Question 1

Research demonstrates that many of the first words children learn are quite consistent from one culture to another, even though languages children use differ.

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that children across different cultures tend to learn words for common objects and actions first, such as "mama," "daddy," "ball," and "eat." These words are often similar across languages and reflect universal aspects of human experience.

Question 2

Research demonstrates that shortly after birth, newborns are able to imitate the facial expressions of adults, such as sticking out the tongue, pursing the lips, opening the mouth.

Accepted Answer

Numerous studies have shown that newborns are capable of imitating facial expressions of adults within the first few hours or days of life. This ability is thought to be a key component of social development and an important precursor to the development of language and communication skills.

Question 3

In studies that compare children raised in middle-income homes with those raised in families on welfare, the typical result is that middle-income children learn language in the same way, but have a larger vocabulary.

Accepted Answer

Studies have shown that children raised in middle-income homes and those raised in families on welfare learn language in the same way, but middle-income children tend to have a larger vocabulary.

Question 4

Before children can produce a complex sentence, they are likely to be able to understand complex sentences.

Accepted Answer

Children typically develop receptive language skills (understanding language) before expressive language skills (producing language). Therefore, it is likely that children can understand complex sentences before they are able to produce them themselves.

Question 5

When a child says something like "I have two foots" (rather than feet), this is called telegraphic speech.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of overgeneralization of rules to specific examples. Telegraphic speech refers to the young child's use of only a few words to convey a more complex meaning. An example would be: "Mommy do!" to indicate that the child would like his mother to help him put on his shoes.

Question 6

Most researchers today believe that Piaget was too optimistic about the speed with which infants develop, since many developmental processes, such as object permanence and symbolic representation, appear to emerge at ages considerable later than Piaget prescribed.

Accepted Answer

Most researchers today believe that children actually develop earlier than Piaget described.
Language Development

Question 7

Adaptation is much more effective if it consists of accommodation, rather than assimilation.

Accepted Answer

Adaptation advances when there is a balance between assimilation and adaptation.

Question 8

Mirror neurons respond in the same way to performing an action as to watching that action he performed by others.

Accepted Answer

Mirror neurons are a type of neuron that fires both when a person performs an action and when they observe someone else performing the same action. This phenomenon is known as "mirroring." Therefore, mirror neurons respond in the same way to performing an action as to watching that action being performed by others.

Question 9

All human languages have the same basic set of sounds, or phonemes, which are arranged in various ways to form words.

Accepted Answer

All languages have phonemes, which are the basic sounds of the language, but different languages contain somewhat different phonemes.

Question 10

At birth, newborns are unable to feel pain, which makes procedures like circumcision painless to the child.

Accepted Answer

Newborns do feel pain, causing some parents and physicians to question the wisdom of pain-inducing practices like circumcision.
Cognitive Development

Question 11

Infants who are deaf do not engage in the vocalizations referred to as babbling, making it very difficult for them to learn sign language.

Accepted Answer

Deaf babies babble vocally the same way that hearing babies babble in the early months of life; however, vocal babbling usually lessens significantly beginning at about 6 months of age.

Question 12

Although infants have no sense of taste and smell at birth, by age 2 months these senses are functioning at the adult level.

Accepted Answer

According to the text, the senses of taste and smell are fully operational at birth.

Question 13

By studying the results of experiments such as those that use the visual cliff apparatus, scientists generally conclude that children's perceptual abilities develop somewhat in advance of their understanding of risks associated with certain actions. For example, a child typically develops the ability to perceive depth before she understands that crawling out on the "cliff" side of the visual cliff is dangerous.

Accepted Answer

The statement accurately summarizes the general conclusion drawn from studies using the visual cliff apparatus.

Question 14

According to Piaget, the process of imitation requires the infant to have achieved a symbolic level of representation.

Accepted Answer

Piaget believed that imitation requires the ability to use symbols to represent actions and objects, indicating that the infant has reached a symbolic stage of development. This is because the infant must be able to remember and mentally represent the observed action before reproducing it. Therefore, according to Piaget, imitation is a higher-order cognitive function that emerges during the preoperational stage of development.

Question 15

As early as 2 weeks of age, infants show a preference for looking at a photo of their mother as opposed to looking at a photo of a stranger.

Accepted Answer

This is true. Research has shown that infants as young as 2 weeks old exhibit a preference for familiar faces, particularly their mother's face. They are able to visually distinguish their mother's face from a stranger's face and will spend more time looking at their mother's face.

Question 16

Although language development ultimately ends with the ability to produce and understand language, children raised in different cultures proceed through the stages of language development is widely varying sequences. For example, English-speaking children learn to coo before they babble, but children raised in China babble before they coo.

Accepted Answer

Although culture can influence the pace of language development, the basic stages of language development are invariant. All children learn to coo before they learn to babble.

Question 17

According to Piaget, a scheme is a mental structure much like a category.

Accepted Answer

Piaget defined scheme as a mental structure or framework that helps individuals organize and interpret their experiences. It is similar to a category in that it is a way of grouping and organizing information.

Question 18

Suppose you wave an attractive rattle in front of an infant. The infant reaches out to grasp the rattle, but instead you "hide" it under a pillow sitting in front of the infant. Now the infant acts as if the rattle no longer exists. This example demonstrates the concept Piaget called object permanence.

Accepted Answer

Piaget proposed that infants develop the concept of object permanence around 8 months, which is the understanding that objects still exist even when they cannot be seen or reached. The example given in the question demonstrates this concept.

Quiz 4: Infancy and Toddlerhood: Physical, Cognitive, and Language Development