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Basic Aspects of Psycholinguistics

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Antara11:
                                                             Child Language

PIAGET'S COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY

Children move through four stages of development between infancy and adolescence.
Sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operations and formal operations

Piagetian Concepts: Schemes

Psychological structures
Organized ways of making sense of experience
Change with age
Action-based (motor patterns)
Later will move to a mental (thinking) level

Building Schemes

Adaptation
Process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environment

Assimilation
Part of adaptation in which the external world is interpreted through existing schemes

Accommodation
Part of adaptation in which new schemes are created or old ones adjusted

Equilibrium
Not changing; steady, comfortable cognitive state
Assimilation used more than accommodation

Disequilibrium
Cognitive discomfort during rapid change
Accommodation used more than assimilation

Movement between equilibrium and disequilibrium
More effective schemes are produced.

Antara11:
Sensorimotor Stage (0 to 2 Years)

Infants and toddlers "think" with their eyes, ears, hands, and other sensorimotor equipment.    

Circular Reactions 0-12 months

Infants explore the environment and build schemes by trying to repeat chance events.

First centered on own body (e.g. sucking)

Change to manipulating objects for effect
Object permanence

Mental Representation (18 Mths. To 2 Yrs.)

Mental representations
Internal images of absent objects and past events
A toddler can solve problems through symbolic means instead of trial and error.
Permits make-believe play

Deferred imitation
Ability to copy behavior of models who are not present

Antara11:
INFORMATION PROCESSING
Focus is on different aspects of thinking:
Attention
Memory
Categorization
Problem solving


Memory
Sensory register   
Represented directly and very briefly
Short-term (working) memory
Actively "work" on limited information
Long-term memory
Permanent knowledge base
Limitless capacity   
Sometimes problems with retrieval

Attention and Memory
Infants gradually become more efficient at managing their attention.
Recognition
Simplest form of memory
Recall
Remembering something not present
By toddlerhood, recall for people, places and objects is excellent.

Categorization
Infants can organize their physical, emotional, and social worlds.
Early categories are perceptual.
By the end of the 1st year, categories become conceptual.
During the 2nd year, children actively categorize items during their play.

Antara11:
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky
Complex mental functions originate in social interaction.
tools of the mind i.e. language, pivot objects, social interaction
Role of private speech

Zone of Proximal Development

Tasks a child cannot yet handle alone, but can with help of skilled partners
Guidance within the zone of proximal development is related to advanced play, language, and problem-solving skills.

Infant Intelligence Tests
Measure early language and problem solving
Test perceptual and motor responses
Test scores may not accurately reflect abilities.
Bayley Scales-mental and motor tasks

Antara11:
Early Environment and Mental Development

Early childhood mental development predicted by:
Organized, stimulating physical setting
Parental encouragement, involvement, and affection
Regardless of social-class and ethnic group

Care Outside of Home

Child care has an impact on children's mental development and social skills.
Care standards are set by the states and vary greatly.
USA study showed few provided care adequate for healthy development.: Note higher standards in Australia
Developmentally appropriate practice
Program standards that meet the developmental needs of children

Early Intervention for At-Risk Infants and Toddlers

Children of poverty
Often show gradual declines in intelligence test scores
Achieve poorly when at school age
Interventions are center- or home-based.
The more intense the intervention, the greater the intellectual gains

Individual and Cultural Differences

Girls are ahead of boys in early vocabulary.
Referential style
Toddlers use language mainly to label objects.
Expressive style
Toddlers talk about feelings and needs and those of other people.
Parental speech is related to variations in early word learning. Class and cultural variations
Child directed speech supports development

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