Chapter 3
Cognitive Development: Building a Foundation for Language
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Piaget’s four stages of intellectual development in the correct order from birth to adolescence are:
a. Formal operations, preoperational thought, sensorimotor intelligence, concrete operations
b. Perceptual intelligence, distancing thought, post-operational intelligence, concrete operations
c. Preoperational thought, postoperational thought, preconcrete thought, postconcrete thought
d. Sensorimotor intelligence, preoperational thought, concrete operations, formal operations
e. Representative intelligence, sensorimotor intelligence, distancing intelligence, operational intelligence
2. Vygotsky’s view of intellectual development is generally consistent with this theory of language development:
a. Social interactionist
b. Nativist
c. Behaviorist
d. Cognitive interactionist
e. Case grammar interactionist
3. The __________________________________________ demonstrates how human beings use both auditory and
visual information to determine speech sounds.
a. McGurk effect
b. Attentional Learning Account
c. McCallum experiment
d. Perceptual stimulation effect
e. Shape bias account
4. __________________________________________ refer to a set of control processes in the human brain that
allow us to maintain attention, inhibit irrelevant associations and use working memory.
a. Executive functions
b. Controlled attention
c. Theory of mind
d. Joint attention
e. Distancing
5. Li is a typically developing bilingual 4-year-old who has grown up with parents who speak mainly Mandarin
with her and several older siblings who speak mainly English with her. Andy is a typically developing 4-year-old
in the same preschool as Olivia who is a monolingual English speaker. Research would indicate that:
a. Li lives in a subtractive bilingual environment and her bilingualism will likely have negative effects on her
cognitive function.
b. Andy would likely have an advantage on tasks requiring inhibitory control over Li
c. Li’s theory of mind skills are likely less developed than those of Andy’s
d. Li is likely more advanced in her ability to focus attention in the presence of competing information
e. Andy likely has better developed cognitive operations, such as inhibition and working memory
6. Knowing that objects can exist in time and space even if you cannot see or touch them is known as
__________________________________________.
a. Causality
b. Distancing
c. Object permanence
d. Means-end
e. Concrete operations
7. Piaget felt that these concepts/behaviors were among the most important as children gain more advanced
intellectual functioning:
a. Private speech, play, object permanence
b. Means-end, imitation, causality
c. Egocentric speech, means-end, scaffolding
d. Communication, theory of mind, intersubjectivity
e. Causality, shape bias, imitation
8. The ability to use words in place of things is called __________________________________________.
a. Perception
b. Theory of mind
c. Babbling
d. Intersubjectivity
e. Representation
9. A 3-month-old child is sitting with her mom and says, “ah ah ah.” In return, her mom says back, “ah ah ah!” The
baby now repeats her original sounds, “ah ah ah!” What would Piaget call this exchange?
a. Imitation
b. Delayed imitation
c. Symbolic imitation
d. Egocentric imitation
e. Pre-imitation
10. The cognitive process whereby a person places a new stimulus into an existing “file” or category is known as
__________________________________________.
a. Assimilation
b. Accommodation
c. Schema
d. Equilibrium
e. Adaptation
11. The __________________________________________ proposes that learning is the real-time interaction of
many components, including physical and cognitive abilities, child’s individual history of perceiving and acting,
and the specifics of the task.
a. Vygotsky model
b. Zone of proximal development
c. Dynamic systems theory
d. Piaget model
e. Executive functions theory
12. Research that showed negative effects of bilingualism on cognitive function was conducted primarily on children
from:
a. Additive bilingual environments
b. Subtractive bilingual environments
c. Eastern Europe
d. Negative bilingual environments
e. The early 19th century
13. As 5-year-old Jeremy is stacking blocks, he says to no one in particular, “The green one goes on top!” This is an
example of what?
a. Scaffolding
b. Intersubjectivity
c. Shape bias
d. Private speech
e. Narrative talk
14. Vygotsky’s theory includes the following key feature(s): circle all that apply
a. At around the age of 5 years old, cognition and language influence each other
b. Children are passive participants in their quest for knowledge
c. Cognitive development is heavily influenced by the environment and culture
d. Cognitive development does not proceed through exactly the same sequence for all children
e. Children’s ability to represent their environment mentally, including their use of language, facilitates
cognitive development
15. There is evidence that children as young as three days old can ________________________________________.
a. Recognize their mother’s voice
b. Visually discriminate between family members
c. Smile at a familiar face
d. Babble
e. Discriminate among speech sounds
Short Answer & Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
1. Howard Gardner developed the theory of __________________________________________ to recognize the
differences in how humans learn and think.
2. Vygotsky believed that once __________________________________________ is developed, a child’s mental
abilities would be shaped into higher-order cognitive processes.
3. The __________________________________________ explains a child’s ability to learn new words by
generalization based on the shape of the word.
4. __________________________________________ refers to the processes by which a person selects, organizes,
integrates and interprets the sensory stimuli he/she receives.
5. Piaget believed that the __________________________________________ is a category or “computer file” that
is used to process, identify, store and retrieve information in our brains.
Essay Questions
1. Explain two key differences between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive and language development.
2. Define and describe the zone of proximal development. Share the two attributes of learner-teacher interactions
that are associated with the zone of proximal development, offering examples of what these attributes might look
like in action.
3. Compare and contrast the subtractive bilingual environment and the additive bilingual environment. Describe
several benefits and/or disadvantages to each.
Give three examples of how the perceptual abilities of a typically developing child assist in cognitive and language
development.
Cognitive Development: Building a Foundation for Language
TEST BANK ANSWERS