Self Test 6. The First Two Years: Cognitive Development 

Note: These questions are part of a larger data base of questions on Chapter 6 & are selected to represent 
the type of question you should expect on unit exam two. You can, in fact, expect to see many of these very same 
questions on that exam. Exam questions, however, may deal with topics not covered in the self tests or in lectures 
but are discussed in your textbook. You are responsible for the content of your text book plus the content of lectures, 
interactive activities, & material on the web site.

Use these sample questions to test yourself & to practice for the test. 

1.  Newborns prefer to hear human speech over other sounds. They prefer to listen to high-pitched, simplified, 
& repetitive adult speech. This form of speech is sometimes called baby talk, as it is directed to babies, & sometimes 
motherese, since mothers all over the world speak it.  Both these terms may be misleading, so psychologists prefer the 
more formal term

•  babbling. 
 •  habituation. 
  •  holophrasing. 
   •  child-directed speech.

2.  Whether an affordance is perceived & acted upon depends on

•  sensory awareness. 
 •  immediate motivation. 
  •  current development. 
   •  past experience. 
    •  all of the above. 

3. Kurt is in the sixth substage of Piaget's stages of sensorimotor intelligence. 

 - Consequently, when he sees his sister running into another room to hide 
   his favorite toy, Kurt will  cry in distress but not look for the toy. 
 - look for it only briefly and then give up. 
 - stare blankly at the place where he last saw the toy and then turn 
   his attention to something else. 
 - go into the other room and search with the conviction that toys don't just 
   disappear when they're out of sight. 

4. According to dynamic perception, a 1 year old would most prefer to look at 

 a mobile spinning over her head. 
  a brightly colored ball. 
   a puzzle held by her aunt. 
    a DVD player playing children's music. 

5. Two-year-old Billy liked to tug on his dog's tail. One day, he tried to pull the
cat's tail and the cat scratched him. After that, Billy knew that only some 
tails are safe to pull. Billy has undergone the process known as 

 habituation. 
 assimilation. 
 accommodation. 
 classical conditioning. 

6. Which of the following children is assimilating? 

 - Linda, who just started to walk and noticed that walking on the slippery 
   kitchen floor requires a smaller, more cautious step than walking 
    on the carpet. 
 - Kim, who spent her first hour in daycare crying for her mother but then 
   decided to stop crying and join some of the other children who were 
    playing in the sandbox. 
 - Rose, who made her father very happy when she started to call him 
   "dada," and then when they went to the park called out "dada" every time 
   a man passed by her stroller. 
 - Lilly, who on her first visit to the pediatrician stared at the colorful mural 
   on the wall for a long time before switching her gaze to survey the 
   other goings on in the waiting room. 

7. Baillargeon's research using "impossible events" has revealed that 6-month 
old infants: 

 believe anything is possible. 
 understand object permanence before they can search for hidden objects. 
 understand object permanence when they can crawl. 
 do not know hidden objects can support visible objects. 

8. Bob's first words were "Want" and "Mine." Donna's first words were
 "Cup" & "Bath." Bob has an ________ style of language & Donna has
 an ________ style of language.

 expressive; expressive 
 expressive; referential 
 referential; expressive 
 referential; referential 

9. If a child says "Cup," which of the following parental responses to the child's 
utterance would constitute a contingent dialogue? 

 - "Do you want a drink in your cup? Would you like some milk?" 
 - "Good! You said "Cup." Now if you say "Juice," I'll pour some in your cup." 
 - "What about your cup? Tell me exactly what you want." 
 - "Here. You want it? You can have it." 

10. Every day when Kimberly gives her two-year-old daughter Rose a bath, 
the two of them engage in a two-way conversation pertaining to the 
rubber duck, the soap, the bath water, and the towel. This type 
of conversation is called 

 receptive language. 
 contextual dialogue. 
 contingent dialogue. 
 the expressive style of language. 

11. Which of the following would be considered a launching event? 

 the second step in a sequence of events. 
 speaking directed at a baby. 
 slowly drinking juice. 
 knocking over the 1st domino in a row of dominoes. 

12. The 1st two stages of sensorimotor thought involve 

 creative actions. 
 objects & people. 
 the baby's own body. 
 creative thoughts. 

13. An example of stage three behavior is 

 searching for a teddy bear hidden under a blanket. 
 making a noise, looking for a smile, & smiling back. 
 trying to dress like adults. 
 thumb sucking & self soothing. 

14. Piaget's sixth stage of senorimotor intelligence is 

 mental combinations. 
 primary reactions. 
 new adaptations. 
 interesting observations. 

15. On average, children began to say recognizable words at about: 

 3 months of age. 
 6 months of age. 
 9 months of age. 
 1 year of age. 

16. Ed uses the word "bird" to name the family parrot but not other birds. 
Ed is exhibiting; 
 
 overextension. 
 underextension. 
 generalization. 
 categorizing behavior. 

17. According to Chomsky: 

 the inability of some children to learn language is due to brain dysfunction. 
 children have an innate ability to learn language. 
 children learn language though imitation & reinforcement. 
 Language learning depends on specific brain structures. 

18. In general terms, the Gibsons’ concept of affordances emphasizes the idea 
that the individual perceives an object in terms of its: 

 physical qualities. 
 economic importance. 
 role in the larger culture. 
 function or use to the individual. 

19. A single word used by toddlers to express a complete thought is: 

 babbling. 
 baby talk. 
 a holophrase. 
 an affordance. 

20. A toddler who taps on a computer keyboard after observing her dad 
sending E-mail is demonstrating: 

 assimilation. 
 accommodation. 
 deferred imitation. 
 dynamic perception. 

21.  Child-directed speech is the name given to the high-pitched, simplified, & repetitive way 
adults speak to infants. Child-directed speech is a.k.a.

•  babbling. 
 •  toddler speak. 
  •  private speech. 
   •  motherese or baby talk.
   
22.  Parents & Educators should be guided in their approach to language learning by which of 
the following theories?

•  behaviorism - infants are directly taught 
 •  epigenetic - infants naturally undestand language 
  •  social cultural - socal impulses propel infants to comunicate 
   •  A hybrid theory using aspects of all of the above (emergentist coalition).
                             -----------------------------------------
                             Growth & Development
                                    Robert C. Gates