Current research confirms earlier brain development theorist that suggested brain development takes place in a structured systematic fashion. For years researchers have suggested that individual’s cognitive processing skills develop in a layered manner. Now we have fresh research conducted with new forms of technology not available to most of these researchers to validate their theories. Four relevant cognitive development theories concluded before current technology are described below.
The first theory was developed by Binet and Simon in 1916. Their work established the intelligence guidelines that we use today. Educators at the time were struggling to accurately label struggling students or why students did not all respond to same types of curricula at different levels of education. Binet and Simon’s research determined how the brain functioned at different age levels. The results of their research show that a student gains cognitive processing skills or cognitive intelligence in a systematic manner. For example, they discovered that a picture could determine a child’s intellectual age of three, seven, and twelve. Three-year-old children give simple explanations of the people within a picture, but not the background or happenings of the people within the picture. Binet and Simon noted, “At three years, therefore, the child is at the stage recognition and identification of objects” (p. 190). The answers are usually given in simple one-word sentences. Children at the intellectual age of seven can examine a picture and describe the relationship of the people and objects within the picture. Binet and Simon noted that the answer is given in complete sentences. At the intellectual age of twelve, children are able to give an interpretation of the picture. These interpretations are expressed in a written description of their feelings that are attached to the description of the picture. Children begin to view the whole picture and the meaning of the picture as they grow intellectually.
The second theory was developed by Vygotsky through his research from 1926 to 1930 that focused on “the mechanism of transformation of natural psychological functions into the higher functions of logical memory, elective attention, decision making, and comprehension of language” (Vygotsky, 1934, p. xxvii). Vygotsky’s research in educational psychology led to cognitive rehabilitation practices. He focused on the mental age and the functioning age of children and discovered that ages were not always the same. Vygotsky also discovered that children maturate in a stratified, blended pattern. Vygotsky’s cognitive development theory rests on the amount and type of social interaction that takes place during the maturation process. Vygotsky (1934) argued that children will exhibit higher cognitive functions in an enriched environment. Cognitive functions of children will increase as they master social processes. Vygotsky’s research led to two major findings of cognitive development, the zone of proximal development and inner speech.
The third theory was realized by Piaget (1966), who worked for Binet in the mid-1920s. His findings were not made known until the mid-1960s. Piaget argued that when children’s bodies go through the maturation process, their brains also move into higher levels of cognitive processing. Piaget (1966) concluded that “mental growth is inseparable from physical growth: the maturation of the nervous and endocrine systems, in particular continues until the age of sixteen” (p. xvii). Piaget considered cognitive development within the womb to be more genetically linked than environmentally linked. For Piaget the environment takes on a larger role of development of cognitive intelligence outside of the womb. Piaget (1966) argued that individuals develop their cognitive processing skills at different ages, each level building on the previous level. Piaget established four major levels of cognitive development: sensori-motor, semiotic or symbolic, concrete operations, and propositional operations or pre-adolescent.
The fourth theory was formed through Fowler’s (1983) research that focused on the effects of stimulation on cognitive processing development. A portion of his research focused on language development and the cognitive process of learning how to read. Fowler (1983) theorized that cognitive development was founded on two major explanations that involved the environment and genetics. According to Fowler (1962), the inherited design unfolds itself through “ordered stages of maturation” and is modified through the child’s environmental experiences (p. 143). Fowler argued that the cognitive processing skills of children will grow through the acquisition of layered skills and that children must be able to question before they can reason. Fowler argued that cognitive development is dependent on three main skills as well as motivation. He suggested that these skills were knowledge, codes, and problem-solving strategies and styles. Formal knowledge is how the information is processed, used, and stored within the brain. Codes refers to the use of codes, which are the connections within the brain that allow children to catalog, store, and retrieve vast amounts of information. The complexity of the code connections grows as children maturate. Strategies represent the style of processing information. All children demonstrate different tempos for processing information. All children have different forms of analyzing and integrating information into brains. Fowler (1983) recognized Piaget’s basic stages of cognitive development, but he felt that cognitive development occurred in a blurred rather than a rigid formation. He felt that all new cognitive processing skills are developed based on previously developed cognitive skills.
Current research that supports the theories explained above will be described in my next blog.
References
Binet, A. & Simon, T. (1915). A method of measuring the development of the intelligence of your children. Chicago Medical Books.
Binet, A. & Simon, T. (1916). The development of intelligence in children. Williams & Wilkins Co.
Fowler, W. (1962). Cognitive learning in infancy and early childhood. Psychological Bulletin, 59(2). 116-152.
Fowler, W. (1983) Potentials of childhood, Vol 1. Heath & Co.
Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (2000). The psychology of the child. Basic Books.
Vygotsky, L. (1934). Thought and language. MIT Press.
