The Development of Visual Perception

Psychological Stimulus Characteristics

▪ At around 2 to 4 months, psychological characteristics of a

stimulus become important to infants.

➢ Eg., familiarity and novelty

▪ Kagan (1G71) proposed that at 2 months, infants form

schemas.

➢ Sensory representations of a stimulus. ➢The similarity of

a stimulus to a previously determined stimulus will
determine attention

Infants are most attentive to stimuli that are moderately

discrepant from a schema.

➢ Discrepancy principle. ➢They are less attentive to stimuli

that are highly familiar, or highly discrepant. ▪ McCall et al.
(1977) familiarized 2- 4 month-old infants to stimuli and later
showed them stimuli that varied in their similarity with the
origin
Development of Face Processing
Executive Function, Strategies, Automatic Processes: require
and Problem Solving none of the short-term store’s
Assumptions of Information Processing limited capacity.
– Occur without intention, don’t
▪ Information moves
through a system or
interfere with other processes, don’t
pathway. improve with practice, not
▪ Depicted by flow charts. influenced by individual differences
▪ Input must go through this in intelligence.
system of stores in serial
fashion. – E.g., Frequency of occurrence
▪ Based on the Atkinson- judgments.
Shiffrin Model (1968).

▪ Effortful Processes: require

The Information Processing System the use of mental resources for
their successful completion.
▪ Often referred to as strategies or
control processes.
– Available to consciousness, interfere
with other processes, improve with
practice, influenced by individual
differences.
– Using a memory strategy.

The Development of
▪ We can only deal with a certain
amount of info at a time, i.e., Executive Function
we have limited capacity. ▪ Executive Functions: the
processes involved in planning and
▪ If too many operations are monitoring what we attend to and
added, it will interfere with the what we do with the input.
execution of other operations. ▪ It involves:
▪ Cognition is domain-general. ➢ Working Memory: How
much one can hold in the short-
– They rely on the same pool of term store and “think about”
mental resources. ➢ Inhibition and resisting
interference.
➢ Selective attention.
➢ Cognitive flexibility.
 The Development of Executive Function ▪ Kail believes that maturationally based factors are primarily
responsible for the age-related changes in speed of processing.
▪ Individual differences on executive function are related ▪ Brain maturation (e.g., myelin – neural speed) accounts for
to higher level cognitive abilities. this in part.
– Reading, mathematics, IQ
Memory Span and Working Memory
▪ Usually assessed with tests of memory span.
Speed of Processing – Unrelated items that can be recalled in order.
▪ Digit span improves with age.
▪ Young children require more ▪ Span of apprehension has been tested.
– Number of items that can be kept in mind at any one time.
time and use more of their – Amount of information people can attend to at any one time
limited capacity to execute
cognitive processes. ▪ Can be measured while one is playing computer games and
hears number presented over headphones.
▪ The results of these limitations – Told to ignore numbers. Later recall numbers.
▪ Apprehension span increases with age.
are seen on several memory
▪ A detailed knowledge base in a particular area facilitates
tasks. memory for that information.
▪ Constraints on time and – Eg. Chess experts.

resources/capacity translate
into poorer performance on Development of Working Memory
ing WM tasks.
▪ Working Memory:
▪ Kail (1991; 1997) involves storage of memory
– Showed that general and the capacity to
developmental changes in transform information in
the short-term system.
processing speed are similar
▪ STM is just storage.
across different tasks
– Participants aged 6 to 21 yr
– Series of reaction time (RT)
tasks:
• RT is the time it takes to make
a response
• Assumption in controlled
conditions is that longer RT
means more thinking
• Measure of processing load

Speed of Processing
▪ Tasks varied in cognitive
requirements, difficulty
➢ Mental rotation
➢ Memory search
➢ Name retrieval
➢ Mental addition
➢ Visual search
▪ Pattern of responses varied
across the tasks was the
same across age – faster RT
– increased speed
 ▪ Baddely and Hitch (1974) stated Development of Working Memory
that working memory contained
a central executive that stores ▪ Speed of information
processing is important.
information. – Speed of articulation is
▪ Also, two temporary systems. important.
– Familiarity with the
– Articulatory Loop: encodes verbal information is also critical.

information. Verbal information ▪ Speed of processing is

important to cognitive
may be rehearsed here. development in general.
– Visuo-Spatial Sketch Pad:
encodes visual information.
Inhibition and
Resistance to
Interference
▪ Inhibition: Active suppression
process, such as the removal of
task-irrelevant information from
working memory.
▪ As children get older, they are
better able to inhibit
inappropriate responses which
permits more efficient execution
Development of Working Memory of other operations.
▪ Resistance to Interference:
▪ Age differences in verbal memory avoiding performance
span are caused by developmental decrements under conditions of
changes in the articulatory loop. multiple distracting stimuli.
▪ Verbal or phonological information is
stored in the articulatory loop.
▪ Rehearsal of information takes place Inhibition and Resistance to Interference
here. ▪ Can be assessed using the day/night task.
▪ As we get older, the rate of rehearsal – Very difficult for preschoolers.
in the articulatory loop increases. ▪ Can also be assessed with the tapping task or Simon says.
– We rehearse more information.
– We remember more information.
▪ Young children show difficult inhibiting speech (Kipp &
Pope, 1997).

Developmental Differences
▪ As children get older, they are better
able to execute inhibitory processes.
▪ Harnishfeger and Bjorklund (1990; 1994)
propose that differences in the ability to
keep task-inappropriate information
out of working memory influences task
performance.
– Young children can not ignore task-irrelevant
info
– Can’t keep task irrelevant thoughts out of
WM.
– Task-irrelevant info clutters WM reducing
functional memory space.
 Cognitive Flexibility
Inhibition and ADHD • The ability to shift between rules or tasks.
• Can be assessed using the Dimensional Card Sorting
▪ Hyperactivity, impulsiveness, Task.
difficulty in sustaining attention • 3 year-olds have trouble with switch trials. 4-year-olds
do not.
– Children and adults
– 3 to 7% in USA, more common in boys
– One-third of these persist into adulthood ▪ This shift may be explained by
▪ Children with ADHD more likely to the cognitive complexity and
have problems in and outside school control theory (Zelazo & Frye,
– Learning 1997).
– Antisocial behavior ▪ There are age-related
– Peer relationships changes in the complexity of
rule systems that one can
represent.
▪ Barkley (1997) believes the principal ▪ Differences in reflection lead
cause of ADHD is deficits in to increased control over
behavioral inhibition. behavior and cognition.
▪ BI requires the ability to:
– Inhibit a prepotent (dominant) ▪ A recursive process whereby the contents of consciousness
response become an object of consciousness that can be operated on
and modified.
– Stop an ongoing response ▪ Children acquire rules early and can follow them sometimes.
– Resist interference Coordinating rules requires greater conscious reflection,

▪ BI influences:
– Working memory
– Self-regulation of emotion Attention as Resources
▪ Attention = Concentration
– Internalization of speech ▪ Attention may consume mental resources.
▪ Age differences in the ability to attend to a task may lead to
differences in the ability to allocate limited mental resources.
▪ Children with ADHD (compared to ▪ There are individual differences and age differences in the
ability to stay on task.
those without) do show deficiencies ▪ Attention span increases with age.
in these areas:
– Do poorly on WM tasks The Development of Strategies
– Less proficient at imitating long
sequences of actions
– Poor sense of time ▪ Memory strategies:
– Adversely affected by delay – Goal directed processes that
are adopted to enhance
– More likely to be irritable, excitable cognitive (e.g., memory)
performance
– Less likely to use task appropriate • Effortful
strategies • Deliberate
▪ BI is likely at least part of the • Usually conscious or explicit

problem of ADHD
▪ Even a 2-year-old will use strategies. ▪ These deficiencies may be due to
▪ The frequency and effectiveness of strategy use increases with lack of mental resources.
age.
– Don’t have enough available
▪ Younger children can be taught strategies that they do not use
spontaneously, which can improve their performance.
resources to retain the
– Eg. rehearsal information.
– Production deficiency ▪ May be due to poor
metacognition.
▪ Preschoolers do use ▪ Utilization deficiencies may be
beneficial and may be short-lived.
strategies, even though they
– Coyle & Bjorklund (1997).
lead to incorrect answers. – But see Schlagmüller &
▪ Children as young as 18 Schneider (2002).
months use strategies. How Do Strategies Develop?
▪ Children use a variety of
De Loache, Cassidy, & Brown (1985) strategies to solve a problem.
▪ Siegler’s adaptive strategy
▪ 18- 24-mo-olds watch as Big Bird choice model proposes that
hidden in their home in cognitive development,
environment (e.g., under sofa children generate a variety
of strategies.
cushion)
▪ Those that are effective will
remain those that are less
▪ During a distraction (attractive effective will eventually
toy), kids interrupted play to decrease in frequency.
comment on Big Bird or the ▪ But development occurs as
hiding place a series of overlapping
– Looked at hiding location
waves, not through a series
of steps.
– “strategic” – i.e., do something to
aid recall ▪ Multiple strategies are
available, but those that
are used change with age.
Utilization Deficiencies
▪ A common example to illustrate
▪ There is a phase in which young children use strategies as strategy development is simple
effectively as older children, but do not benefit.
arithmetic.
▪ Miller et al (1990) found that young preschoolers showed no
selective strategy. ▪ There are many available
strategies.
▪ Later, children partially use selective strategies. – Sum strategy, min strategy,
fact retrieval,
▪ Later, they use selective strategies, but they do not
help, i.e., utilization deficiency. ▪ Children use a variety of these
strategies at any one time.
▪ Utilization deficiencies are common.
▪ The frequency with which they
are used varies with age.
▪ Bjorklund and Rosenblum (2002) looked at strategies used
by children when playing Snakes and Ladders and ▪ They integrate innate
performing academic arithmetic. knowledge with constructivism.
▪ Children rarely relied on one strategy only and distribution ▪ The cognitive processes that
varied depending on the context.
– The sum strategy was most used in the game context, but
undergo gradual constructivist
least used in the academic context. development are actually
▪ Strategies also varied with the difficulty of the problem. innate.
▪ They require specific motor
and/or sensory skills.
The Development of Folk – Object permanence
Knowledge – Very young infants can show this
ability when tasks are modified.

Theory Theories ▪ Gopnik and Meltzoff propose that children are born with sets
of rules for operating on particular representations.
▪ These rules are altered by experience.
▪ Development is still constructive.
▪ The child has a particular theory.
▪ There is disorganization.
▪ A new coherent theory emerges.

Developing a
Theory of Mind
▪ Recognizing different
categories of mind, such as
dreams, memories, beliefs,
etc.
▪ Includes the ability to
understand that other
people have beliefs,
▪ We have innate theories desires and intentions that
are different from one's
that we modify during own.
childhood. ▪ A theory to understand,
▪ A theory is tested and then predict, and explain
revised when it no longer behavior.
explains new data. ▪ Adult theory of mind is based on
belief-desire reasoning.
▪ We have innate knowledge,
▪ We explain and predict what
or processing constraints in people do based on what we
certain domains. understand their beliefs and
– Neonativism desires to be.
– Referring to wants, wishes,
hopes, and goals, and to their
ideas, opinions and knowledge.
Skills Underlying Theory of Mind ▪ Young children have
▪ Viewing oneself and others as difficulty with contradictory
intentional agents. evidence.
▪ Individuals who cause things
▪ Can’t deal with two
representations of a single
to happen and whose
object simultaneously.
behavior is designed to
➢ Similar to the dual-
achieve some goal. representation hypothesis.
▪ The ability to take the ➢ Young children will fail in
perspective of another situations where they must
consider two beliefs or
person, i.e., understand the representations for a single
intentions of others. target.
▪ Gopnik and Astington assessed 3, 4, and 5 year-old’s abilities to
▪ This knowledge develops over the solve tasks that require children to deal with contradictory
evidence (See Fig 6-2 p 204).
first few years of life, beginning ➢ Performance varied with age.
with shared attention. ➢ A domain-general mechanism underlies
representational abilities.
▪ A triadic interaction between two
partners and a third object.
o Appears at about 9 months. ▪ Young children lack executive
function.
o At 12 months, they point to things
that others aren’t aware of. ➢ Cognitive abilities involved in
planning, executing, and inhibiting
o At 12 to 18 months, they use the gaze actions.
of others to achieve shared attention.
➢ In theory of mind tasks, children often
have to inhibit a dominant response
▪ There is early evidence that to pass the task.
infants and toddlers view ▪ See the mean monkey example
others as intentional agents. (p. 205).
▪ More likely to copy the ▪ Note however, 3-year-olds can
behavior of a model who is solve other tasks that require an
engaged in the action on understanding of other’s minds.
purpose.
The Development of Mind Reading ▪ Performance on false beliefs task are related to family size.
➢ Children from larger families perform better.
▪ Researchers have developed several tasks to assess when and
➢ This only helps if one has older siblings.
how children develop this latter aspect of theory of mind.
➢ Important for children with low language skills.
▪ False-belief task: a child watches as a candy is hidden in a
special location.
▪ Another child is present when the candy is hidden.
Deception
▪ The hidden candy is then relocated. ▪ When children play tricks on others, they seem to be aware
of what the other person does and does not know.
The story “Maxi and Chocolate” of Wimmer and Perner (1983) ▪ 2- and 3-year-olds are often capable of deception.
▪ See p. 210 (Chandler et al. 1989)
▪ Child is asked whether the other child will know the location ➢ 2.5 to 4 year-old children showed several types of deception.
of the candy.
➢ Withhold evidence, destroy evidence, lying, producing false evidence.
▪ 4-year-olds can solve the problem. 3-year-olds can not.
▪ A variation of this is the Smarties task.
▪ Suggests that children are unable to remember their original
belief.
 Theory of Mind,
Evolved Modules,
and Autism
1. Intentionality Detector
(ID): interprets moving
objects as having some
intention
2. Eye Direction Detector
(EDD): Detects the
presence of eyes.
Determines when another
organism is looking at them.
Develops between birth and
Do 3-Year-Olds Have a Theory of Mind 9 months.
3.Shared Attention Mechanism:
▪ Currently there is debate whether 3- Involves three- way interactions.
year-olds possess theory of mind. Develops from 9-18 months.
▪ Most researchers agree that 3-year- 4.Theory of Mind Module:
olds appear to have a limited
knowledge of other’s minds. Understanding that others have
▪ Some argue that 3-year-olds have different beliefs, desires, and
competence, but the nature of the
task prevents them from showing it.
intentions (develops between 18 and
▪ Others argue that there is real 48 months).
conceptual change during the
preschool years.

▪ Wellman et al. (2001) conducted a The Empathizing System

meta-analysis of 178 studies.
▪ Baron-Cohen proposed The Emotion Detector (TED)
▪ They found age effects which support which develops by 9 months of age.
▪ It can represent affective or emotional states between two
the conceptual change position. people.
▪ Within 6 months of life, infants can pick up on the emotions
of
others.
▪ At 9 months, the info derived from TED can be converted
into
a triadic representation of the SAM.

▪ The Empathizing SyStem (TESS)

is online at 14 months of age.
▪ It permits an empathic reaction
to another person’s emotions,
and assumes there is an
associated drive to help others.
 Mindblindness ▪ Uttal et al. (2001) showed 3,
4, and 5-year-olds yellow
carpet with 27 cups on it.
▪ The inability to read minds. ▪ They had to find stickers under
some cups using a map.
▪ Advanced forms of mindreading ▪ The maps included lines for
and empathizing are absent or half the kids, no lines for the
other half.
delayed in children with autism. ▪ Children got better with age.
▪ Autistic children fail false-belief ▪ Lines improved the
performance for 5-year-olds
and theory of mind tasks but
can pass nonsocial tasks.
▪ They perform well on tasks ▪ Maps are a tool of intellectual
adaptation that can eventually
requiring the ID and EDD be internalized.
modules, but not those requiring
▪ There is a reciprocal relationship
SAM or Theory of mind. between maps and spatial
cognition.
▪ Children with Down Syndrome perform well on ▪ Uttal & Wellman (1989) had 4 to
theory-of-mind tasks, but perform poorly on 7-year-old children learn which
tasks of intelligence.
of 6 animals went into each of 6
rooms in a life-sized playhouse.
– Children learned the locations
The Development of Spatial Cognition based on a map or on flash cards.
▪ Processing information with
respect to their spatial relations. ▪ The children who learned with the map performed better on
▪ Coding information about the a “walk-through.”
environment. The experience with the map allowed them to more easily see spatial
relationships among elements.
▪ Knowing where something is in
relation to you, or in relation to
other objects and locations.
Spatial Visualization
▪ Involves visual/mental operations.
Spatial Orientation ▪ Often assessed using mental rotation.
▪ A stimulus must be rotated to see if it matches another.
▪ Even 4 and 5-year-olds can do this.
▪ How people understand the placement of objects in space with
Adults can have problems with complex stimuli
themselves as a reference point.
▪ Eg. Distinguishing geographic directions in an unfamiliar locale,
drawing your way from point A to B on a map.
▪ Relatively well-developed in preschool. ▪ Piaget and Inhelder (1967)
Older children are even more advanced…can form cognitive maps. tested spatial visualization
▪ They get better at using real using the water-level
maps over the school years. problem.
– Adultlike by age 10
▪ Most children can do this
by age 7.
 Object and Location Memory Object-Oriented
▪ Remembering objects and their positions. Play and Tool Use
▪ Often tested using card games.
▪ Young children (5 yrs) perform almost as well as adults early ▪ Object-Oriented
in these games. Play: manipulation of
– Strategies are less important.
objects (banging or
throwing), including the
Sex Differences in use of objects to build
something.
Spatial Cognition ▪ Difficult to distinguish
from exploration.
▪ There are sex differences in ▪ Often involves making
spatial cognition that may noise.
have been selected for through
the course of evolution.
▪ Play eventually becomes more
sophisticated.
▪ Males needed to develop – Building things --- boys more likely.
spatial abilities in order to – May be a biological origin.
navigate (Geary, 2007). ▪ Preschoolers spend 10 to 15% of
their time engaged in object play.
▪ Sex differences in map reading
and mental rotation have ▪ This object play allows children to
learn how objects can be used as
been found in preschool years.
tools.
– Mental rotation differences may – This is something very few species can
exist in infancy. do.

Learning to Use Tools

▪ According to meta-analyses, the magnitude of sex differences
is very small. ▪ Common in problem solving: forks, pens, hammers, etc.
➢ Only 1 to 5% of the difference is due to gender. ▪ Non-humans also use tools to solve problems
➢ Mental rotation is especially prominent.
▪ Females show better performance in object and location
memory.
▪ May originate from infants’
▪ May be due to evolution…role as gatherers.
➢ Must be able to perceive small stimulus differences. manipulation of their physical
world (Lockman, 2000)
▪ Differential experiences may also play a role. ▪ It’s a gradual process of
▪ Newcombe et al. (1983) asked college students to classify discovery that arises from
activities as masculine, feminine, or neutral (see Table 6-5). infants’ and children’s
▪ Tasks with high spatial content were considered masculine. interaction with objects in the
▪ They found a gender difference on a test with strong spatial real world to achieve a
components.
perceptual outcome.
The Development of Tool Use in Young
Children
The Design Stance
▪ Piaget speculated that infants could use tools by their first ▪ Young children select a tool
birthday. based on past history, not
▪ 9- to 12 mo-old infants learn to solve lure-retrieval problems based on its properties to
– E.g., can use a stick to reach toy outside playpen solve a problem.
▪ Chen and Siegler (2000): systematic study of tool use in
toddlers: 18- to 30-mo
– Child seated across from out-of-reach toys The Relationship
– Several tools available
– Only one will retrieve the toy between Tool Use and
– Three trials – encouraged to get toy
– Hint and modeling conditions given
Object-Oriented Play

The Development of Tool Use in Young Children ▪ The tendency to play with
objects can influence tool use.
▪ 30 mo – no instruction:
– more likely to use tools to get toy than 18-mo-
▪ In some studies, children must
olds without instruction (15% vs. 0%) select a properly shaped tool to
– With instructions (hint) or modeling (social retrieve a toy.
learning)
• 30-mo improved; some 18-mo use tool to ▪ Those who are given the
get toy opportunity to play with the
objects beforehand are more
▪ Type of strategies used likely to use them later as tools.
– Forward: lean forward to get toy
– Indirect: ask for help ▪ This can lead to gender
– Tool use: use one of the tools differences.
▪ Strategy use changed across trials
– Tool strategy increased but forward and
indirect continued to be used. Children’s
Understanding of Time
▪ Boys were
more likely ▪ 2 and 3-year-olds can use temporal terms
(yesterday, last night, tomorrow), but
than girls to often use them incorrectly.
choose a tool ▪ By age 4, they understand before and
use strategy. after, but have trouble understanding the
recency of events.
4 and 5-year-olds can distinguish between the events that happen during the
course of the day, but have trouble with events occurring at longer intervals

The Design Stance

▪ Once a person sees someone use ▪ Even 6 and 7-year-
a tool achieve a goal, he/she olds have trouble
assumes the tool was designed thinking about days of
for that purpose. the week, or months in
– Leads to efficiency and functional relation to each other.
fixedness.
▪ Even 12-month-olds learn that
some tools are special purpose
objects.
– See Barrett et al (2007) on page
238.
 ▪ Standard model task – hide Terry in large room
Thinking in Symbols: – Room was “shrunk”

The Development of Representation – 2.5 yr can find Terry in small room

Learning to Use Symbols ▪ No need for representational link between model and the
room, instead -- large and small room believed to be the
▪ Symbols: external referents for objects and events. same thing
– no dual representation needed
▪ Representational Insight: Knowledge that an entity can stand
for something other than itself.

▪ Even an 18 month-old will show basic symbolic play.

▪ But this is not necessarily dual representation.
Young Children’s Interpretation of ▪ DeLoache et al. (1998) presented pictures to 9 to 19 month-
Pictures and Models old children from the US and the Ivory Coast.
▪ The youngest children treated them as objects.
▪ DeLoache (1987) had 2- and 3-year-old children search for a
▪ By 19 months of age, they realized the picture represented
toy hidden in a room. something else.
▪ Earlier, they are shown a model room that illustrates where
the toy is.
▪ They then have to find the toy in the room. The Appearance/Reality Distinction
▪ Then have to find the model toy in the model room.
▪ The knowledge that the appearance of an object does not
necessarily correspond to its reality.

▪ 3-year-olds possess
▪ representational insight. ▪ De Vries (1969) studied qualitative identity
– Children were familiarized with a trained cat.
▪ 2.5-year-olds do not – The cat was then fitted with a dog mask.
– 3-year-olds believed the mask changed the identity of the cat.
▪ Flavell (1986) poured white milk into a red glass while young
children were watching.
▪ Showed children a sponge that looked like a rock.
▪ If a picture is used instead of a scale model, 2.5-year-olds
show representational insight, whereas 2-year-olds do not
(DeLoache 1987). ▪ They were asked what does it look like to your eyes right
now?
▪ These findings may reflect difficulty with dual-representation. ▪ Asked, what is it, really and truly?
▪ A model is its own item, worthy of its own attention. ▪ Made two kinds of errors.
▪ When models are made less interesting, performance ▪ Phenomenism errors: said milk was really and truly red.
changes. ▪ Intellectual realism: said the fake rock looked like a sponge.

▪ Young children’s poor performance on appearance/reality

▪ When models were viewed through a window, 2.5 year-olds’ distinction tasks is surprisingly pervasive.
performance was better than on the model task. ▪ Might stem from problems with dual encoding.
▪ When 3-year-olds were allowed to play with the model ▪ They have trouble representing an object in more than one
beforehand, performance decreased. form at a time.
▪ DeLoache et al. (1997) designed a task that did not require
dual representation. Jean Piaget
▪ A Swiss philosopher/psychologist first
▪ “credible shrinking room studies” -- 2.5 yr olds can succeed trained as a biologist.
▪ Has had the greatest impact on
➢ “shrinking machine” can shrink room developmental psychology.
➢ shown “Terry the Troll” ▪ Emphasized the role of children in
➢ machine “shrinks” (then enlarges) Terry development.
➢ 19% vs. 80% ▪ Children are not incomplete adults.
– Think differently, qualitative
differences.
 Assumptions of Piaget’s Theory
▪ We develop in discrete stages.
▪ Cognitive development is through a series of transformations.
– But underlying functions are continuous.
▪ Mechanisms of cognitive development are domain-general
(homogeneity of function).

▪ Children are not passive creatures, They are intrinsically

active and possess an innate curiosity and seek stimulation.
– The motivation for development is within the child.
– They are primarily responsible for their own development.

▪ Cognition is a constructive process.

▪ We interpret the world through our own personal
perspective, ie, through what we already know.
– Constructivism
▪ Children at different levels construct different realities.
Memory Strategies, Problem
Solving, and Reasoning