TOPIC 5

Role of Knowledge in
Cognitive Development
1.Attention
2.Perception

Attention :
a child's ability to look at and play or work with an
object for an extended period of time. If a child is
not able to sustain attention, he or she will not be
able to learn as much about the properties of the
object or the task.
Growth of attention : Phases involved in the
process of attention
Phase 1: Stimulus detection reflex
Phase 2: stimulus orienting
Phase 3: sustained attention
Phase 4: attention termination

Development of sustained,
selective and adaptable
attention
Depends on cognitive inhibition, the skill to
regulate inner and outer stimuli that
interrupt their attention by removing
extraneous stimuli from working memory
Sustained during play it improves sharply
between 2-3 years old, but have difficulty
attending to detail
Selective ability to focus on an object for a
long time, while simultaneously ignoring other
stimuli, improve sharply between 6 and 10 and
continue through adolescent

Perception
Perception the process by which sensory data is
dynamically organised and interpreted by the
brain
Sensation the raw data we receive through our
sense regarding our surroundings while
perceptions are the process outcomes

Perception
Perception : using the senses incorporating with motor
skills sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch
(interpretation of what we sense). Perceptions become
more organised in the brain as a child gets older.
An older child can close his or her eyes and identify an
object, such as an orange, by tasting, smelling,
feeling, and finally, the object. This is because children
integrate, or put together, they have gathered through
their senses. This information affects the way children
move their bodies or react (socially, emotionally or
cognitively) to people or objects in the environment.

Gestalt principles of
Perceptual Organization
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Figure ground
Multi-stable perception
Invariance
Law of proximity
Law of similarity
Law of continuity
Closure
Reification

 Figure
ground
relationship

 Multi-stable perception

 Invariance

Law of Proximity - Things that are

proximal are usually perceived as
belonging together.

Law of Similarity is the tendency to

perceive objects that resembles
each other as forming a group.

Law of
Continuity - We
tend to
perceive lines
or patterns
that follow a
smooth
contour as
being part of
a single unit.

Law of Closure
- Incomplete
figures tend to
be perceived
as complete
wholes.

 Reification

Depth Perception
Ability to estimate the distance of ojects
from one another an d from ourselves.
Visual Cliff experiment:

Depth Perception: is threedimensional

Binocular cues: the cues to depth or
distance provided by two eyes.
. Retinal disparity
. convergence

Depth Perception: is threedimensional

Monocular cues: the cues to depth or
distance that provided by one eye
.interposition
.texture gradient
.relative size and height
.linear perspective

(interposition
/superpositio
n) - If one
object
overlaps one
another, it is
seen as being
closer than
the one it
covers.

Texture
gradient The texture
of a surface
appears
smoother as
distance
increases.

Light and shadow The brighter

objects are
perceived as closer,
whereas darker,
dimmer objects are
perceived as
farther away.

Linear
perspective Parallel lines
appear to
converge in
the distance;
the greater this
effect, the
father away an
object appears
to be.

Depth Perception: is threedimensional

Perception of motion (Phi phenomenon)

Perceptual constancy
Shape constancy

Perceptual Constancy : Size

constancy

Brightness constancy: Objects

seem to retain about the same
brightness or lightness under
widely differing levels of
illumination
Bright
Dim
lamplight

sunlight

The 2 white
Papers look equally white

Perceptual Constancy:
Color constancy

Puzzling perception
Ambiguous figure

Impossible figure
Illusion: false perception muller-lyer
illusion, ponzo illusion, zoliner illusion

Ponzo illusion - Are the horizontal

lines the same length?

The Muller-Lyer illusion - Most people see the

vertical line on the right as being longer,
even though they are the same length