Cara H. Cashon

A constructivist model of infant cognition

Abstract We propose six Information-Processing Principles (IPPs) that together describe a constructive, hierarchical system by which infants come to understand objects and events in the world around them. We then demonstrate the applicability of these principles to four specific domains of infant perception and/or cognition, (i.e., form perception, object unity, complex pattern perception, and understanding of causal events). In each case empirical developmental changes appear to be consistent with the IPPs. We then present the Constructivist Learning Architecture, a computational model of infant cognitive development. This model is based on the IPPs, and uses self-organizing, neurally based techniques from Kohonen (1997) and Hebb (1949) . We then apply the model to the complex domain of infant understanding of causal events, and replicate many of the developmental changes found empirically. Finally, we discuss the applicability of this constructivist approach to infant cognitive development in general.

Attention-orienting and attention-holding effects of faces on 4- to 8-month-old infants

Attention-orienting and attention-holding effects of faces were investigated in a sample of 64 children, aged 4 to 8 months old. A visual preference task was used, in which pairs of faces and toys were presented in eight 10-second trials. Effects of age and sitting-ability were examined. Attention-orienting toward faces was measured using the direction of infants’ first looks toward faces. The effect of attention-holding of faces was measured by calculating infants’ face preference scores at 1-second time intervals across the duration of each trial. Faces were not found to attract infants’ first looks significantly more than chance. However, during the first second of looking-time, infants displayed a face preference that was maintained throughout trial length. This attention-holding effect by faces was not related to sitting-ability or age.

Is Perceptual Narrowing too Narrow

There is a growing list of examples illustrating that infants are transitioning from having earlier abilities that appear more “universal,” “broadly tuned,” or “unconstrained” to having later abilities that appear more “specialized,” “narrowly tuned,” or “constrained.” Perceptual narrowing, a well-known phenomenon related to face, speech, and music perception in the 1st year, represents a subset of these findings. In this commentary, we posit that the current definition of perceptual narrowing is too narrow and the phenomenon involves a more general learning mechanism that extends beyond the 1st year and beyond perceptual tasks.

Reply to Baillargeon, Aslin, and Munakata

Our thematic collection relates to the nature of young infants’ representation in specific situations involving occluded objects. Piaget (1954) concluded that the infant has no representations at this age. Most now agree that conclusion was unwarranted, but researchers differ as to what, if any, representations exist of occluded objects (Baillargeon, 1993, 1995; Bogartz, Shinskey, & Speaker, 1997; Haith, 1988; Leslie, Xu, Tremoulet, & Scholl, 1998; Meltzoff & Moore, 1998). Obviously, issues concerning the nature of infant representation must be decided experimentally. It is therefore important to know how much confidence can INFANCY, 1(4), 479–490 Copyright