Jean Piagets Theory of

Cognitive Development
II: The Sensorimotor Period
(0-2 years)
Only some basic motor reflexes grasping,
sucking, eye movements, orientation to
sound, etc
By exercising and coordinating these basic
reflexes, infant develops intentionality and
an understanding of object permanence.
II: The Sensorimotor Period
(0-2 years)
Intentionality refers to the ability to act in a
goal-directed manner in other words, to
do one thing in order that something else
occurs.
Requires an understanding of cause and
effect
II: The Sensorimotor Period
(0-2 years)
Object permanence refers to the
understanding that objects continue to exist
even when no longer in view.
Need to distinguish between an action and
the thing acted on.
Stage 1 (0-1 month)
Stage of reflex activity.
Many reflexes like reaching, grasping
sucking all operating independently.
Objects like "sensory pictures".
Subjectivity and objectivity fused.
Schemes activated by chance: No
intentionality.
Stage 2 (1-4 months)
Stage of Primary Circular Reactions.
Infants behaviour, by chance, leads to an
interesting result & is repeated.
Circular: repetition.
Primary: centre on infant's own body.
Example: thumb-sucking.

Object concept at stage 2
Passive expectation: if object disappears,
infant will continue looking to the location
where it disappeared, but will not search.
In the infant mind, the existence of the
object still very closely tied to schemes
applied to experience
Intentions at stage 2
Intentionality beginning to emerge: infant
can now self-initiate certain schemes (e.g.,
thumb-sucking)
Stage 3 (4-8 months)
Stage of Secondary Circular Reactions
Repetition of simple actions on external
objects.
Example: bang a toy to make a noise.
Intentionality at stage 3
Poor understanding of the connection
between causes and effect limits their
ability to act intentionality.
Magical causality accidentally banging
toy makes many interesting things happen
Object concept at stage 3
Visual anticipation.
If infant drops an object, and it disappears,
the infant will visually search for it.
Will also search for partially hidden objects
But will not search for completely hidden
objects.
Stage 4 (8-12 months)
Co-ordination of secondary circular
reactions.
Secondary schemes combined to create new
action sequences.
Intentionality at Stage 4
First appearance of intentional or in Piagets
terms, means-end behavior.
Infant learns to use one secondary scheme
(e.g., pulling a towel) in order that another
secondary scheme can be activated (e.g.,
reaching and grasping a toy)

Object concept at stage 4
Infant will search for hidden objects.
Does infant understand the object as
something that exists separate from the
scheme applied to find the object?
No. Evidence?
A not B error.
A trials
The A not B task
1
The A not B task
A trials
The A not B task
1
The A not B task
A trials
The A not B task
1
The A not B task
A trials
The A not B task
2
The A not B task
A trials
The A not B task
2
The A not B task
A trials
The A not B task
2
The A not B task
B trials
The A not B task
The A not B task
B trials
The A not B task
The A not B task
B trials
The A not B task
??
A not B error
Infant continues to search at the first hiding
location after object is hidden in the new
location.
Object still subjectively understood.
Object remains associated with a previously
successful scheme.
Stage 5 (12-18 months)
Stage of Tertiary Circular Reactions.
Actions varied in an experimental fashion.
Pursuit of novelty
New means are discovered.
Limited to physical actions taken on objects

Object concept at stage 5.
Can solve A not B.
Cannot solve A not B with invisible
displacement (Example from Piaget).
Stage 5 and invisible
displacement
Can only imagine the object as existing
where it was last hidden.
Invisible displacement requires the infant to
mentally calculate the new location of the
object.
Stage 6 (18-24 months)
Can solve object search with invisible
displacement.
Infants now mentally represent physically
absent objects.
Understands object as something that exists
independently of sensory-motor action.
Stage 6 (18-24 months)
Sensori-motor period culminates with the
emergence of the Symbolic function
An idea or mental image is used to stand-in
for a perceptually absent object
Trial-and-error problem solving does not
need to enacted but can undertaken through
mental combination.
Summary
Sensori-motor period culminates in the
emergence of symbolic representation.
Object permanence understood.
Basic means-ends skills have emerged.