8.2: Studying Cognition- Jean Piaget

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Todd LaMarr

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Jean Piaget

The scientific study of cognitive development in young children traces its roots back to the 20th century to Jean Piaget, a pioneer in the field of child development (Piaget, 1954, 1983). Piaget described children as active learners who, through continuous interactions with their environments, construct a complex understanding of the physical world around them. From infancy to adolescence, children progress through four cognitive stages: (1) the sensorimotor stage from birth to 2 years (when cognitive functioning is based primarily on motor reflexes and perceptions); (2) the preoperational stage from 2 to 7 years (when symbolic thought and language become prevalent, but reasoning is illogical by adult standards); (3) the concrete operational stage from 7 to 12 years (when logical reasoning abilities emerge but are limited to concrete objects and events); and (4) the formal operational stage at around 12 years (when thinking about abstract, hypothetical, and contrary-to-fact ideas becomes possible). The sensorimotor stage can further be divided into six substages. The sensorimotor substages divide the first two years of life into phases. Each substage builds upon the previous stage as the child's cognition develops. During the first two years, Piaget stressed the central role sensory and motor abilities have on supporting early cognition. According to Piaget, infant and toddler cognitive development is primarily driven by motor and sensory interactions with the environment. ^{^[1]}

While Piaget’s theory of cognitive development continues to be foundational in understanding infant and toddler cognition, Piaget’s theory has many limitations. For example, research has revealed that infants have internal mechanisms of learning, not just motor and sensory abilities, that drive cognitive development such as the automatic number system and statistical learning (Saffran & Kirkham, 2018; Wang & Feigenson, 2021). Some researchers believe infants are born with core knowledge – innate systems that help infants learn about the physical and social world around them (Spelke & Kinzler, 2007; Stahl & Feigenson, 2019). Another limitation to his theory is that Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of infants and toddlers. As an example, Piaget (1954) suggested that object permanence did not begin to develop until 8 to 12 months of age, as indicated by younger infants’ failures to search for hidden objects, but research has since discovered object permanence develops much earlier, around three to six months of age (Baillargeon, 1987; Bremner, Slater & Johnson, 2015). ^{^[1]}

^{^[1]} Houdé & Borst (2014). Measuring inhibitory control in children and adults: brain imaging and mental chronometry. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 616. CC by 4.0