with regard to language

Question 73

What are inflections?

A) Simple two-word sentences that usually include a noun and a verb
B) Combinations of gestures and single words
C) A stage of language development right after telegraphic speech
D) Additions to words that change their meaning

Question 74

How does culture affect the early stages of language development, such as cooing and babbling?

A) Children from other cultures coo and babble much like children in the United States.
B) Children from other cultures do not coo and babble like children in the United States.
C) Children from the United States coo and babble much earlier than children from other cultures.
D) Cooing and babbling are not recognized as important steps in language development in other cultures.

Question 75

Piaget's first stage of development, in which infants use information from their senses and motor actions to learn about the world, is called the ______ .

Question 76

Simple repetitive actions seen in infants between one and four months of age, which are organized around the infant's own body, are __________ .

Question 77

You are playing with a toy with your niece and you suddenly hide it behind your back. Your niece crawls around you to get the toy. This unscientific experiment leads you to believe that she has developed _________ .

Question 78

A delay in developing object permanence is strongly associated with a later diagnosis of __________ .

Question 79

Jack's babysitter stuck her tongue out at him. Later that day when he was alone with his mother, he stuck his tongue out at her. This imitation that happens later is called__________ .

Question 80

Permanent changes in behavior that result from experience are known as __________ .