Cognition Development in Children
As defined in our text book, Cognition refers to the process or faculties by which knowledge is acquired and manipulated. Cognition is usually thought of as being mental, so, cognition is a reflection of a mind. Cognition is not directly observable. We cannot see or directly measure what underlines children's performance on these and other tasks. We can understand what is going on in their heads by assessing certain aspects of their behavior. Cognition is never measured directly but is inferred from the behaviors we can observe. It's not the overt, countable behaviors that is important but the processes or skills that underline them. How does memory in remembering words and pictures reflect how information is stored in the minds of children of different ages? What do children know about the minds of others? "To what extent are young children's less sophisticated cognitive skills a function of limits on their abilities to process information or limits on their knowledge about information relevant to the task?"(Children's thinking, Bjorklund) These are important factors to understanding cognitive development. This project is three of the many cognition tasks used to measure a child's development. There were a total of four children from the ages of forty-four months, to forty-eight months with the mean age of thirty-four months. This entire experiment shows that processing and knowledge cannot be understood independently of one another. "How a person of any age processes information is a function of the prior knowledge that a person possesses. Much like the relationship between structure and function, the relationship between processing and knowledge is bidirectional" (Children's thinking, Bjorklund).
Task A
In this experiment we used an empty, familiar Band-Aid box and put a yellow rubber ducky. Before we start the other experimenter goes out of the room and out of site from the child. We asked each child what they thought was inside. Every child naturally said "Band-Aids". We then opened the box and revealed the ducky not Band-Aids. We then re-asked what they originally thought was in the box (what they believed was in the box before being shown the contents). Next the experimenter who left the room is called back in. We then ask the child what he or she thinks the experimenter would guess what was in the box. Three of the children guessed correctly while one child G2CO, the youngest, age forty-four months old, failed the false belief task. The first question assesses children's memory for their initial belief also referred to as representational change. The second question assesses their ability to understand false belief. The false-belief task is commonly used to assess children's theory of mind which is why this is a common task used by researchers. Most four year old children can solve this problem, stating that the experimenter who left the room would guess the child's first guess, Band-Aids. However, three year olds generally cannot guess correctly that the experimenter will guess there is a ducky in the box, not a Band-Aide. The correct answer would be Band-Aide's but three year olds seem to forget there initial belief. It's not that they have difficulty remembering their past images, perceptions, or pretences, it's they have particular difficulty remembering their past beliefs. Perner (1991) proposed that three year old children lack the conceptual structures necessary to solve problems dealing with beliefs. They have a representational deficit and do not possess a true theory of mind. As concluded in the class text book, young children will fail in situations where they must consider two different beliefs or representations for one target.
As defined in our text book, Cognition refers to the process or faculties by which knowledge is acquired and manipulated. Cognition is usually thought of as being mental, so, cognition is a reflection of a mind. Cognition is not directly observable. We cannot see or directly measure what underlines children's performance on these and other tasks. We can understand what is going on in their heads by assessing certain aspects of their behavior. Cognition is never measured directly but is inferred from the behaviors we can observe. It's not the overt, countable behaviors that is important but the processes or skills that underline them. How does memory in remembering words and pictures reflect how information is stored in the minds of children of different ages? What do children know about the minds of others? "To what extent are young children's less sophisticated cognitive skills a function of limits on their abilities to process information or limits on their knowledge about information relevant to the task?"(Children's thinking, Bjorklund) These are important factors to understanding cognitive development. This project is three of the many cognition tasks used to measure a child's development. There were a total of four children from the ages of forty-four months, to forty-eight months with the mean age of thirty-four months. This entire experiment shows that processing and knowledge cannot be understood independently of one another. "How a person of any age processes information is a function of the prior knowledge that a person possesses. Much like the relationship between structure and function, the relationship between processing and knowledge is bidirectional" (Children's thinking, Bjorklund).
Task A
In this experiment we used an empty, familiar Band-Aid box and put a yellow rubber ducky. Before we start the other experimenter goes out of the room and out of site from the child. We asked each child what they thought was inside. Every child naturally said "Band-Aids". We then opened the box and revealed the ducky not Band-Aids. We then re-asked what they originally thought was in the box (what they believed was in the box before being shown the contents). Next the experimenter who left the room is called back in. We then ask the child what he or she thinks the experimenter would guess what was in the box. Three of the children guessed correctly while one child G2CO, the youngest, age forty-four months old, failed the false belief task. The first question assesses children's memory for their initial belief also referred to as representational change. The second question assesses their ability to understand false belief. The false-belief task is commonly used to assess children's theory of mind which is why this is a common task used by researchers. Most four year old children can solve this problem, stating that the experimenter who left the room would guess the child's first guess, Band-Aids. However, three year olds generally cannot guess correctly that the experimenter will guess there is a ducky in the box, not a Band-Aide. The correct answer would be Band-Aide's but three year olds seem to forget there initial belief. It's not that they have difficulty remembering their past images, perceptions, or pretences, it's they have particular difficulty remembering their past beliefs. Perner (1991) proposed that three year old children lack the conceptual structures necessary to solve problems dealing with beliefs. They have a representational deficit and do not possess a true theory of mind. As concluded in the class text book, young children will fail in situations where they must consider two different beliefs or representations for one target.
