MODULE 13:

COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT OF
INFANTS AND
TODDLERS
SENSORI MOTOR STAGE
• In this stage, infants construct an
understanding of the world by
coordinating sensory experiences
(such as hearing and seeing) with
physical motoric
• An infant actions .
progresses
from reflexive, instinctual
action at birth to the
beginning of symbolic
thought toward the end
1. SIMPLE REFLEXES (birth –
6 weeks)
• sucking of objects in the
mouth
• following or interesting
objects with the eyes
• closing of hand when an
object makes contact with
the palm.
2. FIRST HABITS AND PRIMARY
CIRCULAR REACTIONS PHASE
(6 weeks – 4 months)
• Coordination of sensation
• Two types of schemes a.
habits (reflex) b. primary
circular reactions
 3. SECONDARY CIRCULAR
REACTIONS PHASE (4 – 8
months)
• Development of habits
• Infants become more object oriented ,
moving beyond self-preoccupation
repeat actions that bring interesting
or pleasurable results.
• Three new abilities occur at this stage:
intentional grasping for a designed
object, secondary circular reactions
and different reactions between ends
and means
 4. COORDINATION OF
REACTIONS STAGE
SECONDARY CIRCULAR (8
weeks – 12 months)
• Coordination of vision and
touch-hand-eye coordination of
schemes and intentionality
• Piaget calls this as the “first
proper intelligence”
• Also, this stage marks the
beginning of goal orientation,
the deliberate planning of steps
 5. TERTIARY CIRCULAR
REACTIONS, NOVELTY, AND
CURIOUSITY. (12–18 months)
• Infants experiment with new
behaviors
• this stage is associated
primarily with discovery of
new means and to meet
goals.
• Piaget describes the child at
 6. INTERNALIZATION OF
SCHEMES (INVENTION OF NEW
MEANS TRHOUGH MENTAL
COMBINATION) (18 – 24
months)
• Infants develop the ability to
use primitive symbols and
form enduring mental
representations.
• This stage is associated with the
beginnings of insight, or true
creativity.
 OBJECT PERMANENCE
Is the understanding that objects
continue to exist even when they
cannot be seen, heard or touched.

LEARNING AND
REMEMBERING
• Infantile amnesia - the inability to
recall events that happened when we
were very young.
 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
• infants appear to be programmed to
tune in to their linguistic environment
with the specific goal of acquiring
language. Infants clearly have
remarkably acute language learning
The infant
• abilities utters
even from his/her anfirst word-
early age.
followed by one or two more, and
soon after, yet a few more. The infant
uses these one word utterances
termed Holopharases- to convey
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
• Gradually between 1.5 and 2.5 years
of age, Children start combining
single words to produce two-word
utterances.

• These two-word or three-word

utterances with rudimentary syntax
but with articles and preposition
missing are referred to as telegraphic
 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
DEVICE (LAD)
• This is a metaphorical organ that is
responsible for language learning
whatever the language community
children find themselves in.

“Humans have innate language

acquisition device (LAD).”
- Noam Chomsky (1865, 1972)