Complexity Levels, Habituation, and Individual Differences in Early Infancy

341

In this essay we document moderate continuity in mental development beginning in infancy and extending into childhood. Psychological opinion in the past has tended to favor discontinuity theories of cognitive development from infancy. In recent years, however, the foundations on which discontinuity positions were originally established have themselves come under question and new findings grounded in new assessment procedures have appeared, necessitating revision of opinion on this significant psychological and developmental issue. Our essay has several aims. We first review briefly the bases for contemporary discontinuity theories of mental development. Second, we present current findings that support the alternative proposition of continuity: Recent research demonstrates that infants who more efficiently encode visual stimuli or more efficiently recollect visual or auditory stimuli tend to perform more proficiently on traditional psychometric assessments of intelligence and language during childhood. Third, we scrutinize the assessment methods from which these continuity results derive. Fourth, we offer several models that help to explain the continuity findings. Fifth, we discuss critically the origins and the maintenance of continuity in mental development as it is coming to be conceptualized currently. Finally, we reflect on implications of continuity for the future of infant assessments specifically and for theories of early mental development generally.

Section: The Question Of Continuity In Cognitive Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuity in Mental Development from Infancy

Bornstein¹,

Sigman²

1986

341

“…However, other studies have found that the level of complexity preferred is related to rate of habituation (Greenberg, O'Donnell, & Crawford 1973) and can be accelerated through appropriate visual stimulation (Greenberg 1971). If the level of complexity preferred is regarded as a basic sensory phenomenon related primarily to visual acuity, then it would not be expected to be related to a measure of habituation, which most investigators would regard as an indicant of information processing, nor would it be expected to be so easily influenced through environmental stimulation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Visual-Preference Technique in Infancy: Effect of Number of Stimuli Presented upon Experimental Outcome

Greenberg¹,

Blue²

1977

Self Cite

To examine the effects of the number of stimuli presented when the visual-preference technique is used to measure attention in infancy, 2- and 4-month-old infants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions. In the first condition, infants were shown 3 different checkerboards using the single-stimulus visual-preference methodology; in the second condition, 4 checkerboards; and in the third condition, 5 checkerboards. Infants in both the 3- and 4-pattern conditions were able to order the patterns as predicted by scaling theory. However, there was a significant decrease in the number of infants in the 5-pattern condition who could do so. The results are discussed in terms of both their methodological and theoretical implications.

“…Apparatus.-The testing apparatus was the same as that used in previous experiments (Greenberg & O'Donnell 1972;Greenberg, O'Donnell, & Crawford 1973). An infant was placed face up on a padded surface which was then slid on runners inside a test chamber.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual Complexity in Infancy: Contour or Numerosity?

Greenberg¹,

Blue²

1975

Self Cite

To examine the relationship between visual attention in infancy and the stimulus variables of contour and numerosity, 2- and 4-month-old infants were placed in 3 experimental conditions. In the first condition, the patterns shown to the infants varied in amount of contour but had an equal number of elements; in the second, they varied in numerosity but had an equal amount of contour; and in the third, the patterns varied in both numerosity and contour. The results showed that contour and numerosity acting in tandem are responsible for the age-complexity shift observed in previous investigations of infant attention.