Thinking in symbols

Thinking in symbols

1. Symbols

   • DeLoache, 1995- "an entity someone intends to stand for something other than itself"
   • Anything can be a symbol e.g. words, gestures
   • Piaget - the 'sign' (symbol) represents the 'signified' (referent)
   • Two types of symbols:
     • Iconic
       • there's a meaningful relation between the symbol and its referent
     • Symbolic
       • there's an arbitrary relation between the symbol and its referent

2. Dual representation

   • representation
     • internal version in the mind of an external stimuli
   • dual representation
     • an object can be a thing in itself and a symbol for something else
       • E.g. toy block can be block and pretend car
   • child must mentally represent both aspects of the dual reality of a symbol
     • concrete object and abstract relation to referent

3. Grasping at pictures

   • Manually exploring the depicted object
   • Infants can perceive pictures and can discriminate between pictures and objects
     • HOWEVER
       • perception is not the same as understanding the nature of a picture or how they're used
   • STUDY
     • 9 month olds shown realistic picture book of toys (small enough so that if it were a real object it could pick it up)
       • RESULTS: Mean 7 attempts per child to grasp the picture
     • study in isolated West African village
       • 9 month olds behaved in the same way as infants in USA
         • ROBUST PHENOMENON also found in animal kingdom amongst other primates and sheep
   • babies explore depicted objects treating them as if they were real objects
     • DeLoache does not claim that babies truly believe the pictures were real objects, but that they don't know what is going on
       • they treat symbol as referent, spontaneously confusing reality and representation
   • the more the picture looks like a real object, the more infants confused by it and try to manually explore it
     • STUDY
       • babies eventually figure out that the pictures differ from objects
         • 9 months - a lot of manual exploration, very little pointing
           • 19 months- very little manual exploration, a lot of pointing
             • they have learned that pictures aren't objects but something to point out and interact with someone else about

4. Symbolic retrieval task using scale models

   • model task
     • 1) Hide miniature toy in scale model
       • 2) Retrieve large toy in eoom
         • 3) retrieve miniature toy in model
     • to succeed, child must understand model-room relation
   • 2 and a half year olds cannot fin the toy in room, 3 year olds can
     • due to development of symbolic relation to the scale model and the room
       • to understand information in the model we have to understand the model stands for something other than itself
         • dual representation probelm
     • all children can find toy in model, so it is not a memory problem
   • young children have difficulty inhibiting their response to the model as an object
   • STUDY: The Amazing shrinking room
     • the room is the model, the model is the room
       • If in child's mind, the model is the same as the room, there is no need for dual representation
         • All they need to do is take what they learnt from the model / room and apply it to the other space
     • child must believe completely in the shrinking machine
     • child will believe there is only one doll/ room but it is big or small
       • 2 and a half year olds can find the doll in the model room
     • If child doesn't have to understand the symbolic relation between model and room and believe it has simply shrunk, it becomes a memory task
       • HOWEVER if they have to keep in mind the symbolic relation, it becomes overly challenging for a 2 and a half year old

5. Scale errors

   • Def: DeLoache et al (2004) a serious (not pretend) attempt to perform an action that is commonly associated with a larger version of that object
   • STUDY
     • document occurrences of SE in 18- to 30- month- year-olds
       • Strategy: set up a situation to make SE more likely
     • Results: SE are occasional errors, average child only made .74
       • Another example of dual representation problems
         • child confuses object with referent
   • Peak SE occurs at 2 years of age
     • SE increases with increasing knowledge
       • very strong representation of category of objects, e.g. chair, slide
     • SE decreases with increasing inhibitory control
   • Action planning
     • based on size of referent object, size of replica not taken into account
       • not doing dual representation
       • when child decides to go down miniature slide, they're really thinking of the bigger slide, size of replica object not taken into account, they think of large object when they form the plan what to do with miniature object
       • when executing plan, they take size of miniature object into account to guide actual physical movements with respect to the object
         • Dissociation in use of visual information for planning vs. controlling action
           • fits with biological theories of vision to control action
             • neutrally and functionally distinct visual areas for action planning and action control
               • maturation of cortical areas involved in integration of visual information needed to stop SE