1 INTRODUCTION to COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Distribute

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT distribute

IN THIS CHAPTER or

BASIC CONCEPTS IN COGNITIVE Cognitive Development Involves Changes DEVELOPMENT in the Way Information Is Represented Cognition Children Develop Increasing Intentional Development Controlpost, Over Their Behavior and Cognition SIX TRUTHS OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT Cognitive Development Involves Changes Cognitive Development Proceeds as a Result in Both Domain-General and of the Dynamic and Reciprocal Transaction Domain-Specific Abilities of Internal and External Factors GOALS OF COGNITIVE Cognitive Development Is Constructed copy,DEVELOPMENTALISTS Within a Social Context KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS Cognitive Development Involves Both Stability and Plasticity Overnot Time SUGGESTED READINGS

o one can remember whatDo 4-year-old Jason Jason did know how to think, of course. He did to get his father- so upset, but whatever just didn’t know that he did. In fact, Jason had Nit was, his father wanted no more of it. been “thinking” all his life, although in a very dif- “Jason, I want you to go over to that corner and ferent way when he was an infant, and his current just think about this for a while,” his father yelled. thinking would not be anything like the mental Instead of following his father’s orders, Jason gymnastics he’d be capable of in just a few years. stood where he was, not defiantly, but with a Intelligence is our species’ most important confused Prooflook and quivering lips, as if he were tool for survival. Evolution has provided other trying to say something but was afraid to. animals with greater speed, coats of fur, camou- “What’s the matter now?” his father asked, flage, or antlers to help them adapt to challenging his irritation showing. and often changing environments. Human evolu- Draft“But Daddy,” Jason said, “I don’t know how tion has been different. It has provided us with to think.” powers of discovery and invention by which we

change the environment or develop techniques children’s thinking are also concerned with the for coping with environments we cannot change. mechanisms that underlie cognition and its devel- Although we are not the only thinkers in the ani- opment. How do biological (genetic) factors inter- mal kingdom, no other species has our powers act with experiences in the physical and social of intellect. How we think and the technological world to yield a particular pattern of develop- and cultural innovations afforded by our intel- ment? How do children of different ages represent lect separate us from all other animals. their world? Does a 3-year-old understand the This remarkable intelligence does not arise world in much the same way as a 10-year-old, fully formed in the infant, however. We require or are these children qualitatively different think- substantial experience to master the cognitive ers? Once a pattern of intellectual competence feats that typify adult thinking, and we spend is established, does it remain stabledistribute over time? the better part of 2 decades developing an adult Will the bright preschooler become the gifted nervous system. Little in the way of complex teenager, or is it pointlessor to make predictions thought patterns is built into the human brain, about adult intelligence from our observations of ready to go at birth, although biology obviously children? These and other issues are introduced predisposes us to develop the ability for complex in this chapter, but they are not answered until thought. Our mental prowess develops gradually later in the book. Before delving too deeply into over childhood, changing in quality as it does. these issues,post, however, we need to define some In this first chapter, we introduce the topic of basic terms (see Table 1.1). These definitions are cognitive development—how thinking changes followed by a look at some issues that define the over time. In addition to describing developmen- field of cognitive development and have been the tal differences in cognition, scientists who study copy,focus of controversy during the last century. TABLE 1.1 Basic concepts in cognitive development.not Cognition The processes or faculties by which knowledge is acquired and manipulated. Cognition is usually thought of as being mental. That is, cognition is a reflectionDo of a mind. It is not directly observable but must be inferred. Development Changes in structure or function- over time. Structure refers to some substrate of the organism, such as nervous tissue, muscle, or limbs, or—in cognitive psychology—the mental knowledge that underlies intelligence. Function denotes actions related to a structure and can include actions external to the structure being studied, such as neurochemical or hormonal secretions and other exogenous factors that can best be described as “experience”— that is, external sources of stimulation. Development is characteristic of the species and has its basis in biology. Its general course,Proof therefore, is relatively predictable. Development progresses as a result of a bidirectional, or reciprocal, relationship between structure and function and can be expressed as structure function.

Developmental function The species-typical form that cognition takes over time. DraftIndividual differences Differences in patterns of intellectual aptitudes among people of a given age.

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BASIC CONCEPTS IN are such mental pictures created? How are they modified? COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT This is not to say that cognitive psychologists are unconcerned with socially important phe- Cognition nomena, such as reading, mathematics, or com- municating effectively; many are, and they have Cognition refers to the processes or faculties developed research programs aimed at improv- by which knowledge is acquired and manipu- ing these and other intellectual skills so critical lated. Cognition is usually thought of as being for children’s success in a high-tech society. But, mental. That is, cognition is a reflection of a mind. It is not directly observable. We cannot for the most part, the behaviors distributethemselves are see the process whereby an 8-month-old discov- seen as secondary. What is important and what ers that a Mickey Mouse doll continues to exist needs to be understood areor the mechanisms that even though it is hidden under a blanket out of underlie performance. By discovering the mental her sight, nor can we directly assess the steps a factors that govern intelligent behavior, we can 7-year-old takes to compute the answer to the better understand behavior and its development, problem 15 - 9 = ?. Although we cannot see or which in turn can help us better understand chil- directly measure what underlies children’s per- dren and fosterpost, their development. formance on these and other tasks, we can infer Cognition includes not only our conscious what is going on in their heads by assessing cer- and deliberate attempts at solving problems but tain aspects of their behavior. That is, cognition also the unconscious and nondeliberate pro- is never measured directly. It is inferred from the cesses involved in routine daily tasks. We are not behaviors we can observe. copy,aware of the mental activity that occurs when we What psychologists can observe and quan- recognize a familiar tune on the radio or even tify are things such as the number of words when we read the back of a cereal box. Yet much children remember from a list of 20, the num- in the way of cognitive processing is happening ber of seconds it takes to identify well-knownnot during these tasks. For most of us, reading has pictures or words, or the amount of time a become nearly automatic. We can’t drive by a 6-month-old spends looking at a picture of a billboard without reading it. It is something we familiar face relative to thatDo of an unfamiliar just do without giving it any “thought.” But the one. For the most part, cognitive- developmen- processes involved in reading are complex, even tal psychologists are not really interested in in the well-practiced adult. these overt, countable behaviors; what they Cognition involves mental activity of all types, are interested in are the processes or skills including activity geared toward acquiring, under- that underlie them. What mental operations standing, and modifying information. Cognition does a 6-year-oldProof engage in that are differ- includes such activities as developing a plan for ent from those performed by a 4-year-old or solving a problem, executing that plan, evaluating an 8-year-old? How does speed in identifying the success of the plan, and making modifications words reflect how information is stored in the as needed. These can be thought of as higher- minds of children of different ages? What kind order processes of cognition, which are often Draftof mental picture has the infant formed of the available to consciousness (that is, we are aware familiar face of his mother that allows him to that we’re doing them). Cognition also involves tell her face apart from all other faces? How the initial detection, perception, and encoding of a

sensory stimulus (that is, deciding how to define a structure itself—for example, the exercise of a physical stimulus so it can be thought about) and muscle, the firing of a nerve cell, or the activation the classification of what kind of thing it is (“Is of a cognitive process, such as retrieving from this a letter, a word, a picture of something famil- memory the name of your first-grade teacher or iar?”). These can be thought of as basic processes computing the answer to the problem 26 + 17 = ?. of cognition, which occur outside of conscious- With respect to cognitive development, function ness (we experience the product but are generally refers to some action by the child, such as retriev- unaware of the process). ing the definition of a word from memory, making Cognition, then, reflects knowledge and what comparisons between two stimuli, or adding two one does with it, and the main point of this book numbers to arrive at a third. is that cognition develops. Development is characteristic distributeof the species and has its basis in biology. Its general course, Development therefore, is relatively predictable.or By viewing development as a biological concept that is generally predictable across all members of the species, Change Over Time we do not mean to imply that experience and At its most basic, development (or ontogeny) culture do not also play a role in development. refers to changes in structure or function over During the post,last several decades, developmental time within an individual. Structure refers to psychologists have become increasingly aware some substrate of the organism, such as ner- that a child’s development cannot be described vous tissue, muscle, or limbs, or—in cognitive or understood outside of the context in which it psychology—the mental knowledge that underlies occurs, and we address this issue later in this and intelligence. When speaking of cognitive develop-copy,other chapters, especially Chapter 3. ment, we use structure to mean some hypothetical mental construct, faculty, or ability that frames Structure, Function, and knowledge and changes with age. For notexample, children’s knowledge of terms such as dog, lion, Development and zebra could be construed as existing in some Development is usually conceived as a bidirec- sort of mental structure (thinkDo of it as a mental tional, or reciprocal, relationship between structure dictionary), with the meanings- of these words and function, in which the activity of the structure changing over time. Or we could hypothesize itself and stimulation from the environment can some form of mental organization that permits contribute to changes in the structure, which in children to place objects in serial arrays according turn contribute to changes in how that structure to height, shortest to tallest. operates. Function does more than just maintain In contrast to structure, function denotes actions a structure (that is, prevent it from wasting away); related to Proofa structure. These include actions exter- function is necessary for proper development nal to the structure being studied, such as neuro- to occur. Function is limited, of course, to the chemical or hormonal secretions, and other factors actions that structures are capable of performing. external to the individual that can best be described This bidirectional relationship between structure Draftas “experience”—that is, external sources of and function can be expressed as structure ↔ stimulation. Function can also be internal to the function.

The bidirectionality of structure and function she has, and the reactions of others to her—all (or structure ↔ function) can perhaps be most of which influence the development of the child’s easily illustrated with work in embryology. Chick underlying cognitive/behavioral structures, and embryos, for example, display spontaneous move- so on. ment before muscle and skeletal development The functioning of mental structures pro- is complete. Such movement obviously motes changes in the structures themselves. This stems from the maturation of the underlying view is most clearly reflected in the work of structures—in this case, bones, muscle, and ner- Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. He believed that vous tissue. When embryonic chicks are given a the activity of the child (or of the child’s cog- drug to temporarily paralyze them for as little nitive structures) is a necessary condition for as 1 to 2 days, deformations of the joints of development to occur. That is,distribute for structures the legs, toes, and neck develop, which in turn to change, they must be active. The structure’s affect the subsequent movement of the limbs contact with the external worldor is responsible, to (Drachman & Coulombre, 1962). The spon- a large extent, for its development. Such a view- taneous activity of moving the legs provides point makes children important contributors to critical feedback to the genes, which in normal their own development. Intellectual growth is the circumstances leads to a properly developed result of an active interaction between acting and skeleton (Müller, 2003). In other words, the thinking childrenpost, and their world, not simply the spontaneous activity (function) of the skeletal environment shaping children’s intellect or genes structures is necessary for the proper develop- dictating a particular level of cognitive ability. ment and functioning of the joints (structure). (More is said of Piaget’s theory throughout this Development proceeds as a result of the interac- book, especially in Chapter 5.) tion of genes with events and agents externalcopy, We think it is fair to say that all develop- to the genes, including functioning of the body mental psychologists agree there is a reciprocal, itself, all in feedback loops that, when all goes bidirectional influence between structures (be right, produces a species-typical body.not they physical, such as neurons, or abstract, Let us provide an example of the bidirectional such as cognitive structures) and the activity of relationship between structure and function at those structures (that is, the child’s behavior). the behavioral level. IndividualDo differences in There is still much room for debate concerning activity level are found -in newborns and are how various subsystems of the child (neuronal, believed to be biologically based (Phillips, behavioral, social) interact to produce develop- King, & DuBois, 1978). A highly active toddler ment, but developmental psychologists agree will make it difficult for her parents to confine that development must be viewed as a two-way her to a playpen, resulting in a child who has street. Development is not simply the result of a greater number of experiences outside of her the unfolding of genetic sequences unperturbed playpen thanProof a less-active child has. These expe- by variations in environment (structure func- riences will presumably affect the child’s devel- tion), nor is it the product of “experience” on an oping intellect (structure), which in turn will infinitely pliable child (function structure). The affect that child’s actions (function). Thus, inher- concept of the bidirectionality of structure and Draftent characteristics of the child (biological struc- function is central to developmental psychology tures) influence her behavior, the experiences and is a theme throughout this book. A more

in-depth discussion of bidirectional models of differences limited to a particular time during development, along with more examples, is pro- development? vided later in this chapter and in Chapter 2 dur- Substantial variability in cognitive functioning ing a discussion of the developmental systems also occurs within any given child. A particular approach. 4-year-old will often show a wide range of behaviors on very similar tasks, depending on the context that child is in. Increasingly, developmental Developmental Function and psychologists have come to realize the signifi- Individual Differences cance of individual differences and variability in cognitive performance among and within people We examine two aspects of cognitive development of a given age and to see thesedistribute variations as in this book: developmental function, or cognitive providing interesting and important information development, and individual differences. In the about developmental outcomes.or present context, developmental function refers Individual differences have developmental to the form that cognition takes over time—to histories, making the relationship between devel- age-related differences in thinking. What are the opmental function and individual differences a mental abilities of infants? What is a 2-year-old’s dynamic one. That is, individual differences do understanding of numbers, words, and family post, not simply constitute genetic or “innate” char- relations? What about that of a 4- or 6-year-old? acteristics of a child. They emerge as children How do school-age children and adolescents con- develop, often showing different manifestations ceptualize cause and effect? How do they evaluate at different times in development. Several chapters the relative worth of two products in the grocery in this book are devoted exclusively to examining store? People concerned with developmental func- copy,individual differences. In other chapters, individual tion are usually interested in universals—what differences in intellectual abilities are discussed is generally true about the course and causes in conjunction with the developmental function of development for all members of the species. not of those same abilities. Assessments of developmental function, then, are typically based on averages, with individual variations among children being seenDo as irrelevant. We all know that at some level, however, this Adaptive Nature of Cognitive Immaturity variation is important. Our- impressive intellec- We usually think of development as something tual skills are not uniform among members of the progressive—going from simple to more com- species. Some people at every age make decisions plex structures or behaviors, with children getting more quickly, perceive relations among events “better” or more “complete” over time. This is a more keenly, or think more deeply than oth- wholly reasonable point of view, but such a per- ers. How Proofcan these differences best be described spective can cause us to interpret early or imma- and conceptualized? What is the nature of these ture forms of cognition as merely less effective and differences? Once differences have been estab- incomplete versions of the adult model. Although lished, to what extent can they be modified? this might generally be true, it is not always the DraftWill differences observed in infancy and early case. Early or immature forms of development childhood remain stable, or are some intellectual can serve some function of their own, adapting

the infant or young child to his or her particular the age at which they began training. Chance per- environment (Oppenheim, 1981). For example, formance for these problems was 50%. As can be young infants’ relatively poor perceptual abili- seen, monkeys who began training early in life (at ties protect their nervous systems from sensory 60 and 90 days) seldom solved more than 60% of overload (Turkewitz & Kenny, 1982); preschool the problems and soon fell behind the monkeys children’s tendencies to overestimate their phys- who began training later (at 120 and 150 days ical and cognitive skills causes them to persist of age). That is, despite having more experience (and, thus, to improve) at difficult tasks (Shin, with the problems, the early trained monkeys Bjorklund, & Beck, 2007); and infants’ slow performed more poorly than the later-trained information processing seems to prevent them monkeys. Harlow (1959) concluded, “There is from establishing intellectual habits early in life a tendency to think of learning distributeor training as that would be detrimental later on, when their life intrinsically good and necessarily valuable to the conditions are considerably different (Bjorklund organism. It is entirely possible,or however, that & Green, 1992). The point we want to make here training can be either helpful or harmful, depend- is that infants’ and young children’s cognitive and ing upon the nature of the training and the organ- perceptual abilities might, in fact, be well suited ism’s stage of development” (p. 472). for their particular time in life rather than incom- Might this relate to our species as well? In plete versions of the more sophisticated abilities one of the fewpost, such experiments with humans, they will one day possess (Bjorklund, 1997b, Hanus Papousek (1977) conditioned infants to 2007b; Bjorklund, Periss, & Causey, 2009). In turn their heads to a buzzer or a bell. Training other words, what adults often consider to be immature and ineffective styles of thought might sometimes have an adaptive value for the youngcopy, FIGURE 1.1 Discrimination learning set child at that particular point in development and performance. Discrimination learning set should not be viewed solely as “deficiencies.” performance for monkeys as a function of age at which testing was begun. Consider the case of learning. Learningnot is good, of course, but is early learning always ben- 90 eficial? Might providing an infant with too much 85 60-day group stimulation or learning tasks too soon in devel- 90-day group Do 80 opment have a negative effect? There is little 120-day group - 75 150-day group research on this issue. In one study, Harry Harlow (1959) began giving infant monkeys training 70 on a discrimination-learning task at different 65 ages, ranging from 60 to 366 days. For example, 60 monkeys were to choose which of several stimuli Percentage Correct 55 that variedProof in several dimensions (size, shape, 50 color, and so on) was associated with a reward. 45 85 120 155 190 225 260 295 330 365 400 435 Beginning at 120 days of age, monkeys were Age at Testing (in days) given a more complicated learning task. Mon- Source: H. Harlow (1959, December). The development of learn- Draftkeys’ performance on these more complicated ing in the Rhesus monkey. American Scientist, 459–479. Reprinted problems is shown in Figure 1.1 as a function of with permission.

began either at birth or at 31 or 44 days of age. expended (Bjorklund & Schwartz, 1996; J. F. Infants who began training at birth took many Goodman, 1992). more trials (814) and days (128) before they learned the task than did infants who began later (278 and 224 trials and 71 and 72 days for the Section Review 31- and 44-day-old infants, respectively), caus- Cognitive development involves changes in chil- ing Papousek to write that “beginning too early dren’s knowledge and thinking over time. with difficult learning tasks, at a time when the organism is not able to master them, results in Cognition prolongation of the learning process.” • Cognition refers to the processes or facul- Infants need stimulation—interesting objects ties by which knowledge isdistribute acquired and and, especially, responsive people to speak to manipulated. and interact with. However, if stimulation is • Cognition reflects orknowledge and what excessive, then it can distract infants and young one does with it, and cognition develops. children from other tasks and may replace activi- Development ties, such as social interaction, that are vital to • Development (or ontogeny) refers to chang- their development. We are in no way advocating es in structure or function over time within a “hands-off” policy on educating infants and an individual.post, young children. We are advocating a recogni- • Structure refers to some substrate of the tion that infants’ limited cognitive abilities may organism, such as nervous tissue, muscle, afford them some benefits. We have more to say or limbs, or—in cognitive psychology—the about “educating” infants in Chapter 11 where mental knowledge that underlies intelli- we discuss the pros and cons of educational copy,gence. • Function denotes actions related to a struc- DVDs and videos for infants. ture, including actions external to the struc- Children’s immature cognition can be seen ture being studied, such as neurochemical as having an integrity and, possibly, anot function or hormonal secretions, and other factors of its own rather than being seen only as some- external to the individual that can best be thing that must be overcome. Such a perspective described as “experience.” can have important consequencesDo not only for • The bidirectionality of structure and function how we view development- but also for educa- (or structure ↔ function) refers to the bidi- tion and remediation. Expecting children who rectional, or reciprocal, relationship between structure and function, in which the activity are developmentally delayed or have learning of the structure itself and stimulation from deficits to master “age-appropriate” skills might the environment can contribute to changes be counterproductive, even if possible. Young in the structure, which in turn contribute to and delayed children’s immature cognition might changes in how that structure operates. suit them forProof mastering certain skills. Attempting • Developmental function refers to the form to “educate” them beyond their present cogni- that cognition takes over time (that is, to tive abilities could result in advanced surface age-related differences in thinking). • Individual differences in cognitive function behavior; however, the general effectiveness of exist both between children and within the Draftthat behavior might be minimally, or even detri- same child for different tasks. mentally, influenced despite considerable effort

3. Cognitive development involves both • Some aspects of infants’ and young chil- stability and plasticity over time; dren’s immature cognition may be adaptive 4. Cognitive development involves changes in their own right and not viewed as handi- in the way information is represented; caps that must be overcome. 5. Children develop increasing intentional Ask Yourself . . . control over their behavior and cognition; and 1. What is cognition? What does it mean 6. Cognitive development involves changes to study the developmental function of in both domain-general and domain- cognition? specific abilities. 2. What is the bidirectional relationship between structure and function during distribute development? 3. What is meant by individual differences in Cognitive Developmentor Proceeds as a cognitive development? Result of the Dynamic and Reciprocal 4. What are some examples of cognitive immaturity that are adaptive? Transaction of Internal and External Factors

This truth followspost, from the way we define development as the result of the bidirectional relation- SIX TRUTHS OF COGNITIVE ship between structure and function over time. In essence, this is modern developmental sci- DEVELOPMENT ence’s answer to the classic nature/nurture issue, copy,which has been the granddaddy of controversies The field of cognitive development encom- for developmental psychology over its history. passes a broad range of topics. Moreover, cog- How do we explain how biological factors, in nitive developmentalists can be a contentious particular genetics, interact with environmen- lot, disagreeing on the best way to conceptualnot - tal factors, especially learning and the broader ize how thought changes from infancy to adult- effects of culture, to produce human beings? At hood. Nonetheless, we believe there are some the extremes are two philosophical camps. Pro- truths that typify the study Doof cognitive devel- ponents of nativism hold, essentially, that human opment—actually generalizations that we think - intellectual abilities are innate. The opposing most developmentalists believe are true about philosophical position is empiricism, which holds cognitive development and around which con- that nature provides only species-general learning troversy and differences of opinion swirl. In the mechanisms, with cognition arising as a result of following sections, we examine six truths: experience. As stated, each of these two extreme Proof positions is clearly wrong. In fact, as far as devel- 1. Cognitive development proceeds as a result of the dynamic and reciprocal opmental psychologists are concerned, there is transaction of internal and external no nature/nurture dichotomy. Biological factors factors; are inseparable from experiential factors, with Draft 2. Cognitive development is constructed the two continuously interacting. This makes it within a social context; impossible to identify any purely biological or

experiential effects. It is often convenient, how- determinism—the idea that one’s genes determine ever, to speak of biological and experiential fac- one’s behavior—which is the antithesis of a truly tors, and when psychologists do, there is always developmental (that is, bidirectional) perspective. the implicit assumption of the bidirectional inter- If, in contrast, by innate we simply mean based in action of these factors, as discussed earlier in this genetics, then surely just about every human behav- chapter (that is, structure ↔ function). ior can be deemed innate at some level, and the term At one level, it is trivial to state that biology is meaningless. If, however, we mean that a specific and experience interact. There is really no other type of behavior or knowledge (of grammar, for alternative. It’s how they interact to yield a par- example) is determined by genetics, with little or ticular pattern of development that is significant. no input needed from the environment, then the For example, one currently popular view holds that term has a more specific meaning,distribute but again, it is children’s genetic constitutions influence how they still not very useful, for, as we’ll see more clearly in experience the environment. A sickly and lethargic our discussions in Chapter 2,or all genetic effects are child seeks and receives less attention from others mediated by environment, broadly defined. than a more active, healthy child does, resulting in Some people equate innateness with instinct. slower or less advanced levels of cognitive develop- The problem here is that instinct is not easily ment. A child who processes language easily might defined. This is made clear by Patrick Bateson be more apt to take advantage of the reading mate- (2002), whopost, wrote: rial that surrounds him than will a child whose inherent talents lie in other areas, such as the ability Apart from its colloquial uses, the term instinct has at least nine scientific meanings: present at birth (or to comprehend spatial relations. Environment is at a particular stage of development), not learned, thus seen as very important from this perspective, copy,developed before it can be used, unchanged once but one’s biology influences which environments developed, shared by all members of the species (or are most likely to be experienced and, possibly, at least of the same sex and age), organized into a how those experiences will be interpreted. These distinct behavioral system (such as foraging), served issues are discussed in greater detail in notthe chap - by a distinct neural module, adapted during evolu- ters devoted to individual differences, particularly tion, and differences among individuals that are due Chapter 13, in which the heritability of intelligence to their possession of different genes. One does not and the role of experience in individualDo differences necessarily imply another even though people often in intelligence is explored. - assume, without evidence, that it does. (p. 2212) Many developmental psychologists are just What Does It Mean to Say as uncomfortable (or more so) with the term instinct as they are with the term innate, and for Something Is Innate? the same reason—its association with genetic In definingProof nativism we used the term innate. determinism. And, as Bateson’s quote illustrates, This term can be contentious, and many devel- it is not always clear which definition of instinct opmental psychologists would prefer not to see it one is talking about. used at all. The primary reason for many devel- Yet some behaviors, or aspects of cognition, do Draftopmental psychologists’ discomfort with the con- seem to have a strong biological basis and to typify cept of innateness is that this term implies genetic all (or nearly all) members of a species at some

time in their development. Rather than referring to means that one must always consider the organism such behaviors as being “innate” or as “instincts,” context as a unit and that there are multiple levels we refer to them as species-typical behaviors, or of the organism and multiple levels of the context. species-typical patterns of cognition. These are Figure 1.2 graphically presents the developmental more descriptive terms and do not carry with them contextual model, showing the many bidirectional any implications about genetic determinism. influences between children, who are born with biological propensities and dispositions, and the contexts in which they find themselves. Perhaps Nature/Nurture and more than anything else, this figure demonstrates Developmental Contextualism the complexity of development. Of equal impor- tance, however, it demonstrates thedistribute interactions During the past decades, we have noticed two that occur between the many levels of life, from shifts in emphasis in the field of cognitive develop- genes and hormones to familyor and culture, and the ment that at first glance might seem contradictory. fact that cultural effects cannot be meaningfully The first is a greater emphasis given to the role of separated from their biological influences, and vice context (including cultural context) in develop- versa. The dynamic nature of development, which ment. The second is a greater acknowledgment of results from the interaction of a child at many dif- the role of biological factors in development. In a ferent levels post,(genetic, hormonal, physical environ- field where nature and nurture have traditionally ment, social environment, self-produced activity, occupied opposite scientific, philosophical, and and so on), is a theme that runs through most often political poles, seeing an increasing empha- contemporary theories of development. sis on both seems a contradiction, perhaps reflecting a field composed of mutual antagonists, eachcopy, taking an extreme perspective to counterbalance Cognitive Development Is the other (much like the U.S. Congress seems to Constructed Within a Social Context function in recent years). This is notnot the case, however. The current perspective on the dynamic As we’ve presented the developmental contex- transaction of nature and nurture is one in which tual model, it should be clear that the social biological and environmental factorsDo not only can environment plays a central role in determining peacefully coexist but also- are intricately inter- a child’s development. A child’s biology interacts twined (Goldhaber, 2012; Gottlieb, 2007). with a child’s social environment to influence a Let us provide one brief illustration of how child’s developmental trajectory. However, the biology and environment are viewed as separate, social environment is not simply the place, so to interacting components of a larger system. Richard speak, where development occurs. The culture Lerner (1991, 2006) has been a proponent of in which children grow up also shapes, or con- the developmentalProof contextual model. The basic structs, their intellects. contention of this model is that all parts of the We are a social species, and human develop- organism (such as genes, cells, tissues, and organs), ment can only be properly understood when the as well as the whole organism itself, interact influences of social relations and the broader Draftdynamically with “the contexts within which the social/cultural environment are considered. organism is embedded” (Lerner, 1991, p. 27). This Development always occurs within a social

FIGURE 1.2 A developmental contextual model of person-context interaction.

Culture Society Community

chool Netwo S rk

Teachers

Classmates distribute l Net Socia wor k

Parents’ or Peers Child Parent

Biology Biology Child’s Peers Develop- Develop- Cognition Cognition mental Level mental Level Personality Personality Time Behavior Behavior iage Net post, r w ar or Demands M k Demands Temperament Temperament Health Nonnuclear Health Family Member Etc. Relatives Etc. Siblings/ Other Other Parent/ Childrencopy,Spouse k Net Wor wor k

Immediate Professional/Job not Associates Indirect Professional Do Associates -

Source: R. M. Lerner. (1991). Changing organism-context relations as the basic process of development: A developmental contextual perspective. Developmental Psychology, 27, 27–32. Copyright © 1991 American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.

context, culturallyProof shaped and historically con- Sociocultural Perspectives ditioned, although the specific details of a child’s Several sociocultural perspectives on cognitive social environment can vary widely. From this development have emerged over recent decades perspective, one’s culture not only tells children (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Cole, 2006; Draftwhat to think but also how to think (Gauvain & Rogoff, 2003; see Chapter 3), stemming in large Perez, 2015; Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). part from the rediscovery of the work of Soviet

psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1978). Writing in the learn more through observation rather than seeking 1920s and 1930s, Vygotsky proposed a socio- instructions from adults or learning through verbal cultural view, emphasizing that development instructions (see Cole, 2006; Lancy, 2015). was guided by adults interacting with children, with the cultural context determining largely how, where, and when these interactions would Integrating Approaches take place. There are many cultural universals, An approach that takes an even longer view of with children around the world being reared in historical influences on development that we socially structured, language-using groups. Thus, think is important for understanding children some aspects of development are also universal. is evolutionary theory, which helpsdistribute us better But many aspects of culture, such as the avail- understand why children and adolescents behave able technology and how and when children are as they do. We believe that a better understand- expected to learn the survival skills of their society ing of the “whys” of developmentor will help us to (for example, formal schooling versus no formal better understand the “hows” and the “whats” of schooling), vary greatly. Such differences can have development, as well as help us to apply knowl- considerable influence on how cognition develops. edge of child development to everyday problems. But how do different cultures construct different Theodosius post,Dobzhansky (1964) famously said, experiences for their children to learn, and what “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the consequences does this have for how they learn? light of evolution” (p. 449). Many psychologists Some researchers have noted that children make the same argument for psychology, particu- living in traditional societies are more attentive larly for understanding the development of infants, to what adults do and, thus, develop a keener children, and adolescents. In fact, anthropologist ability to learn through observation than childrencopy, Melvin Konner (2010) has written that nothing in from schooled societies such as ours (Lancy, 2015; childhood makes sense except in the light of evolu- Morelli, Rogoff, & Angelillo, 2003). These types of tion. The principles of evolutionary developmental cultural experiences affect how children notlearn. For psychology are reviewed in Chapter 2. example, in one study, 6- to 10-year-olds observed Developmental contextual, sociocultural, a woman creating origami figures and were later and evolutionary models of development also asked to make figures of theirDo own (Mejia-Arauz, represent three levels of analysis (see Figure 1.3). Rogoff, & Paradise, 2005).- Some of the children Developmental contextual models examine the were of traditional Mexican heritage whose development of psychological processes over mothers had only basic schooling (on average, an individual’s lifetime, beginning before birth. a seventh-grade education), and others were of Sociocultural models also look at the immediate Mexican or European background whose mothers causes of behavior but, in addition, take into had a highProof school education or more. The children account the impact of humans’ 10,000-year of the more educated mothers were more likely cultural history on development. Evolutionary to request information from the “Origami Lady” theory takes a truly long view of human history, than the children with the traditional Mexican examining the role that natural selection has played heritage. These findings are consistent with the in shaping human development, particularly since Draftobservations that these “traditional” children pay the emergence of humans about 2 million years more attention to the actions of the adults and ago. We do not view these three approaches as

FIGURE 1.3 Levels of analysis of developmental phenomena.

Distal level Proximal level

Level 1: Phylogeny Level 2: Sociohistory Level 3: Ontogeny

2 million years ago From about 10,000 years ago Today (and before) Recent cultural history of Development of psychological Function of the psychological psychological processes and processes processes and their development their development distribute or Time

History of dialectical (bidirectional) interactions between: Structure-Function Nature-Nurture Genes-Environment At all the different levels (genes, brain/behavior, environment)post, as described, for instance, by development systems theory

Source: Bjorklund, D. F., & Hernández Blasi, C. (2012). Child and adolescent development: An integrative approach. Belmont, CA: Cengage.

competing perspectives of development but as copy,infant a whiz-kid computer jock? Once patterns reflecting three different, but compatible, levels of have been established, what does it take to change analyses, each of which is important to properly them? Can they be modified by later experience? understand development. Because we believenot that How plastic, or pliable, is the human intellect? all of cognitive development (or at least most of it) The stability and plasticity of cognition are can benefit from being examined through the lens related. Stability refers to the degree to which of these three perspectives, youDo will find reference children maintain their same relative rank order to them throughout the book.- over time in comparison with their peers in some aspect of cognition. Does the high-IQ 3-year-old maintain her position in the intellectual peck- Cognitive Development Involves ing order at age 8 or 18? Plasticity concerns the Both Stability and Plasticity Over Time extent to which children can be shaped by experience. More specifically with respect to cognition, Cognitive Proofdevelopment is about change over time. once a pattern of cognitive ability is established, Yet, once a level of cognitive competence is estab- to what extent can it be altered? Is our cogni- lished, to what extent will it remain constant? Will tive system highly flexible, capable of being bent a precocious infant become a bright 3-year-old and rebent, or, once a cognitive pattern has been Draftand, later, a talented adult? Or is it just as likely forged, is it relatively resistant to change? that a below-average 5-year-old will become an For the better part of the 20th century, psy- above-average high school student, or a sluggish chologists believed that individual differences in

intelligence, for example, were relatively stable behaviors. Without steady interaction with other over time and not likely to be strongly modified by monkeys during infancy, young monkeys grew subsequent environments. These views were held up lacking many of the social skills that facilitate both by people who believed that such differences important adaptive exchanges, such as mating, were mainly inherited and by those who believed cooperation with others, and play. Furthermore, such differences were mainly a function of envi- their maladaptive behaviors apparently remained ronment, but for different reasons. People on the stable over the life of the animals. “nature” side assumed that intelligence was pri- Exceptions were found, however, and many marily an expression of one’s genes and that this began to believe that these exceptions were actually expression would be constant over one’s lifetime. the rule. In one classic study, for instance, infants People on the other side of the fence emphasized believed to be intellectually impaireddistribute were moved the role of early experience in shaping intelligence. from their overcrowded and understaffed orphan- Experience was the important component affect- age to an institution for theor intellectually impaired ing levels of intelligence, with experiences during (Skeels, 1966). There they received lavish atten- the early years of life being most critical. tion by women inmates, and within the course of Jerome Kagan (1976) referred to this latter several years, these children demonstrated normal view as the tape recorder model of development. levels of intelligence. Figure 1.4 shows the average Every experience was seen as being recorded for IQs of these post,children both before they were placed posterity, without the opportunity to rewrite or in the institution for the intellectually impaired and erase something once it has been recorded. Evi- approximately 2.5 years later. Also shown are the dence for this view was found in studies of children IQ scores of “control” children, who remained in reared in nonstimulating institutions (Spitz, 1945). the same orphanage the experimental children were Infants receiving little in the way of social or physi-copy,removed from and who were tested about 4 years cal stimulation showed signs of intellectual impair- later. As you can see, the transferred children ment as early as 3 or 4 months of age. Not only showed a substantial increase in IQ (27.5 points), did these deleterious effects become exacerbatednot whereas the control children showed a comparable the longer children remained institutionalized, they decline (26.2 points). More recent research on the were maintained long after children left the institu- reversibility of intellectual impairment as a result tions (W. Dennis, 1973). The findingDo of long-term of institutionalization is presented in Chapter 13. consequences of early experience- was consistent In other work, isolated monkeys were placed in with Freudian theory, which held that experiences therapy sessions with younger, immature monkeys during the oral and anal stages of development on a daily basis over a 6-month period. By the (from birth to about 2 years) have important effects end of therapy, these isolates were behaving in a on adult personality. (This also seems to be the reasonably normal fashion and became integrated opinion shared by the media and general public.) into a laboratory monkey troop (Suomi & Harlow, EvidenceProof for the permanence of the effects of 1972). Each of these studies demonstrates plasticity early experience was also found in the animal by a young organism and resilience concerning the literature. For example, Harry Harlow and his negative effects of early environments. colleagues (1965) demonstrated in a series of Kagan (1976) proposed that one reason to Draftclassic studies that isolating infant rhesus mon- expect resilience is that development does not keys from their mothers (and other monkeys) proceed as a tape recorder. Rather, develop- adversely affected their later social and sexual ment is transformational, with relatively drastic

FIGURE 1.4 Average IQ scores before life in nonstimulating circumstances remain there, placement and 2.5 years after completion of enhancements in intellectual skills are apt to occur program for children in the experimental and for such children if their environments change for control groups. the better. This does not mean that there is infinite plasticity in cognitive development but merely 100 Before that early experience is not necessarily destiny After (just as biology is not) and that change is as much a characteristic of human cognition as is stability. 80 distribute IQ Cognitive Development Involves Changes in the Way 60 Information Is Representedor

One key issue that all theories of cognitive 40 development must address concerns age differences Transferred Control Children in how children represent experience. Most Children psychologistspost, believe that there is more than one Source: Adapted from data presented in Skeels, H. M. (1966). way to represent a thing, and children of different Adult status of children with contrasting early life experiences. ages seem to use different ways to represent their Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 31(Serial No. 105). worlds. Adults, as well, use a variety of techniques to represent knowledge. While providing directions copy,to your house to someone over the phone, for changes occurring between adjacent stages, or instance, you must convey the route to your home phases. During these times, the “tapes” are verbally, through a language code. But how is it changed. Alternatively, methods of representnot - represented in your head? What is the nature of ing and interpreting the world change so that the representation—that is, the mental encoding the codes of the earlier tapes may be “lost” to of information? You might think of the route you the child. The tapes of our Doinfancy might still take by generating visual images of the buildings reside in our heads, but we’ve- lost the ability to and landmarks you pass and then convert those play them or, maybe, the ability to understand into words. Or perhaps you sketch a map and then the code in which they were written. In this transform it into words that can be understood by view, plasticity should be the rule rather than your listener. What the person on the other end the exception, especially for the experiences of of the phone must do is encode the information. infancy and early childhood. At one level, your friend might attend only to One importantProof thing to remember here is that, the sounds of the words you speak, encoding yes, stimulation and experience are important in the acoustic properties of your utterances. If she the early years of life, but so is later experience. does, she will probably be late for dinner. More Although early intellectual stimulation is impor- likely, she will attend to the semantic, or meaning, Drafttant to get children off to a good start, later expe- features of the words. Once a basic meaning has riences are necessary to maintain that positive been derived, however, she might convert the beginning. And although most children who start message to a mental (or perhaps a physical) map,

realizing that she will be better able to find your were seemingly not able to translate earlier pre- house if the relevant information is in the form of verbal experiences into language. According to a visual image. (Or she may just put your address Simcock and Hayne (2002), “Children’s verbal into Google Maps and have Siri give her directions reports were frozen in time, reflecting their verbal as she drives.) skill at the time of encoding, rather than at the How children represent knowledge and how time of test” (p. 229). they encode events in their world changes devel- Most cognitive developmentalists agree that opmentally. Traditional theories have proposed there are age differences in how children repre- that infants and toddlers much younger than sent their world and that these differences are 18 months are limited to knowing the world only central to age differences in thinking. Research- through raw perception and through their actions ers disagree, however, about the distributenature of these on things, with little or no use of symbols. Let differences. Can children of all ages use all types us provide an example from the area of memory of symbols, and do they orsimply use them with development. Most people’s earliest memories different frequencies? Or does representation date back to their 4th and possibly their 3rd develop in a stage-like manner, with the more birthdays. Few people, including 6- and 7-year- advanced forms of symbol use being unavailable old children, are able to recall anything from to younger children? We believe most researchers their earliest years of life, a phenomenon known today thinkpost, that children, beginning in infancy, as infantile amnesia. There have been a number have multiple ways of representing information, of hypotheses about the origins of infantile amne- although their ability to mentally represent peo- sia, many of which we examine in Chapter 8. ple, objects, and events increases in sophistication One prominent hypothesis is that there are dif- over infancy and childhood. Research and the- ferences in the way experiences are representedcopy, ory pertinent to these and other issues related to between infancy and later in childhood. Infants changes in representation are central to the study represent events in terms of sensations and action of cognitive development, and they are discussed patterns, whereas preschool and oldernot children in the pages ahead. (and adults) represent and recall information using language. Support for this position comes from research by Gabrielle SimcockDo and Harlene Children Develop Increasing Hayne (2002), who showed- children ranging in Intentional Control Over Their age from 27 to 39 months sequences of actions Behavior and Cognition and interviewed them 6 and 12 months later, both for their verbal and nonverbal memory of Much cognitive developmental (and educa- the events. Despite having the verbal ability to tional) research is concerned with how children describe their previous experience, none of the solve problems. And much of what interests children didProof so spontaneously. To the extent that cognitive developmental psychologists is how children did talk about these prior events, they children go about finding solutions to complex did so only if they had the vocabulary to describe problems that might have multiple paths to a the event at the time of the experience. That is, solution. For example, how do children solve Draftchildren who were more verbally sophisticated a puzzle, how do they go about remembering a at the time of initial testing tended to verbally grocery list, or how do they study for a history recall some aspects of the event, but children exam? Problem solving begins in infancy, but

the problems children face, and their solutions, and development is important also, and recent become more complicated with age. research, particularly in the area of memory devel- One central concern of cognitive developmen- opment, has recognized this (see Chapter 8). talists has been the degree to which children of Many factors are involved in the development different ages can intentionally guide their problem of strategic cognition, one of them being how much solving. Much research on this topic has addressed knowledge children have of the information they the use of strategies. Strategies are usually defined as are asked to process. For example, when children deliberate, goal-directed mental operations aimed are asked to remember sets of categorically related at solving a problem (Harnishfeger & Bjorklund, words—such as different examples of fruits, cloth- 1990a; Pressley & Hilden, 2006). We use strategies ing, and mammals—they are more likely to use intentionally to help us achieve a specified goal. a memory strategy (for instance,distribute remembering Strategies can be seen in the behavior of infants. Six- all the items from the same category together in month-olds alter how hard they swing at mobiles clusters) and to remember ormore of the words if over their cribs to yield slightly different movements they are typical of their category (Schneider, 1986; from the inanimate objects. Eighteen-month-old Schwenck, Bjorklund, & Schneider, 2009). Typi- toddlers will deliberately stack boxes one on top cal items for the category clothing, for example, of another so that they can reach the kitchen shelf would include words such as shirt, dress, and and the chocolate chip cookies. These strategies pants, whereaspost, atypical clothing items would are no less willful than the rhyming mnemonic the include hat, socks, and belt. The latter are all com- sixth-grader uses to remember how many days are mon words and would be well known to children, in each month or the plan the 15-year-old uses as he but they are less typical of what we think of as plays all his trump cards first in a game of bridge. clothes. How the role of knowledge base influ- Yet strategies do change with development, and copy,ences children’s cognition has been a much-studied children seem increasingly able to carry out suc- topic in cognitive development (Pressley & Hilden, cessful strategies as they grow older. So, one key 2006; Schneider, 2015). research question in cognitive developmentnot con - Becoming a strategic learner involves learning to cerns changes in the strategies children use and the regulate one’s thought and behavior. This involves situations in which they use them. a set of basic-level cognitive abilities, referred to Although children around Dothe world increas- as executive function. Executive function refers ingly display goal-directed- problem-solving to the processes involved in regulating attention behavior, this is especially evident for children and in determining what to do with information from technologically advanced societies in which just gathered or retrieved from long-term formal schooling is necessary to become a success- memory. It plays a central role in planning and ful adult. Much of what children learn in school behaving flexibly, particularly when dealing with can be acquired only (or best) by deliberate study. novel information. Among the basic cognitive This contrastsProof with how children in cultures abilities that comprise executive function are without formal schooling often learn compli- (a) working memory, the structures and processes cated tasks. In all cultures, much of what children used for temporarily storing and manipulating learn about their world they acquire incidentally, information; (b) inhibiting responding and Draftwithout specific intention and, sometimes, even resisting interference; and (c) cognitive flexibility, without specific awareness. This type of learning the ability to switch between different sets of

rules or different tasks. Thus, becoming a “self- serve a unique biological function that it per- directed thinker” (see Chapter 7) involves an forms in its own unique and specialized way?” understanding of the development of both lower- (p. 3). As we’ll see in Chapters 5 and 7, the pre- level cognitive processes (for example, executive dominant theories of cognitive development function) and higher-level cognitive processes (for throughout the 20th century were domain-gen- example, strategies). eral ones. Moreover, when talking of individual differences in intelligence, such as those measured by IQ tests, those differences have usually Cognitive Development Involves been thought of as being domain general in nature Changes in Both Domain-General (see Chapters 12 and 13). Domain-specific the- and Domain-Specific Abilities ories arose primarily because ofdistribute the failure of the domain-general theories to account for the Theories that postulate cognitive development unevenness of cognitive functionor that is frequently results from increases in domain-general abilities observed in development. assume that at any point in time, a child’s think- Modularity implies inflexibility, in that the ing is influenced by a single set of factors, with individual is constrained by biology to process these factors affecting all aspects of cognition. certain information in certain ways. This can In contrast to domain-general accounts of cogni- be good, increasingpost, the likelihood that com- tive development are theories that postulate that plex information will be properly processed and development unfolds as the result of changes in understood. In discussing the benefits of con- domain-specific abilities. This position hypothe- straints for infants, Annette Karmiloff-Smith sizes a certain degree of modularity in brain func- (1992) states, “They enable the infant to accept tions, meaning that certain areas of the brain arecopy, as input only those data which it is initially dedicated to performing specific cognitive tasks able to compute in specific ways. The domain (such as processing language). According to these specificity of processing provides the infant with theories, knowing a child’s ability for onenot aspect a limited yet organized (nonchaotic) system of cognition might tell us nothing about his or from the outset” (pp. 11–13). But the hallmark her level of cognitive ability for other aspects of of human cognition is flexibility. Our species thinking because different cognitiveDo domains are has come to dominate the globe, for better or controlled by different mind/brain- functions. At worse, because we are able to solve problems the extreme, domain-specific theories propose that biology could not have imagined and have that different areas of the brain affect different developed technological systems that expand aspects of cognition, with these areas being unaf- our intellectual powers (such as writing, math- fected by what goes on in other areas of the brain. ematics, and computers). Such cognition could Robbie Case (1992) put the controversy not be achieved by a totally encapsulated mind/ between Proofdomain-general and domain-specific brain, and of course, no serious domain-specific theorists succinctly: “Is the mind better thought theorist proposes this degree of modularity. of as a general, all-purpose computing device, What we must keep in mind is the certainty that whose particular forte is general problem solv- both domain-general and domain-specific abili- Drafting? Or is it better thought of as a modular ties exist, and we must be cautious of claims that device, each of whose modules has evolved to postulate otherwise.

Section Review human intelligence can be substantially modified under certain circumstances. Six Truths of Cognitive Development 4. Cognitive development involves changes in the way information is represented. 1. Cognitive development proceeds as a • Most researchers today believe that chil- result of the dynamic and reciprocal trans- dren, beginning in infancy, have multiple action of internal and external factors. ways of representing information, although • Nativism (a belief that all intellectual their ability to mentally represent people, abilities are innate, and proposing a type objects, and events increases in sophistica- of genetic determinism) and empiricism (a tion over infancy and childhood. belief that all intellectual abilities are a 5. Children develop increasingdistribute intentional result of experience) have been reject- control over their behavior and cognition. ed as adequate explanations for cogni- • Strategies are deliberate, goal-directed tive development. mental operationsor aimed at solving a • Biological and environmental factors problem. are seen as interacting in bidirectional • Strategies are especially important for relationships, with children playing criti- children from technologically advanced cal roles in their own development, as societies in which formal schooling is reflected by developmental contextual models. necessary to become a successful adult. 2. Cognitive development is constructed • Strategicpost, cognition is influenced by a within a social context. host of factors, including how much • Contemporary theorists view the so- knowledge a child has, and also by a cial environment as being particularly child’s levels of executive function, refer- important for cognitive development, as ring to processes involved in regulating reflected bysociocultural perspectives. copy, attention and in determining what to • Some theorists further argue that do with information just gathered or developmental contextual and sociocul- retrieved from long-term memory. tural models of development should be 6. Cognitive development involves changes in integrated with evolutionary theorynot to both domain-general and domain-specific produce a coherent understanding of abilities. psychological development. • Most traditional approaches to cognitive 3. Cognitive development involves both sta- development have posited domain-general bility and plasticity overDo time. abilities. • Stability refers to- the degree to which • Recent research has shown that many children maintain their same rank order aspects of cognition and its develop- relative to their peers over time. ment are domain-specific in nature, with • Plasticity refers to the extent to which in- some forms of cognition being modular. dividuals can be shaped by the environ- Ask Yourself . . . ment. • ProofAlthough for most of the 20th century 5. What does it mean to say something is it was believed that intelligence is rela- innate? tively stable over time and that experi- 6. What is meant by an integrative approach ences later in life cannot greatly affect to development, and what are the three patterns of intelligence established ear- levels of analysis proposed in this text- Draft lier, more recent research suggests that book?

Another goal for many cognitive developmen- 7. Why is an integrative approach to develop- talists is to produce research that can be applied ment important? 8. What does stability in cognitive develop- to real-world contexts. For example, issues ment refer to? How is this related to plas- about the stability and plasticity of intelligence ticity in cognitive development? have direct applications to the remediation of 9. What do cognitive psychologists mean intellectual impairment and to some learning when they talk about representations? disabilities. Understanding how children learn 10. What is strategic cognition, and what fac- to use strategies of arithmetic, memory, and tors are important in its development? reading, for example, are directly pertinent to 11. What is modularity? How does it relate to children’s acquisition of modern culture’s most domain-specific and domain-general abilities? important technological skills (seedistribute Chapter 11). Research on factors that influence children’s rec- ollection of experienced oror witnessed events has GOALS OF COGNITIVE immediate relevance to the courtroom, where DEVELOPMENTALISTS children have increasingly been called to testify (see Chapter 8). Understanding the typical devel- Although we believe the topics discussed in the opment of both basic (and unconscious) cogni- previous section reflect the major issues in the tive processespost, as well as forms of higher-order study of cognitive development, what underlies (and conscious) cognition provides insight into all of these issues, as we mentioned in the opening the causes of some learning disabilities, whether pages of this chapter, is a search for the mech- in math and reading (see Chapter 11) or, per- anisms responsible for change. We can observe haps, as a result of attention deficit hyperactivity changes in how children represent their world andcopy, disorder (ADHD) (see Chapter 7). And although see evidence of enhanced intentional, goal-directed extensions to the schoolhouse or clinic may be behavior with age, but as scientists, we very much the most obvious applications of cognitive devel- want to know the causes of these changes,not and opment research and theory, we believe perhaps much of the research in the remainder of this book the greatest application is to an appreciation of addresses this issue. Thus, description of change is children in general, particularly when they are not enough, although it is a necessaryDo start. your own. - KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

bidirectionality of structure domain-general abilities nativism and Prooffunction (structure domain-specific abilities plasticity (of cognition and ↔ function) empiricism behavior) cognition executive function representation development (ontogeny) function sociocultural perspectives developmental contextual genetic determinism stability Draftmodel individual differences strategies developmental function modularity structure