Four Stages Of Infant Cognitive Development & Their Characteristics

  Infants cognitive development is the process by which infants (from 0-12 months old) perceive, process, and respond to information from their environment. Each of the four stages introduced by Jean Piaget is characterized by their changes in the development of intellect and mechanisms of cognition. The four stages of infant cognitive development are:

Stage 1: Sensorimotor (0-2 months old)

Automatic reflex behaviours are exhibited by the infants at this stage of development. For example, they learn sucking their fingers. They begin to explore their immediate environment (surrounding) through sensory experiences such as touching, seeing, tasting, smelling, and hearing of sound. They begin to know persons around them, especially, their parents and caregivers. They can also touch their parents when they are breastfeeding and bathing them, and when sleeping together with them. The infants begin to exhibit basic motor skills such as lifting of their heads and bringing their hands to touch themselves. 

Stage 2:  Primary Circular Reactions (2-4 months old)

At this stage of development, the infants learn repetition of actions which they like or feel comfortable doing, for example, sucking their fingers, especially, the thumbs. They learn that objects are permanent even when they are out of sight or hidden from sight by darkness at night. The young infants refine their motor skills, for example, reaching out for toys and picking them up. When their parents keep the toys in front of the infants, he/ she will stretch out his/ her hand to grab it. If the toy is still far from him/ her, the infant might begin to crawl towards the toy in order to pick it up. Others will cry out for being unable to reach the toy. Hence, someone may volunteer to bring the toy nearer to the infant. 

Stage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months old)

The infant begins to gradually understand cause-and-effect relationships. For example, there are toys or rattles which produce sounds when they are pressed
or shaken. The young infant will learn how to produce the sound by pressing the toy or rattle in his/ her hand. At this stage of development, they also learn how to imitate the actions or behaviours of persons around them. One of the most notable features of this developmental stage is that the infant begins to learn problem-solving skills. For example, when the mother keeps a ball or toy a bit far away from the child, her intention or purpose is to develop the child physically and mentally. First, the infant will begin to look at the object in front him/ her with great admiration. He/ she cannot take it easily. So, that child requires to make a little move to get it. Hence, he/ she begins to stretch his/ her hands in the direction of the object or target. From there, the child begins to crawl towards the ball or toy in order to get it. At the point that that ball or toy was kept in front of him/ her, it becomes a target for him/ her to be accomplished! Once that admirable object is in front of him/ her, it becomes his/ her focus and goal. The child cannot remove his/ her eyes and concentration from the target or goal until he/ she gets it. Some infants get the targeted balls or toys directly through crawling. Others get their own indirectly by crying so that someone can volunteer to get it for him/ her. So, whether the goal was achieved directly or indirectly, it was achieved. Not everyone gets something directly. Perseus killed the dreadful snake-haired Medusa indirectly by seeing it through his shining war shield from Athena since anybody that looks at the Medusa directly dies. By so doing, infants learn problem-solving skills. Parents purposely make it hard for the child to get the ball or toy so that the child might learn a lesson from it. It is a part of parents' responsibilities to train their children to be very strong and useful to themselves and the larger society. Once the child crawls to get the goal (ball or toy), the parent will be happy because the objective of teaching the child how to solve problems by himself/ herself has been achieved. The child can solve his own problems in future without looking for anybody to help him/ her. At this stage too, they learn to respond to stimuli. For example, recognition of faces, voices, and objects.

Stage 4: Coordination of secondary schemes (8-12 months old)

The infants' memory improves at this stage of development, enabling them to remember familiar objects and events. They begin to understand symbolic representations such as pictures. They also acquire more problem-solving skills by using tools to achieve their goals. 

Jean Piaget's cognitive developmental theory posits that children progress through four stages of development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Each stage of development is characterized by an increasingly complex forms of thinking and problem-solving. Jean Piaget believed that children actively construct or build their own knowledge through experiences and interactions with the environment or society. Now, as children encounter new information or challenges, they adapt and refine their existing mental frameworks, to make the world better.

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