Cognitive Schema

In Piaget's theory, a cognitive structure or cognitive representation

Equilibrium

In Piaget's theory, the process that maintains balance in cognitive structures via the joint operation of accomodation and assimilation

Primary circular reaction

In Piaget's theory, the second substage of snsorimotor development, in which infants extend reflexive behavior to acquire new behavior patterns

Secondary circular reaction

In Piaget's theory, the third substage of sensorimotor development, in which infants begin to control events in the world outside their bodies

Teriary circular reaction

In Piaget's theory, the fifth substage of sensorimotor develompent, in which infants invent new behaviors by trial and error, in order to achieve their goals

Deferred imitation

Imitation that occurs after a delay; of particular interest to Piaget because it apparently depends on the existence of symbolic representation of the behavior being imitated

Object permanence

The belief that objects continue to exist in time and space evinif we cannot see, hear, or touch them

Violation-of-expectation paradigm

Bahavior pattern in which infants react with surprise to unexpected events

Information processing theory

An approach to cognitive development that emphasizes the glow of information through the mind, using the metaphor of information moving through a computer

Core knowledge theory

An approach to the study of cognitive development that suggests infants are born with some understanding about essential aresas, such as language, space, objects, and numbers

Sociocultural Theory

A perspective on human development that empasizes social and cultural factors in development

Joint attention

The phenomenon of two or more people directing their attention to the same object or person; in communication, when two people pay attention to the same topics

Normative development

Development that is considered typical or expected within a particular cultural group

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

The result of a test intended to measure intellectual skills; common intelligence tests are scored so that a score of 100 is average, scores over 100 indicate above-average intelligence, and scores below 100 indicate below-average intelligence

Developmental Quotient (DQ)

A score on a test of infant intelligence, calculated in the same way as an intelligence quotient (IQ) score

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

In Chomsky's theory, the hypothetical innate mental structure that allows language learning to take place in all humans

Universal grammar

In Chomsky's theory of language development, the idea that use of language requires knowledge of abstract rules and that these rules are common to all languages

Social Interactionist approach to language development

The view that language develops as a social skill for use in communication and social interaction

Connectionist view of language development

The theory that linguistic develppment results form strengthening of existing networks of neural connections in the brain; also known as the neural network view

Statistical learning

In early language development, learning the likelihood of one word or sound being followed by another word or sound, by noting the frequencies with which various combinations of sounds and words actually occur in the language

Cooing

Vocal behavior of infants that involves the repetition of vowel sounds, such as /aaaaaaa/,/ooooooo/, and /eeeeeee/

Babbling

Vocal behavior of infants that involves the repetition of consonant-vowel combinations, cuch as /babababa/ and /dededede/

Noun bias

In early learning of English, children's tendency to learn many nouns among their earliest words; this is not a universal tendency and does not occur in languages that put more emphasis on verbs, such as Japanese or Mandarin Chinese

Referential pattern

In early language development, a pattern of learning that empasizes the names fo objects and contains many nouns

Expressive pattern

In early language development, a pattern of learning that emphasizes description of action words that contain many verbs and pronouns

Overextension

In language development, the application of a word beyond its customary semantic boundaries; for example, using the label cat for all animals

Underextension

In early language development, the overly narrow use of a word; for example, using the label doggie to refer to golden retrievers, but not to poodles or terriers

Word spurt

In language learning, the rapid increase in word knowledge that often occurs around 18 months of age

Fast Mapping

In young children, the ability to learn new words on the basis of very little input

Whole-object assumption

In early language development, the ssumption that words refer to whole objects, not to parts or properties of objects

Taxonomic assumption

In early language learning, the assumption that the name of an object applies to the object and to similar things; for example, dog applies to a particular dog and to other dogs, but not to leashes or leashes or dog biscuits

Mutual exclusivity assumption

In early word learning, children's assumption that words refer to separate and nonoverlapping categories, or that a given object will have only one name

Telegraphic speech

In early language learning, two- and three-word utterances that typically contain content but not function words; for example, "see doggie," "mama sit chair" 

Growth error

In language development, a mistake that revels the child's growth in understanding of grammatical rules but not all of the exceptions

Child-directed speech

A style of speaking, commonly used in speaking to infants and very young children, that includes slowed pace, reduced vocabulry, simplified sentence structire, exaggerated variations in pitch, and marked rhythmic characteristics; also sometimes referred to as "motherese"