What does cognitive development mean

Ages 12 to 18 is called adolescence. Kids and teens in this age group do more complex thinking. This type of thinking is also known as formal logical operations.

This includes the ability to:. Reason from known principles. This means forming own new ideas or questions. Consider many points of view. This means to compare or debate ideas or opinions. Think about the process of thinking. This means being aware of the act of thought processes. From ages 12 to 18, children grow in the way they think. First, during adolescence individuals become better able than children to think about what is possible, instead of limiting their thought to what is real.

Whereas children's thinking is oriented to the here and now—that is, to things and events that they can observe directly—adolescents are able to consider what they observe against a backdrop of what is possible; they can think hypothetically.

Second, during the passage into adolescence, individuals become better able to think about abstract ideas. For example, adolescents find it easier than children to comprehend the sorts of higher-order, abstract logic inherent in puns, proverbs, metaphors, and analogies. The adolescent's greater facility with abstract thinking also permits the application of advanced reasoning and logical processes to social and ideological matters.

This is clearly seen in the adolescent's increased facility and interest in thinking about interpersonal relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, and morality. Third, during adolescence individuals begin thinking more often about the process of thinking itself, or metacognition. As a result, adolescents may display increased introspection and self-consciousness.

Although improvements in metacognitive abilities provide important intellectual advantages, one potentially negative byproduct of these advances is the tendency for adolescents to develop a sort of egocentrism, or intense preoccupation with the self. A fourth change in cognition is that thinking tends to become multidimensional, rather than limited to a single issue. Whereas children tend to think about things one aspect at a time, adolescents can see things through more complicated lenses.

Adolescents describe themselves and others in more differentiated and complicated terms and find it easier to look at problems from multiple perspectives.

Being able to understand that people's personalities are not one-sided or that. Finally, adolescents are more likely than children to see things as relative, rather than absolute. Children tend to see things in absolute terms—in black and white. Adolescents, in contrast, tend to see things as relative. They are more likely to question others' assertions and less likely to accept facts as absolute truths.

This increase in relativism can be particularly exasperating to parents, who may feel that their adolescent children question everything just for the sake of argument.

Difficulties often arise, for example, when adolescents begin seeing their parents' values as excessively relative. Cognitive impairment is the general loss or lack of development of cognitive abilities, particularly autism and learning disabilities.

The National Institutes of Mental Health NIMH describes learning disabilities as a disorder that affects people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up in many ways, such as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control, or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and can impede learning to read or write or to do math.

A child who has a learning disability may have other conditions, such as hearing problems or serious emotional disturbance. However, learning disabilities are not caused by these conditions, nor are they caused by environmental influences such as cultural differences or inappropriate instruction. As of it is widely accepted that a child's intellectual ability is determined by a combination of heredity and environment. Thus, although a child's genetic inheritance is unchangeable, there are definite ways that parents can enhance their child's intellectual development through environmental factors.

They can provide stimulating learning materials and experiences from an early age, read to and talk with their children, and help children explore the world around them. As children mature, parents can both challenge and support the child's talents. Although a supportive environment in early childhood provides a clear advantage for children, it is possible to make up for early losses in cognitive development if a supportive environment is provided at some later period, in contrast to early disruptions in physical development, which are often irreversible.

If, by age three, a child has problems understanding simple directions or is perplexed when asked to do something simple, the parents or primary caregiver should consult a physician or pediatrician.

The child may have a delay in cognitive development. Parents should also consult a healthcare professional if, after age three, their child's cognitive development appears to be significantly slower than their peers. Autism —A developmental disability that appears early in life, in which normal brain development is disrupted and social and communication skills are retarded, sometimes severely. Cognition —The act or process of knowing or perceiving. Egocentric —Limited in outlook to things mainly relating to oneself or confined to one's own affairs or activities.

Learning disabilities —An impairment of the cognitive processes of understanding and using spoken and written language that results in difficulties with one or more academic skill sets e. Metacognition —Awareness of the process of cognition.

Schemas —Fundamental core beliefs or assumptions that are part of the perceptual filter people use to view the world. Cognitive-behavioral therapy seeks to change maladaptive schemas. Stanford-Binet intelligence scales —A device designed to measure somebody's intelligence, obtained through a series of aptitude tests concentrating on different aspects of intellectual functioning.

An IQ score of represents "average" intelligence. Bjorklund, David F. Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Publishing, Pica, Rae. New York: McGraw-Hill, Thornton, Stephanie. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, Wadsworth, Barry J. Blumberg, Fran. Dahl, Ronald. Li, Xiaoming, and Melissa S. Thurber, Christopher A.

Wacharasin, Chintana, et al. Zinner, Susan. According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development. All children progress through the stages in the same order, however the age at which they progress through each stage may vary. The school-age children in your care will likely be working through the Preoperational Stage and the Concrete Operational Stage. During the Preoperational Stage, children think about things symbolically.

This is what allows them to use a word or object as something other than itself. During the Concrete Operational Stage, children begin to transition from symbolic thought to logical, or operational thought, which is the ability to process thoughts and ideas internally.

They also begin to develop the understanding of conservation. Conservation is the concept that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance may change. Brain development is influenced by both biology and experiences. The experiences a child has early in life are crucial for brain development as they help to shape the architecture of their brains.

New brain connections are being developed every second. These are called synapses. The more often a child has an experience positive or negative the stronger those synapses will become.

Adults can support healthy brain development by including the following in their work with school-age children:. Scientists no longer debate which is most important, genetics or experience; the same is true for developmental domains.

All of the domains of development are important, and they are inextricably linked. Cognitive development is strengthened when children are healthy, emotionally secure, and socially connected.

It is your job to make sure:. Learning is both individual and social and takes place within social and cultural contexts. Children who accumulate negative experiences carry those effects with them throughout their lives. In other words, experiences last a lifetime. Remember that while you are helping settle an argument over a basketball game, preheating the oven for a cooking activity, building a model airplane, and performing all of the other tasks you do on a daily basis, you are also influencing a developing brain.

The experiences you provide every day matter. Look at all the ways school-age children are learning in your programs. School-age children spend their days in structured school settings. Your program can provide a space for school-age children to connect with others, explore their own interests, discover new skills, and apply their knowledge in interesting ways.

It can also provide them the time and space they need to process all they are learning. Take time to review the strategies listed below which highlight ways to support cognitive development for the school-age children and youth in your program:.

For more information on what to expect in this course, the Cognitive Development Competency Reflection, and a list of the accompanying Learn, Explore and Apply resources and activities offered throughout the lessons, visit the School-Age Cognitive Development Course Guide. As you complete lessons, you are not expected to review all the online references available. However, you are welcome to explore the resources further if you have interest, or at the request of your trainer, coach, or administrator.

How do you define cognitive development? What experiences have helped you develop as a learner? Use the Exploring Cognitive Development activity to further reflect on cognitive development. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellMind. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. Important Concepts. Next in Stages of Cognitive Development Guide.

The Sensorimotor Stage Ages: Birth to 2 Years Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen object permanence They are separate beings from the people and objects around them They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them.

The Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development. The Preoperational Stage Ages: 2 to 7 Years Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects. Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others.

While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms. The Concrete Operational Stage Ages: 7 to 11 Years Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle.

The Formal Operational Stage Ages: 12 and Up Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes: At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems Abstract thought emerges Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information.

Formal Operational Stage of Cognitive Development. Assimilation and Jean Piaget's Adaptation Process. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign Up. What are your concerns? Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Pioneers of Psychology: A History. New York: W. Norton; Piaget, J. The Essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books; Santrock, JW. A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development 8th ed.