| A | B |
|---|
| accommodation | the process of modifying old schemes or creating new ones to better fit assimilated information |
| adaptation | in cognitive development, the process of changing a cognitive structure or the environment (or both) in order to understand the environment |
| assimilation | the process of bringing new objects or information into a scheme that already exists |
| constructivist view | the view that people construct their own knowledge and understanding of the world by using what they already know and understand to interpret new experiences |
| equilibration | the dynamic process of moving between states of cognitive disequilibrium and equilibrium |
| habituation | the tendency of infants to reduce their response to stimuli that are presented repeatedly |
| habituation-dishabituation technique | technique used to test infant perception. Infants are shown a stimulus repeatedly until they respond less to it (habituate), and then a new stimulus is presented. |
| holophrases | single words used to express an entire idea or sentence |
| intermodal perception | the process of combining or integrating information across sensory modalities |
| language | an arbitrary system of symbols (words) that is rule-governed and allows communication about concepts or items that are distant in time and space |
| language acquisition device (LAD | a brain mechanism in humans that is specialized for acquiring and processing language |
| nativist theory | theory that sees language as an innate human capability that develops when language input triggers a language acquisition device in the brain |
| object permanence | the fact that objects, events, and people continue to exist even when they are out of a child’s direct line of sensory input or motor action |
| organization | the tendency to integrate separate elements into increasingly complex higher order structures |
| perception | the cognitive process of organizing, coordinating, and interpreting sensory information |
| Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory | theory that sees language as one of several abilities that depend on overall cognitive development. Proper cognitive development is a necessary prerequisite for normal language development. |
| preferential-looking technique | technique used to test infant visual perception. If infants consistently look longer at some patterns than others, researchers infer that the infants can see a difference between the patterns. |
| reflective abstraction | the process of noticing and thinking about the implications of information and experiences |
| scheme | an organized pattern of physical or mental action |
| sensorimotor thought | thought that is based only on sensory input and physical (motor) actions |
| social interactionist theory | theory proposing that language development results from the interaction of biological and social factors and that social interaction is required |
| symbolic (representational) thought | the ability to form symbols (or mental representations) that stand for objects or events in the world |
| telegraphic speech | speech that includes only words that are essential to get the meaning across, leaving out unessential words |
| Abecedarian Project | project designed to assess the impact of full-time, high-quality intervention beginning in infancy; served primarily African American children living in poverty |
| animism | the idea that inanimate objects have conscious life and feelings |
| artificialism | the notion that natural events or objects are under the control of people or superhuman agents |
| attention | the ability to focus on a particular stimulus without becoming distracted by other stimuli |
| automaticity | the ability to carry out a process with little or no conscious effort, leaving more cognitive capacity to carry out other tasks |
| bilingual | fluent in two languages |
| collaborative learning | process in which children work together to help one another solve problems, share their knowledge and skills, and discuss their strategies and knowledge |
| conservation | the understanding that some basic properties of objects remain the same even when a transformation changes an object’s physical appearance |
| egocentrism | a child’s inability to take another person’s perspective |
| High/Scope Perry Preschool Program | program offering high-quality partial-day intervention during the school year for young African American children living in poverty |
| internalization | the process of taking external speech and making it internal and mental |
| intuitive thought | thought and logic that are based on a child’s personal experience rather than on a formal system of rules |
| mediation | the process that adults and more skilled peers use to introduce concepts and cognitive structures to less skilled children |
| metacognition | the understanding or knowledge that people have about their own thought processes |
| operations | logical processes that can be reversed |
| overregularization | incorrect application of the rules for producing past tense and plurals, resulting in incorrect forms of irregular words such as “goed” |
| preoperational thought | thought characterized by the use of mental representations (symbols) and intuitive thought |
| private speech | speech that children say aloud to themselves; later internalized to form inner speech and mental activity |
| processing capacity | the amount of information a person can remember or think about at one time |
| processing efficiency | the speed and accuracy with which a person can process information |
| Project Head Start | federally funded, comprehensive program designed to improve academic achievement and opportunity for young children |
| scaffolding | support given to a child as he or she develops a new mental function or learns to perform a particular task |
| social rules of discourse | conventions that speakers of a language use when having a conversation |
| social speech | speech heard as people talk around others or to others |
| theory of mind | an integrated understanding of what the mind is, how it works, and why it works that way |
| Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) | the distance between the current maximum independent performance level of the child and the tasks the child can perform if guided by adults or more capable peers |
