elkonin e zaporójets - a psicologia da criança pré-escolar (1)

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3 .95M IT 2 4 5 PSY C H O LOG Y

The P syc ho logy of P res choolChildr ened ited b v A. V Zapo roz hets a ndD. B. Elkonin

This tra ns la tion by J . Sh ybut andS. S imon of t he 1964 boo k e ntitled,P sikho logiya Oe tev Dosh kolnogoVo zras ta ma kes a va ila ble to a w ide ra ud ience a ma jor publi cation inRu ss ian. Disc uss ion is devot e d to thede ve lopme nt of se nsa tion a nd p er cep -tion, atten tion, rnernor v, spee ch, think -ing , imag ina tion, mov e me nt, andmot or habits in childre n. T hese c hap -te rs a re bas ed o n ex te ns ive sys tematicres ea rch whic h is der ive d from so meideas ra the r differ ent from the Amer i-ca n vie w se e n in Ca rmichae l a ndMusse n. De ve lopm e nt is viewe d a s oc -curring in an ac tive org anism wh o isguided by socia l ex perience , i.e ., inte r-ac tion wi th t he socializi ng adu lt .Language i s the bas is o f communi ca tionbe twe e n the ch ild and a dult ; thu s lan -gua ge co ntra is the chil d s be ha vior, a ndthink ing is close ly re la ted. To find e m-phasi s the n on t ra ining children froman ear ly a ge is not s urprising . Enthu-s iasts fo r P iage tian a nd Ges ta lt ideas ,for ex ampl e, may find cr itica l a na lys isof the se views s urpris ing . -Psy cholog -iea l Repo rts

The book prov ides a d oubl e servi ce :it gives We s ter n ps ycholog ists access tothe ex te ns ive wor k dan e in th e S ovie tUn ion, u s ing a n a pproach sub s ta nt ia llydiffe rent fro m our own, a nd it bring sSovi e t dev e lopm e ntal ps ychology intothe perspec tive of We s tern t heor ies o fdeve lopm ent-on wh ich it co mm e ntsex te ns ive ly.

The theor e tical ideas that gu idethe exper ime nts are those of L . S .Vygot s ky and his former colleaguesand s tudent s -now leading psvcholo -gists in t he U .S .S. R.-Leontiev, Luria,Zaporo zhet s, and E lkonin .

The MIT PressMassac huse tts Ins titute of Tec hn ologyCa mbridg e, Mass a chusett s 02142

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The MITPress Cambridge, Massachusetts,and London, England

The Psychology of PreschoolChildren

A. V. Zaporozhets and D. B. Elkonin, Editors

Translated by

John Shybut andSeymore Simon


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Originally published in 1964 by Izdatelstvo Prosveshcheniye, Moscow,under the title Psikhologiya Detey Doshkolnogo Vozrasta, and under theauspices of the Akademiya Pedagogicheskikh Nauk RSFSR InstitutPsikhologii

Copyright 1 971 byThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology

All rig hts reserv ed . No part of this boo k may b e repro duced in an y f onn orby any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, record-ing , or by any infonnation storage and ret rieval sys tem, without pennissionin writing from the publisher.

First MIT Press paperback edton, anuary 1974

This bo ok was designed by The MIT Press Design Department.It was set in IBM Bo doni Bo okby Williams Graphic Service, Inc.,prin ted and bound by The Colonia l Press Inc,in the Uni ted States of America.

ISBN O 262 24013 lhardcover)ISBN O 20 2 74 011 7 (pap er back)Library of Congress catalog card number: 76-166515

Contents

AcknowledgrnentVll

Preface to the English TranslationUrie Bronfenbrenner

IX

xvForewordA. V. Zaporozhets and D. B. Elkonin

L Developrnent of Sensation and PerceptionT. V. Yendovitskaya, V. P. Zinchenko,and A. G. Ruzskaya

2. Developrnent of AttentionT. V. Yendovitskaya

65

3. Developrnent of MernoryT. V. Yendovitskaya

8 9

4. Developrnent of SpeechD. B. Elkonin

lU

5. Developrnent of ThinkingA. V. Zaporozhets, V. P. Zinchenko,and D. B. Elkonin

8 6

6. Developrnent of IrnaginationT. A. Repina

255

7. Development of Movements andFormation of Motor HabitsM. L Lisina and Ya. Z. Neverovich

278

lndex 6 7


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kn owledgm ent

We are grateful to Dr. Marilyn C. Barrick, Doris Gold, Barhara A.Rasin, Lowell A. Speckhart, Frances Spires, Elda Peart Wilson,and the Dean 's Fund of Northcrn lIIinois Universi ty for theirassistance and support in the preparation of this manuscript.

Our thanks also go to Susan McCorkendale, john S. Snyder j r.,and joseph Stein of the M.I.T. Press for their editorial assistancc.

].S.S.S.

De Kalh, Illinois, Octoher 1970


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x Preface to the Engli sh Tran slation

In addit ion to substance, the reader of this book will gain anappreciat ion of a scienti fic approach to the process of develop-ment rather different from our own. Reflected less in cited refer-ences than in the actual formulat ion of research prohlems andway of thinking about them, is the pervasive influence of one ofthe semina l thinkers psychology has produced- Vygotsky.

Whether the concern is with the development of movement, at-t ention, language, thought, or social play-and espec ial ly theinterrelations among these processes-the theoret ical ideas whichanimate and guide the experiments reported in thi s volume arethose of Vygotsky and of his former colleagues and students, nowleading psychologists in the U.S.S.R.-Leontiev, Luria, and thetwo editors of this volume, Zaporozhe ts and Elkonin.

The hal lmarks of this Soviet approach rnay be characterizedbriefly as follows:1. The developing organism is seen not,as a passive receptor ofst imuli but as an active agent fapable of voluntary movement,selective attention, and subsequently, the creative use of languageand thought ; in short, as Soviet psychologists l ike toexpress it,consciousness is conceived as an active rather than a purely recep-tive processo The infant's psychological capacities developthrough his pract ica l ac tivity with the world of material objects, a.world that becomes progressively more complex both in contentand in structure.2. The infant 's psychological development is shaped primarilythrough the interven tion of o ther persons as the mediators be-tween the child and his envi ronment; i t is their ac tion, or failureto act, that becomes the decisive element in determining thecharac ter and course of the child's psychological growth; in short,the child is seen as assimilating the environment presented to himthrough other people. This orientation has its roots in dialecticmaterialismo As the editors state in their foreword:In contradiction to those Western European and American psy-chologists who assert either that psychologica l development ofa child takes place seemingly as a result of the spontaneous

xi Pr eface to th e E ngli sh Tran s la tion

realizing or maturing of inborn abili ties (Bhler, Stern, andothers), or moves along the path of adap tat ion and individualadjustment to the surrounding environment (a line of reasoninggenerally espoused by Spencerite psychologists and strict behav-iorists, and in a more refined form represented in the latestworks of Piaget), Soviet psychologists (Vygotsky, Leontiev, andRubinshtein), having translated into concrete terms certa in well-

known philosophical propositions of Marxism-Leninism, haveshown convincingly that the psychological development of indi-viduals follows a path of social inheritance (Engels) or a pathof appropriation (Marx) ofsocial experience.The application of these principIes in the context of child devel-opment is nicely illustrated in the following passage fromChapter II:The main factor in the establishment and development of lhereciprocal relat ion between the young child and his surroundingenvironment is the socia l interaction of the child with the social-izing adulto The emergence of the two-sided interaction of theaduIt with the child is marked by the appearance in the child oftwo and three months of age of a characteristic arousal reaction

evoked by the sight of the adulto During such interaction it ispossible to capture the child's attention and to organize his famil-iarizat ion with the surrounding environment by evoking sensoryreactions to a given object. In the course of interaction the adultfirst begins to uti lize indicatory gestures and then words to at-t rac t the child's attention. By doing so the adult seems tostrengthen the object's direc t influence and to divert the childfrom other things. Subsequently, the child begins to utilize firstthe indica tory gestures and later words. The timing in the use ofwords depends on the rate of mastering speech. As a result ofutilizing gestures and words, the chi ld learns to isolate objectsfrom the surrounding environment and to attract the attention ofanother human being.3. As illustrated in the foregoing passage, language soon becomesthe principal avenue of interaction between child and adul to Thus,it is language which shapes and controls the behavior of the child,first from without and then internally, as he begins to use theconcepts and instructions of others as tools for structuring andcontrolling his own behavior.4. Given the preceding propositions, the development of thoughtis closely related to language development and to the context


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xii Pr efa ce to the Engl i sh Translation

from which the latter derives, namely social relationships andsocial structure.S. Finally, given the power of the man-mediated environment inshaping the development of the child, training especially in earlylife, becomes of critical significance. Hence, the concern in Sovietexperimentation with the acceleration of psychological develop-ment through the process outl ined in the quotat ion cited above;that is, by focusing the attention of the child on differentiatedaspects of the environment chiefly through the medium of lan-guage, and by inducing activity which makes use of the new dis-crimination, the experimenter, or trainer, 'seeks and-as the exper-imental evidence shows-often succeeds in enhancing the child'scompetence in such diverse areas as auditory discrimination,visual perception, language usage, thougl it processes, and imagina-tive play.

The distinctive character of the Sovietapproach to psycholog-ical development is perhaps reVected most sharply in the occa-sional glimpses that the volum. affords of Soviet views of Westemtheory and research in this area . Espec ially in the chapters byZaporozhets and Elkonin, the work of non-Soviet investigators,notably Piaget but also Isaacs, Russell, Bhler, Lashley, the Ge-stalt psychologists, and others, are examined from the Soviettheoretical perspective. Especial ly il luminat ing along these lines isthe critique of Piaget for his failure to recognize the social basisof what he calls egocentricspeech.

Along with its merits, the volume has some shortcomings fromthe point of view of the English reader. The first of these is inher-

ent in a work of this kind; the descriptions of any single study arenecessarily brief, especially on matters of method andexperi-mental detail, a c ircumstance that isespecially frustrating whenthe original sources cited are in a foreign language.A second deficiency is specific to this first American edition of

Zaporozhets and Elkonin 's work, since it covers only the first oftwo volumes they have published on the psychology of preschoolchildren-that devoted to the development of sensory processes,

x iii Pr eface to th e Engli sh Tran s la tio n

which appeared in 1964. Asecond volume, entitled The Psy-chology of Personality and of Activity in the Preschool Child,issued a year later, reviews Soviet research in such areas as thedevelopment of volition, cmotions, motivation, and personality.In addition, it discusses Soviet investigations on different aspectsof children 's activity, including games, work, and leaming. It is to

be hoped that this second volume also wil lsoon be published inEnglish and, in the meantime, that the studies cited in the presentedition wi ll become familiar references in Western publications.

I thaca, New York, June 1970


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Foreword

This book concerns the deveIopment of cognitive processes inearly and preschool childhood. It represents the first parl of acollective monograph P sychology of Pr eschoo l Chil dren preparedby the co-workers of the Laboratory of the Psychology of Pre-school Children at the Institute of Psychology, APN RSFSR. The volume summarizes and evaluates theoretically the results ofyears of investigations in our laboratory, the work of other Sovietauthors, and the work of many foreign psychologists. While ex-tensiveIy utilizing a variety of factual material available in childpsychology in the preparation of this monograph, we do not planto limit the writing to a mere compendium of the avaiJable inves-tigations in the area of the psychological development of thechild. In addition to reconstructing a general picture of the for-mation of various cognitive processes in preschooJ childhood, weattempted, as much as possible, to expose conditions and prin-cipIes of their formation, reIying on established theoreticaJ posi-tions and taking into account those practical problems which areconfronting Soviet planners of preschool upbringing today.

The enormous growth of nurseries and kindergartens rcq uires aquality of medical services and pedagogical training that insuresoptimal physical and mental development of ali children and thatincreases their levei of preparation for schooling. The role ofpreschool training is extremely important in the general processof personality formation. In the course of the first seven years oflife the child undergoes extensive physical and mental develop-

ment. The classical writers of Soviet pedagogy, Krupskaya andMakarenko, indicate correctly that not only does an intensiveaccumulation of various knowledge and skills occur in preschoolage, but also that different abilities are constructed, bases ofcharacter are established, and certain moral qualities of person-ality are formed. In order to make this process manageable and ta APN-RSFSR-Academy of Pedagogical Scien ces, Russ ian Soviet FcdcratcdSoeialist Republic.


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xvi Foreword

provi de optimal conditions for the multilateral development ofthe child's personality, preschool pedagogy must rely on a knowl-edge of psychological principies in this development and thecharacteristics of their manifestations at various developrnentalstages. While highly praising Soviet psychological attainments inthe solution of actual pedagogical problems, Krupskaya wroteas early as 1932: For many years methods of influencing chil-dren rested on empiricism on the one hand and on idealistic psy-chology on the other. The scientif ic approach was either lackingin the old methods or was inaccurate. Now scientific materialisticpsychology, relying on the accomplishments ofcontemporaryneurology, presents a more valid scient ific base on which scien-tific methods may be constructed. *

Since 1932, Soviet investigations in the area of general and childpsychology have advanced markedly, and the utilization ofpsychologica l data in theory and practice of pedagogical trainingof children has become indisP1Jlsable. Furthermore, the numberof studies in child and pedagogica l psychology during the pastyears has increased considerably. Many of these studies areprinted in various journals of limited edition and are presentlyconsidered bibliographical rarities. In spite of this, a large numberof these articles addressed themselves to specific questions ofchi ld psychology, and the reader interested in const ructing a totalpicture concerning the development of certain psychologicalaspects of child behavior must perform the enormous task ofcomparing and evaluating data obtained from various sources.Under these conditions, utilization of psychological data presentsdifficulty not only foreducators but also for scientists in theareas of pedagogy and psychology. In addition, a need exists forthe preparation ofsynopses and abstracts of works in child psy-chology that would systematize for the reader the essentials ofinvestigations conducted in a given area.

Similar works published abroad (e.g., in the U.S.A., Child

*N. K. Krupskaya. Selected pedagogical works. M. Pub. by APN RSFSR,1948, p. 177.

xvii Foreword

Psycholog y and M ethods of P sychological In vestigation s of Chil -

dr en edited by Murchison, Carmichael, Mussen, and others) un-doubtedly are of definite interest to the specialist-psychologist.However, due to unfami lia r methodological approaches and one-sided selection of factual material, these investigations are lesssuitable for a wider circle of readers, especially for those with apedagogical orientation. The existing gap insummarized studieson child psychology has to be narrowed to some extent by rely-ing onsuch Soviet books as Zaporozh ets sPsychology ; Elkonin'sChild P sycholog y; and Lyublinskaya's Outlin e of the Psycholog-ical Developm ent of a Child ; or those published in other demo-cratic countries, Piryov's Chi ld P sycholo gy with D efectol ogy(Bulgaria); Klauss and Gibsh's Child Ps ychology (East Ger-many), and others. However, being written as texts or studyguides, they can only in part fulfill the indicated function, sincethe volume of the attractive material and the thoroughness of itsexamination are limited by the scope of the given course and thedidactic problems confronting the authors. ConsequentIy, thepreparation of asummary of studies concerning problems of childpsychology pertaining to psychological development in early andpreschool chi ldhood remains indispensable for theory and practiceof Soviet preschool training.

In preparing this book we relied upon theories proposed inSoviet psychology concerning motivational causes and upon basicprincipies of the ontogeny of human psychology. Propositionsapplying to psychological development in early childhood havebeen under study for many years in our laboratory. In contradic-tion to those Western European and American psychologists whoassert either that psychological development of a child takes placeseemingly as a result of the spontaneous realizing or maturing ofinborn abilities (Bhler, Stern, and others), or moves along thepath of adaptation and individual adjustment to the surroundingenvironment (a line of reasoning generally espoused by Spenceritepsychologists and strict behaviorists, and in a more refinedform represented in the latest works of Piaget), Soviet psycholo-


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x vi ii For eword

gists (Vygotsky, Leontiev, and Ruhinshtein), having translatedinto conrete terms certain well-known philosophical proposi-tions ofMarxism-Leninism, have shown convincingly that thepsychological development of individuais follows a path of social inheritance (Engels) or a pa th of appropriation (Marx)of social experience, Recent theoretical and experimental geneticinvestigations hy Leontiev and his co-workers revealed a deeplyembedded uniqueness in the ontogeny of the psyche of man incontrast with tha t of animais. If in animals two forms of experi-ence play a decisive role, generic, fixed in the inherited nervousorganization of separate individuais, and individual, acquired viathe path of adaptation of inhorn ahili ties to the present environ-mental conditions, then in human development the dominant roleis assumed hy a third form of experienc, completely lacking inanimais. This experience, called socia liza tion, is fixed in the prod-ucts of material and nonmaterial culture created hy humanityand acquired individually duri~g childhood. .

Vygotsky was the first Soviet:psychologist to introduce proposi-tions concerning the leading role of training in the psychic devel-opment of the child. His theoretical and experimental investiga-tions reveal that the social izat ion process not only enriches theknowledge and skills of the child; it precipitates essential changesin various psychic processes and engenders a genuine developmentof the child's psyche as well.

Furthermore, numerous investigations in psychology (Zaporo-zhets, Kostyuk, Leontiev, Elkonin, etc.) and in pedagogy(Usova, Leushina, Sakulina, Flyorina, and others) of preschoolchildren confirmed this proposition and thus extended its applica-tion to areas of psychic development previously considered nat-uralistic, i.e., moving along the path of the adaptation of anindividual's hiological abilities to existing environmental condi-tions. Studies of this kind led, for example, to a clarification ofthe decisive role of the mastery of social experience in the devel-opment of sensory processes and in the formation of a child'smotor activity.

xix Fore w o rd

Clarification of specific aspects of the special type of the child'spsychic development permits one to approach an old prohlem ofpsychology and pedagogy in a new way: the prohlem of the roleof inheritance and environment in the formation of human iden-tity. It is useless to argue, as has heen done in the past, which ofthese is more important. The presence of specific natural predis-positions in the form of hereditarily fixed features of the humannervous system, as well as their normal process of maturation inontogeny, is an indispensahle condition for the full psychic devel-opment of the child. One must be horn with a human hrain inorder to hecome a man. Investigations which attempted to trainin a humanlike fashion offspring of the highest organized ani-mals-anthropoid monkeys (Ladygina-Kots, D. and K. Kellog, andothers)-produced negative results and convincingly demonstratedtha t without the presence of corresponding natural predisposi-tions the formation of human personality is impossihle. ln addi-tion, data of neurological and defectological clinics indicate thatsuhstantial defects of a child's nervous system or disturhances inits maturation duc to illness lead to more or less essential inadc-quacies of the psyche.

Finally, recent investigations of general and partial typologicalattrihutes of the human nervous system (Teplov, Leytes, andMedin) permit one to assume that individual differences in innatedispositions create different opportunities for development anddetermine various paths for the attainment of similar results.Thus, the presence of certain natural predispositions is not just

merely important, but an ahsolutely indispensable condition inthe ontogeny of the human psyche. However, these predisposi-tions are not at ali the motivational cause of the psychic develop-ment of the child.

In contrast to animal offspring, maturation of the child's ner-vous system is not in a position in and of itself to contribute tothe development of any kind of species-specific form of activity,either practical or theoretical. This maturation merely providescertain opportunities for that development which might be real-


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xx Foreword

ized only in the presence of a definite social environment andtraining. 0nly through the acquisi tion of social musical culturecan man's musical ahili ties develop, just as mastery of the knowl-edge and the ways of thinking accumulated hy soc iety may insurethe development of man 's intellect. Along wi th changes in ourideas concerning the role of predisposit ions in the psychic deve\-opment of the child, the role of the envi ronment in thi s processcomes to he examined in a different l ight.If for animal offspring environment i s only the sum of conditions

to which it has to adjust, then for the child his specific social envi-ronment is not mere ly an external conditon, hut a source ofdevelopment. This environment contains the centuries-old experi-ences of mankind, defined in terms of tools of lahor, means ofcommunication, etc., which the child must mas ter in order tohecome a man, i.e., a full -fledged participant in social achieve-ments and social deve lopment. Mastery of thi s social experience isan unusua lly complex proces~ and cannot he ohtained through apassive approach, an approacfi of mere contemplation of thesurrounding reality.

Theoretical and experimental investigations of Soviet psycholo-gists (Vygotsky, Leontiev, and Ruhinshtein) have shown thatpsychic development takes place in the process of activity and isdependent on the conditions and character of such activity.At each quali tative\y distinct level of deve\opment a dominant

role is assumed hy a specific type of leading act ivity, which deter-mines the forms of mastery and to a large extent the characterand extent of the acquired contento Such leading types of activi tyat an early age are ohject manipula tions; for preschool-age chil-dren, games; and for school-age children, Iearning combined withvarious types of partic ipation in mutalIy useful tasks.The ongoing activities are not exclusive to a part icular levei of

development, hut rathercomprise a dominant nuc\eus of theentire system of activi ties, on which depend the formation andmode of executing these activit ies a t a given age. Thus, a pre-schooler not only plays, hut learns andalso takes part in simpler

x xi F or eword

forms of tasks. The character of these activities must therefore betaken into account when studying psychic development in thechild. The study of orienting activi ty was of great importance ingaining an understanding of the dependence of psychic processes,and in partcognitive processes, upon the character of a child'sactivity, (Galperin, Zaporozhets, and others). The fact is thatcognitive processes do not form and develop by themselves, but asindividual expIoratory acts comprising an indispensahle organicpart of an integral activity of the child (practical, playful, etc.),and fuIfil ling in it orienting and regulating functions.In connection with the rea liza tion of activities differing in con-

tent and structure, the child is confronted with various cognitivetasks which require different methods for their solution, methodsdiffering in the nature of their orienting and cognit ive actions.Thus, a shift from ohject manipuIation, characteristic of an earlierage, to games with a pIot and productive activities of preschoolchildhood demands a hasic restructuring of the orienting aspectof activity, since here it is necessary to take into account not onlythe directly perceived hut also the imaginary surroundings and tocontroI one's actions not onIy by the prevailing conditions but bysome known manner or principie. In other words, those changesin perception, memory, thinking, etc., which are observed, forexampIe, during the shif t from infancy to preschool age,cannotbe understood without taking into account more general changesin the c i aracter of the mutual relationship of the child to thesurrounding reali ty as well as the content and st ruc ture of on-going activi ty occurring at a given developmentallevel.Although the second half of this monograph contains aspecial

examinat ion of the psychological problems of a child 's play, hislearning, and his performing, a constant attempt has been ma det luoughout thi s work to single out the dependence of these andother cognitive processes upon the general character of the child'sactivi ty and upon that orient ing function which these processesfulfill.

The scope of this presentation has been to encompass the entire


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xx Foreword

period of ch ildhood from birth to seven years. However, becausethe psychological investigation of early age until recently hasheen less scrut inized than that of preschool age , this task has heenonly parti al ly rea lized and not to the degree desired , In somechapte rs (e.g., those conceming motor ac tivity and the develop-ment of sensa tion and percept ion) material conceming early age

is more suhstantial ; in other chap ters (e .g., those on thinking andmemory) material is hrief and sometimes sketchy.

While attributing considerable importance to age-specific mor-phological changes and the process of matura tion of nervousmechanisms needed for the ontogenet ic' deve lopnent of thepsyche , the authors have heen unahle to elucida te this quest ionthoroughly due to lack of ava ilahle informat ion. As a result o finvestigations by Soviet authors, the rriat ter conceming the studyof the ontogeny of h igher nervous act ivi ty comprising the physio-log ica l bases of the psychic deve lopment of a ch ild has been moreadequa te ly t reated. The examina tion of data ohta ined from these

investigations, ra ther than hiing confined to a single chapter, hasheen included whenever i t seemed appropriate in conjunctionwith analyzing mechanisms of concrete psychic processes in chil-dren of different preschool ages.In conc lusion, the authors well recognize shortcomings of thei r

work . While the hook was in preparat ion, the demands of psycho-logical science grew constantly, and as a result studies in psychol-ogy and related fields expanded greatly. Whereas this book largelyreflects that which has already been attained in child psychology,new research is needed in order to fulf ill these increasing demandscompletely and to hecome fully acquainted with complementaryachievements of scientific thought. Nevertheless, puhlication ofthi s monograph is indispensable, hecause in order to advance inthe area of pedagogical and psychological investigations of pre-school chi ldhood a suffic iently systemat ic and general account ofpreviously conducted work isneeded.

A numher of co-workers of the Lahoratory of Psychology ofPreschool Children, Inst itute ofPsychology, APN RSFSR, took

xxiii Foreword

part in the prepara tion of thi s book. Separa te chapters have beenwritten by the following authors: Chapter l- Development ofSensation and Perception -T. V. Yendovitskaya, V. P. Zin-chenko, and A. G. Ruzskaya; Chapte r 2- Development of Atten-tion -and Chapter 3- Development of Memory - T. V.Yendovitskaya; Chapter 4- Development of Speech-D. B.

Elkonin; Chapte r 5- Development of Thinking -A. V. Zaporo-zhets, V. P. Zinchenko, and D. B. Elkonin; Chapter 6- Develop-ment of Imagination - T. A. Repina; Chapter 7- Developmentof Movements and Formation of Motor Habits -M. L Lisina andYa. Z. Neverovich. The last chapte r se rves as the connec ting l inkbetween the fi rst and second part s of our monograph, since in thesecond hal f prohlems of the development of voli tional and erno-tional processes of preschool-age children are examined.

A. V. Zaporozhets and D. B. Elkonin


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L Development of Sensation and Perception

During the early years of a childs lifc perceplion processes passthrough a complex developmental path that encompasses variousaspects of the processes. The emerging operational side of theperceptive processes undergoes a refinement, and the means ofgetting acquainted with the surrounding environment become

more adequate with respect to the tasks confronting the child. Acorresponding development occurs in the active side as the child'sperceptive images become more orthoscopic and more ably re-flect the surrounding reality. A motivational sphere also develops,in which perceptive processes acquire purposeful characteristics.The rapidly growing number of studies on sensory learning anddevelopment support this view of perceptual development. Thisposition differs from that expressed by adherents of the Gestalttheory and some other theories which assume that the main struc-tural aspects of perception are presen t in the child at bir th. Curorently, the debate between these con tradictory posi tions on thc

understanding of perception is not as in tense as it had been dur-ing earlier arguments between nativists and empiricists. The ques-tion of what kinds of perceptual operations are inborn , not need-ing learning, and which ones are a result of sensory learning isvery important, especially when one considers that the child'ssensory development is accomplished under conditions of theorganism's ongoing physiological maturation.

ln embryology and embryomorphology divergent views existabout the ontogenetic process in the prefunctional or prenatalperiod. This difference of opinion is analogous for psychology tothe traditional opposing views betwcen nativism and empiricism.

The essence of this disagreement has recently been summarizedby Arshavsky (4).

According to the views of one group of embryo-physiologists,preliminary construction of a machine occurs in the earlystages of ontogenesis. From the moment of inception theemerging functions have no adap tive significance for the develop-


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2 D eve lopm ent of Sen sation and P e rc eption

ing organism during the entire embryonic and fetal periods, butrepresent either the expression of genes or preadaptive foresigh t,i.e., some exercise of those functions that will become useful tothe organism only after birth (Barcroft, 6, and others). Theseideas are being expanded by Anokhin and his co-workers, Accord-ing to Anokhin (2), the essential biological significance of the

embryonic period is that i t provides for that critical moment inthe newborn 's life when for the first time he encounters theenormous conglomeration of outside Iactors which comprise thespecific conditions of his existence.A second point ofview, developed by Arshavsky, is based not on

preadaptation but on adaptation of structural functions organizedin the prenatal period. This viewpoin t may be used to explain theanatomical, physiological, and ernbrylogical facts about the ir-regular development of various analyzers in the ontogeny of manoSkin receptors in man, e.g., Meissners and pacinian corpuscles,proprioceptors of skeletal T?uscles and the vestibular apparatus,

take shape during the intraterine period (Obelin, Puzik, andothers). According to Arshavsky, this is necessary in order to in-sure a permanent postural tonus which is species-specific. Withskin receptor stimulation the reflexory tonic contraction ofskeletal muscles in turn becomes a stimulus for muscular pro-prioceptors, whose excitation reinforces the species-specificposture. Arshavsky also considers the early morphological forma-tion of the sucking apparatus as a form of adaptation to pre-natal environmental conditions and not as a form of preparationfor that function, which will become useful to the organism onlyafter birth. He discovered that after the formation of the

musculature of the mouth and the respiratory system the fetusbegins to process pericarpial waters with the help of sucking andbreathing movements, thus fulfilling an omnitrophic form ofnutrition. This discovery enables one to understand the investiga-tions of Ignatyeva, who discovered a more intense growth ofnerve tracts innervating muscles of the mouth and the tongue.

3 D eve lopm en t o f Sensat ion and P e rc eption

In connection with the formation of optical and acoustical re-ceptors during the prenatal period, Arshavsky, referring to thework of Benua and Markelov, states thal during this period thesereceptors fulfill a trophic function in relation to the nerve centersuntil they begin to fulfill their specific visual and auditory func-tions. These specific functions are still absen t in newborn

children; they are capable of responding to auditory and visualstimulation by a change in the rate of breathing and hearl bealand by a generalized motor reaction, and to visual stirnulation bya defensive visual reaction. Furthermore, desynchronization ofelectrical activity of the cerebral cortex which occurs in responseto auditory and visual stimulation, typical for adults, is absenl inthe newborn. Desynchronization of electrical activity of the cor-tex occurs in response to the stimulation of the hunger center andto the execution of sucking movements.Arshavskys findings concur with results showing a much earlier

formation during the prenatal period of cortical cells in the cor-

responding nuclei of the motor analyzer, as compared with thedevelopment of cortical cells in the optical and acousticalanalyzers (Kukuyev, Minayeva, Preobrazhenskaya).

From Arshavsky 's line of reasoning, a valuable general proposi-tion applicable not only to embryogenesis but also to psychologi-cal development emerges. One cannot utilize the cri teria charac-teristic of an adult organism to determine the morphologicalmaturity of a structure. Aside from essential differences, thevarious functions as well as the corresponding structures aremature at each stage only to the extent to which they provide acorresponding form of adaptation to those specific environmen tal

conditions with which the organism interacts in each devclop-mental period.Polyakov's (60) findings concerning the development of separate

areas of the cerebral cortex connected with the activity of in-dividual analyzers are of interest from this point of view. Theareas of the cortex that are connected with the nuclear zones of


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4 Development of Sensation and Perception

the analyzers mature earlier than the other areas. For instance thefrontal, the lower parietal, and the temporal-parietal-occipitalsuhareas, which are involved in a complex interaction of theanalyzers, develop in the adult brain much later.Polyakov presents evidence proving that the organism comes

into the world with a structural analyzer that has attained a cer-

tain degree of maturity for the interaction between cort ical andsubcortical formations, by means of which cortical regulat ion ofthe posi tioning of analyzers with respect to the activity ofstimuliis attained .. . (60; p. 8).

Only toward the beginning of the second year of life does thesystem of project ive-associative connections attain a relat ive de-gree of maturat ion. The latest to develop and mature is the sys-tem of associa t ive cortical connectioris. Polyakov assumes thatthe lat ter are involved in the..highest and most complex forms ofcortical analysis and synthesis and in functional connectionsamong the analyzers, which are formed during the initi al years of

life (60; pp. 12, 13). WithoLt cit ing addit ional data concerningembryogenesis of analyzers, let us mere ly note the complexity ofthe problem of maturat ion and development.At the present time, no systematic data exist concerning the

interrelation, in the formation of cortical endings of analyzers, oftracts and the leveI of the receptors' specialization at any givendevelopmental period with the means of perceiving a given set ofcharacteristics of the environment. Ascertainment of these inter-relations represents a very important problem for the psychologyand the physiology of childhood.

Sensory Development in Early Childhood

Activi ty of Receptive Systems in the NewbornVisual reception. The visual apparatus of the newbom, as can bedetermined by a chain of reactions produced in the newborn bylight st irnuli, begins to function at birth. Some investigators pointout that at birth the characteristic response to a light stimulus is a

5 Sensory Development in Early Childhood

change in the general motor activity of a child (lrwin and Weiss,35; Weiss, 85; Irwin, 34, and others). They indicate that thecharacter of changes in the motor activi ty-its increase or de-crease-depends, on the one hand, on the intensity and the dura-tion of the light stimulus and, on the other hand, on the cornposi-tion of visual receptors (light-adapted or dark-adapted eye). There

is evidence concerning the appearance in lhe newborn of thevisual-pupillary reflex upon sudden exposure to light ofsufficientbrightness or following drastic change in general illumination.Observations of the newborn show a movement of the eyes andhead toward the source of light as well as a continuous movementof the eyes in response to a moving l ightstimulus. These move-ments appear after one to two weeks of life. Pursuing movementsof the eyes in relation to an object moving in a vertical sphereappear later than the visual pursuit of a l ight stimulus movingacross a horizontal plane.As the stimulus in his experiment Chase (15) used the move-

ment of acolored spot of light on acolored background of adifferent shade but of the same brightness as the moving spot. Heconsidered pursuing movements of the eyes as an indicator of thepresence of color vision in the newborn. He observed pursuingmovements of the eyes in response to colored dots in fifteen-day-old infants. At the same time, an absence of pursuing movements isreported where colorless dots are presented moving on acolorlessbackground of a different brightness.Aside from the presence of a whole series of visua l reactions to

outside st imulation, the visual apparatus of the newborn does notyet possess the mechanism that would provide for the ability todistinguish between spa tial relations of objects. In the newbornthe coordinating mechanism is not yet formed; consequently,sustained visual fixation is absent. According to Ling (46), neitherconvergent nor binocular fixation takes place in the neonatalperiod. Attendant divergence and compensatory coordinated eyemovements were registered by Ling (on film) on the thirty-second day after birth.


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uditory reception. Numerous investigators point out that thefollowing reactions of a newborn infant give evidence of a sensi-t ivi ty to sound: changes in genera l motor ac tivity, wrinkling ofthe forehead, movement of the eyelids, tremors, changfts ofrhythm and rate of breathing, turning of the eyes and head to thesource of sound, and inhibi tion of sucking responses (Denisovaand Figurin, 20; Bronshtein and Petrova, 12; Prat t, 61). Theappearance of a reac tion and the degree of it s expression dependprimarily upon the intensity of the auditory st imulus. For ex-ample, Figurin and Denisova point ou t tha t only intense audi toryst imuli evoke in the newborn child corresponding reac tions in theform of blinking and tremors of the entire body. Stubbs (76)regula ted the intensity of sound and registe red the number ofcorresponding react ions. He discovered tha t the number of reac-tions in the newborn grows ~ith increasing loudness of the sound.The loudest sounds (85, 70, 50, and 30 sensory unit s of intensi ty)produced the grea test motor act ivi ty ;i,e., the greatest number of

eyelid closures and breathir% movements. Stubbs presented thenewborn with sounds of four frequencies: 128,256, 1024, and4096, holding intensity constant wi th a duration of tenseconds.The recorded movements of his subjec ts showed no diffe rence inthe nature of responses to sounds of diffe rent frequenc ies. How-ever, the lowest frequency sound evoked responses in asmalIernumber of cases than did the highest frequency sound.A study of activity of the newborn 's auditory analyzer has re-

cently been conducted by Soviet sc ien tist s (Bronshte in andPetrova , 12; Bronshte in, 13; Bronshtein, Petrova, Bruskina, andKamenetskaya*). In their invest iga tion they used the delay (in-

hibi tion) of the sucking responses following the unconditionedorienting reaction to the auditory stimulus as an indicator ofauditory sensitivity. They recorded the exact nature of the soundstimul i and the corresponding reactions. They discovered that aninfant in the first days of life not only reacts to sounds of a tonal

*Th e complete referenc e wa s not provided in th e original .


and nontonal nature, but also is able to differentiate them accord-ing to pitch and timbre. The investigators relied on the followingfact to account for the presence of this differential sensitivity.After the infant's orienting reac tion to thesound stimulus hadextinguished, the application of asound stimulus differing fromthe initial one in pi tch or t imbre again aroused lhe orienting reac-tion-the inhibit ion ofsucking movements.

The /imits of differential auditorysensitivity were not estab-l ished in this study; however, data indicating tha t the newborncould dist ingu ish sounds separated by one octave (660 and 330Hz) were presented. Findings pertaining to the development ofconditioned reflexes to sound st imuli in very early stages of thenewborn's l ife are contradic tory. According to Kasatkin andLevikova (39, 45), a tt empts to produce condit ioned reflexes tosound stimu/i in the newborn do not lead to successful results. Onthe other hand, some authors point ou t tha t condit ioned ref lexesto sound stimuli can be obtained during the first ten days of life,e.g., appearance of sucking movements and inhibit ion of generalmotor activity (Marquis, 48); inhibit ion of sucking responses(Bronshtein and Petrova, 12).Tactual sensi tivi ty. Tactual sensit ivity is highly developed in thenewborn. According to Carmichael (14), tactual sensi tivi ty is theearl iest form of sensitivi ty phylogenetically as well as ontogeneti-cally. It emerges during the prenatal period in the are a of themouth-nose cavity and spreads throughout the entire surface ofthe body in the early postnatal period.

ln the first few days of l ife, a touch on the infant's cheek evokesexploratory responses-opening of the mouth, wrinkling of the

lips, and sucking movements (Denisova and Figurin, 20 , andothers). Denisova and Figurin refer to this type of reaction asorienting-nutritive. It is possible to elicit a palmar reflex in thefirst period of postnatallife, through stimulation of the skin ofthe palmo Figurin and Denisova also observed in the newborn areflex opposite to the palmar-a straightening of the fingers inresponse to stimulation on the back of the hand and fingers.


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8 Development of Sensat ion and P ercep tion

OIfactory sensitivity. The majority of investigators concernedwith early childhood hold that olfactory sensitivity in the new-bom is either absent or minimal.Taste sensitivity. Using mimic and sucking reactions to tastestimuli as an indicator of taste sensitivity, some authors (Pratt,Nelson, and Sun, 62; Stirnimann, 73; and others) indicate thatthe newborn distinguishes the taste qualities of sweet, sour, andsalty.Temperature sensitivity. A number of investigators cite indis-putable studies showing the infant's sensit ivity to changes intemperature (prat t, Nelson, and Sun, 62; Stirnimann, 74, andothers). These investigators, using cold and warm stimuli appliedto various parts of the body, obtained clearly expressed re-sponses: withdrawal of the body from-the stimuli, tremors of theentire body, and vegetative reactions, i.e., respiratory and vaso.motor reactions.Development of the Sensor~ Sphere during the First Year of Life

More or less systematic dat~oncerning the development ofanalyzer activity during the entire first year of li fe are presentedin a study by Denisova and Figurin (21), dealing with charac-teristics of the developmental stages of children from birth to oneyear. The remaining investigations present ideas pertaining onlyto isolated aspects of the development of the sensory apparatusand relating usually to only one of the stages of a given period inthe child's development. Therefore, discussion here of the generalsensory development during the first year of life shall be basedprincipally upon the data of Figurin and Denisova. The develop-menta l periods formulated by these authors are as follows: first

period-from birth to the end of the first month; second period-from the beginning of the second month to the third month; thirdperiod-from three to six months; fourth period-from six totwelve months.First period (from birth to the end of the first month). From thefirst days of life the child exhibits a number of defensive andorienting visual reactions: the pupil lary reflex, partial closing of

9 Sensory Deve lopment in Ear ly Ch il dh ood

the eyes upon exposure to bright light, tuming of the eyes andhead toward the light and to an object vibrating at the peripheryof the visual field, steplike visual pursuit, and the turning of thehead in ih e direction of a slowly moving object.

During the first month of life new visual reactions appear.Usually in the second-third week uncoordinated movernenls 01the eyeballs in response to optical stimulation disappear anclconvergence appears. Initially convergence is produced only withdifficulty, i.e., only with the use of shining objects; convergenceceases at a distance of approximately 10 cm from the infantseyes. The reaction improves rapidly.

Immediately following the start of convergence in the third-ourth week of the first month, visual fixation or sustained at-tention to anobject appears. In addition to the prcviously rnen-tioned visual pursuit and convergence, which coincide with sirnul-taneous inhibition of general motor activity, fixation upon animmovable object can now be observed.

Initially, in order to evoke visual fixation it is necessary to catchthe infant's eye; the length of such fixation is only about fiveseconds. Subsequently, the length of visual f ixation increasesrapidly; during the second month of life, the infant can fixate onan object for several minutes.During the first month of lie, the distance from which an infant

can observe rnoving objects increases. Whereas pursuing eyc move-ments occur in relation to a moving object located 20-30 em fromthe infants eyes at bir th, by the end of the first month of lifethe infant can keep an eye on a moving object at a distance of1-1.5 m.

Little data concerning the development of the auditory analyzerduring the first month are available. Figurin and Denisova notethat approximately in the second-third week of the first month anew reaction to a relatively strong auditory stimulus appears. Thisreaction-in contrast to reactions already presenl at birth such as

* Th e u se of h yph ens in a ge d es ignati on h as bee n r e ta in ed fr o m th e o ri gi -nal. lt s m eanin g s h ould b e int e rpr e ted in t errn s of th e co nt ex to


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10 Development of Sensation and Percept ion

t rembling, closing of the eyelids, etc.-is expressed in terms of in-hibit ion of general motor activity. Drawing an ana logy to visualfixation, they cal l this reaction auditory fixation. Short ly afterthis occurs, during the third-fourth week, auditory fixation canbe obtained, not only in response to a relatively loud noise, butalso to verbal expression by an adult. In contrast to these find-ings, Bronshtein and Petrova (12) present data indicating that in-hibition of motor activity in the form of sucking movements inresponse to auditory stimulat ion occurs during the first nine daysof li fe. This reaction occurs in the absence of general motoractivity.

According to Figurin and Denisova, the appearance of visua l andaudi tory fixation during the fi rst month of li fe is of crit ical im-portance for the further development of the ana lyz ing activityand of the behavior of the child as well . They point out its b iolog i-cal significance in relation to the child's adaptation to new visualand auditory stimuli encountered durng the shift from intra-uterine to extrauterine exist~t'J.ce.Biologically theessence of fixa-tion, evoked by distance receptors, i s tha t i t provides the bestcondit ions for the act ivity of these recep tors by inhibiting al Iother activities.Second period (from one to three months). In the second-thirdmonth visual reception begins toplay the leading role in the child'sdevelopment. According to Bekhterev and Shchelovanov (7),beginning in the second month the speed of visual reac tion toa given stimulus increases; inhibit ion of other reactions is alsoaccelerated and the length of visual fixation is gradually extendedup to ten minutes. Approximately in the same period visual fixa-

tion appears, not only in situations involving direct visual stimula-tion, but also spontaneously. The beginning of the spontaneousvisual fixation is observed in terms of independent eye move-ments in the direction of some object.

Furthermore, beginning with the second half of the thirdmonth, visual fixation time constantly increases and becomes thepredominant component of the child's behavior. At the same

11 Sensory Development in Ear ly Chi ldhood

time, one observes visual searching evoked by another receptivesystem-turning of the head and eyes toward the sound of objectsnot in the field of vision.

Rosenhart-Pupko asserts simply that the third month of life isthe main period of development of visual perception during thefirst year of life, for during this time active perception appears: The infant begins to look in order to see an adult, thereafter amoving toy in the hands of an adult and, finally, a fixed toy, towhich an adult tries to attract the child's attention (66; p. 22).

Stimul i pertaining to other receptive systems-auditory andtactile-arouse visual reactions in the three-month-old infant. Inresponse to the sound of the human voice, children of this ageimmediately turn their heads and visually search for the personspeaking; if they accidentally touch asuspended toy with theirhands, they immediately look at it. During this period visual pcr-ception is the main medium forgetting acquainted with the sur-rounding world and is tightly linked to the emotional sphere of

the child.During the third month of life, as noted by Rosenhart-Pupko, achild interacts with an adult primarily th rough visual perception.Figurin and Denisova also note the prevalence of visual percep-tion, pointing out that during this period the child is alwaysvisually exploring something and tha t the length of fixation is7-10 minutes. According to their data, the visual pursuit reactionis formed in the first to third month. During the second monththe child observes a moving object at a distance of 2-3 m, duringthe third month at a distance of 4-7 m. There also appears thevisual pursuit of objects being variously displaced in the visual

field, e.g., in l ine with a semicircle, in contrast to the previousperiod during which the child could follow an object moving onlyin one plane-from right to left or from top to bottom.

During the same period, conditioned-reflexive blinking beginsand is readily observable whenever an object on which the childhas fixated is quickly moved toward the child. Subsequent to thisreaction, even a small movement (2-3 cm) of an object in the


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direc tion of the child's eyes i ssufficient to evoke bl inking. Insome cases the blinking reaction is evoked by sudden withdrawalor, in general, sudden movement of the object.As evidence of substantial progress in the are a of auditory per-

ception during this period, Figurin and Denisova point totheappearance of the localization of sound in space. This is expressed

initially by moving the head from one side to the other toward asound presented latera lly, then by rai sing the head toward asound above the head. The authors emphasize that the shi fting ofthe head toward the source of sound-it s localizat ion in space-results from training.

With regard to skinsensitivity, this period is characterized bythe appearance of localized skin reactions. Judgments of stimuluslocalization can be made on the basis f hand movement towardthe stimulated part and rubbing of tha t partoInitial indicators of localized reaction=movernent of the hand

toward the part being st imula ted=can be observed as earlyas the

end of the fi rst month. But focalized reactions in their perfectedform, which includes rubbing, do not appear until the second-thi rd month of li fe. These reac tions begin first at the eyelids andlater at the nose.

During the third month of life intersensory connections, i.e.,connections between orienting reactions emerging in the variousreceptive systems, begin to formo This is indicated by the appear-ance of an orienting sensory react ion in connec tion with a stimu-lus directed toward another receptor, as for example in the turn-ing of the eyes and head upon activation of an auditory or atactual receptor. The appearance of intermodal reactions alongwith facts concerning the production of conditioned reflexes, tobe cited be low, indicates the relative functional maturity of corti-cal divisions of analyzing systems.

The feeding behavior of the child assembles an interesting arrayof facts. Observations show that the nutritive orienting-explora-tory reactions (turning of the head from side to side, distortionsof the l ips, and opening of the mouth) in an infantof two-three

12 Developrnent of Sensation and Perception

I

1

l

13 Sensory Developrnent in Early Childhood

months of age begin to be evoked not only by internal organicstimuli , as they are during the first month of life, but also byexternal stimuli, in part by stimuli directed to the visual receptors.Apparently this indicates on the one hand development of recep-tive reactions and, on the other, the appearance of intersensoryconnections.

The fact that it is possible to produce conditioned reflexes in alireceptors from the second month on is evidence of the prtsenceof orienting reactions in ali sensory organs and the functionalreadiness of the cortical component of analytic systems a t thisperiod.That conditioned reflexes can be produced during the second

month with auditory and visual stimuli on the basis of nutri t iveand defensive unconditioned reflcxes has been shown byDenisova and Figurin (21), Levikova (45), Kasatkin (39), andShriftzett ser (70).Investigations by Nemanova (55, 56,57) indicate that during

the second month it is possible to produce relatively stable condi-tioned reflexes with olfac tory and taste stimuli. Such reflexes canalso be produced by stimulation of the vest ibular apparatus.Available datashow that in the second-third month it is possible

to produce, through the method ofconditioned reflexes involvingnutri tive and defensive unconditioned reflexes, gross and rei a-tively unstable differentiations between external stimuli.

Kasatkin (39) obtained relatively unstable differentiationbetween a green light and a contrasting yellow (or red) one with afew children in their third month of life. He obtained gross dif-ferentiation between two qual ita tively different auditory stimuli(sound of a bell and sound of an organ pipe) in three youngstersin their second to third month.

Kasatkin obtained a relatively stable differentiation betweentwo tones, differing by almost an octave (eleven and one-halftones), in three children in thei r third month. With continuedapplication of the differentiated tone, however, there followed arapid drop in the constancy of the positive conditioned reflex.


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Denisova and Figurin (22), on the basis O'fthe defensive blinkingresponse, were able to produce in one child toward the end of itsthird month a more refined (four tones), even though unstable,differen tiation.

DifferentiatiO'ns O'fsmell, olfactory as well as trigeminal, areespecially unstable in children during theirsecond-third months, asindicated by the experiments of NemanO'va (56) and Kasatkin (39).

Denisova and Figurin (22) demonstrated a relatively stable dis-tinction of loca lization ofskin-tactual stimulation during thissecond period. One youngster of two months and four days gaveevidence of differentiat ion involving the tac tual ana lyzer by dis-tinguishing between a pin prick on the chest and one on the foot.

According toexperiments by Nemanova (57), it is possible toassume that during the second half of the second month sometaste differentiation mayemerge, and that during the third monththe child is capable of distinguishing the basic taste qualities ofsweet, sa lty, and sour. During the thi rd month, gross differentia-

rtions in vestibular stimulaj on, such as rocking from O'neplane toanother (55), can be obtained. Even though the differentiationsobtained during the first months of life are gross and relativelyunstable, they indicate that even in the first stages of postnatallife an initial analysis O'fac tivi ty in the external environment ispossible. In other words, it indicates that discrirninations betweenexternal influences are now capable of regulat ing the behavior ofthe chi ld-of activat ing or inhibit ing uncondit iona l reflexes, hird period (from three to six months). This period is charac-terized by active development of the hand as an organ of actionand cognition. During this period feeling movements O'fthe hand

emerge. They are evident first in the feeling of one 's own hands-i.e., holding one hand next to the other and moving one handover the other-and subsequently in the feeling O'fan object bymoving the hand over it. Thereafter it is possible to evoke pro-longed holding of the hand near the object and movement of thehand in pursui t of a withdrawing object. Later the directionalpositioning of the hand toward avisible object appears. These

15 Sen sory D evelopment in Early Childhood

developments are followed by visual exploration of hands andobjects and by the retention of hands and objects in the field ofvision with a relatively prolonged fixation O'fthe hands in oneposition.

During the fifth-sixth month, according to Hosenhart-Pupko(66), the child exhibits independent exploration for and rnani-pulat ion ofobjects. That is, this activity occurs independent ofadult participation. Children of this age hold a toy in their handsfor a relatively long period of time, simultaneously turning andexamining it. Sometimes they may shake it and listen to thesounds it makes.

In children of this age there is an ongoing enlargement and de-veloprnen t of interrnodal connections in the visual-kinesthetic andvisual-tactual spheres. Reactions such as moving the hand towarda visible object, simultaneously feeling and examining an object,maintaining the hands in a given position and examining them,hold ing a visible object, and maintaining the hand in acertainposition while holding an object are also observed. Other reac-tions, turning of the head toward the point of contact andvisually fixating upon that point, are expressive of visual-tactualconnections.Toward the end of this period, the relationship between visual

perception and movements of the hand undergoes a change.Whereas before touch evoked visual perception and seeminglyguided it, i.e., direct contact with an object evoked visual fixationand the eyes continually followed the touching movements of thehand now , to the contrary , visual perception evokes movementsof the hand toward an adult or toward anobject and regulates the

duration of such movernents with respect to direction and form.Denisova and Figurin 's data indicate fundamental prO'gress in the

development of the kinesthetic sphere of the child during thisperiod. This prO'gress manifests itself in two ways. It is expressedby the occurrence of a prolonged tonic tension due to stimulationof the child's eyes and skin, e.g., holding an object, examining it,and feeling it , as noted above. It is expressed also by the fact that


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during the period from three to six months differentiated move-ments of the skele tal musculature emerge, indicating differenti-ated innervation of the musc les. The first distinct movement reac-tions are movements of the hand-feeling and grasping ..

During this period the skin analyzer undergoes further develop-ment. Localized reactions on the forehead, ear, stomach, andchest occur. In addition to the expansion of localized reactions ofthe skin, some new types of reactions evoked from the skin heginto appear in the form of grasping of the hands, diapers, and toys,and of the turning of the head upon contact with visual f ixationupon the point of contact . Furthermore, a distinct ly originalform of the orienting-adjusting reaction emerges. Drawing ananalogy from visua l and audi tory fixat ion, Denisova and Figurincall this form of reaction tactual f ixation. I ts distinctivenessarises from a child's tend ency , as the authors pu t it, to freezetotally in response tostimulation on some portion of his skininstead of reaching the hand toward the portion be ing stimulated.

During the t ime of st imulat~n a ll movements stop; total inhibi-t ion of motor activityensues, and the child seems to he listeningto, or to he tuned in to, the ongoing stimulation. These authorsreport that toward the sixth month of life the development oftactual react ions essentially comes to an end. Thereafter, thc de-velopment ofeach ana lyzer is directed toward perfect ing the reac-tions with respect to speed, accuracy, and diffe rentiation.

During this period, for the first time, recognition of compoundand complex stimuli appears. During the fifth-sixth month of life,the child hegins to recognize his mother and can distinguish herfrom other people hy her external appearance. Whenever the

child ishungry or disturhed, sight of the mother leads him toturn, cry, etc. During the quiescent period, sight of the mothermakes him more active-he hegins to hreathe deeply, smile, mum-ble, and move around. The appearance of a strange face oftenevokes negative emot ional reactions. Rosenhart-Pupko notes thatin addition to heing ahle to distinguish people close to him andespecially in heing ahle to distinguish his mother from strangers,

16 Developmentof Sensation and Perception


children of five-six months recognize such situations as feeding,preparation forsleeping, etc.The common improvement in perceptual processes during this

stage of development depends upon the fact that external actionshegin to acquire predominant significance in regulating the child'shehavior: they give rise to and exert a cri tical influence on itscourse. Movements and actions of the child hecome more dif-ferentiated and more adapted to the conditions of the surround-ing environment due to the fact that they hegin to be regulatedand controlled not only proprioceptively, but also hy means ofother sensory systems. Their formation and development occurprimarily under the control of visual reception.

In comparison with the previous period, the possibility of theproduction of relatively stable and refined differentiations in-volving various receptors at this time indicates a higher levei ofmaturi ty of the analytic systems.As the data of a lI investigators working on the development of

differentiation inchildren during the first half of their first yearindicate, relatively stable differentiation can be obtained be-ginning with the fourth month of life. Kasatkin asserts that amore stable differentiat ion of two quantitat ively different lightstimuli is possible only during the fourth month of life (39; p.179).Differentiations between audi tory st imuli also become more

stahle. Using children in their fourth month, Nechayeva (53)developed a relatively stable differentiation of asound, differingfrom the basic positive sound hy seven teen tones. Levikova andNevmyvako (45) ohtained, during the fifth month of life, stable

differentiation between sounds differing by one octave.In children of this age differentiations of external stimuli, de-

veloped through the unconditioned reflex, also become more pre-cise. Kasatkin (39) obtained differentiation of sounds differing byfive and one-half tones in children in the fourth month and at thebeginning of the fifth month, and differentiation of several smellsat the beginning of the fourth month; whereas during the pre-


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18 Deve lopm ent of Se n sation and P erce ption

vious period, it was possible to obta in differentiation betweenonly two kinds of smells.Fourth period (from six to twelve months). The major innovationof this period consists of connection of movements in a.se-quential order under the control of one or another perceptualorgan, in the formation of motor systems. Apparently this is

directly related to those fundamental gains that occur in proprio-ception in the area of the motor analyzer, during the second halfof the first year of life. During this period, complex locomotormovements are formed indicating a high degree of coordinationof separate muscle groups under the control of proprioception.

This stage of development also witnesses the beginnings of whatappear to be new forms of sensory responsiveness: reproductionof a presented pattern, and modeling of external influences. Thistype of responsiveness is first expressed in the early form by thechild's imitation ofan adult's motor behavior. Clapping hands inpatty-cake fashion and placing rings on a stem under the direction

of an adult are typical of th~ type of responsiveness, as is theimitation of an adult's voca l reaction.From our point ofview, the new aspect here consists of external

influences evoking a specific reaction insuch situations, that is,eliciting an attempt to reproduce the objective properties orqualities of the external influence, e.g., a form of movement orthe qualitative character of sound.

Imitation of hand movements, that is, reproduction of the pat-tem of movement, can be observed at seven to nine months; vocalimitation of individual syllables at the seventh month; and repeti-tion of separate syllables ( da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, etc.) at ninth-

tenth month. In general, according to Figurin and Denisova, anyimitation up to the end of the first year is performed with dif-ficulty and is quite imperfect. At the end of the first year anabrupt change occurs after which copying behavior is easilyevoked. The child then begins to imitate, more or less precisely,diversely, and frequently without any special arousal.

19 Se nsor y D ev elopm ent in Earl y C hildho od

Aside from reproducing the elements of the auditory cornposi-tion of words, children in the second half of the first year, ac-cording to these authors, make an attempt to imitate the tonal orrhythmic character of an auditory pattem.

Rosenhart-Pupko also indicates that during the period from sixto twelve months imitation occurs in the form of reproducingpatterns. In the child of this age visual perception is constructedby imitating the process of an adult's visual perception duringjoint visual exploration. Then the child's eyes follow the move-ments of the adult's eyes, which thus become a pattem for imita-tion. The introduction of speech into this process during theninth-tenth month serves first to direct the process and second toenlist the process asan aid in developing an understanding ofspeech and verba l instructions.

The experimental findings of Barbashova (5) substantiate thekey role played by visual perception in the development of theunderstanding of words in children toward the end of the first

year of life. She experimentally explored the role of differen tanalyzers in the orming of connections between an object and itsverbal meaning. By combining the verbal definition with thevisual, the auditory, and the tactile-kinesthetic methods of pre-senting an object, she attempted to determine the number oftrials needed to develop a conditioned-reflexive, orientationalreaction to an object, as indicated by turning of the head, theeyes, or the entire body. Results of the experiment showed thatthe orienting reaction to an object in children o ten to twelvemonths of age appears most readily under conditions when theverbal definition is combined with visual presentation of the

object (after five to ten trials); that it is somewhat more difficultin combination with the auditory image of an object (eleven tonineteen trials); and that it is most difficult with the tactile-kinesthetic image (seventeen to twenty-eight trials).

Data concerning the development of conditioned reflexes anddifferentiations in children in the second half of their first year


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20 D evelopm ent of S ensation and P erce ption

are sparse. Nechayeva 's data (53) indicate that in six-seven-month-old children it is possible to obtain fine differentiations inpitch with an accuracy of about half a tone.

Using the forms of the cone, prism, sphere, and cylinder,Denisova and Figurin (20) have shown that during the eighthmonth it is possible to develop differentiation of formo Similarly,working with thecolors green, red, yellow, and blue and employ-ing the method of conditioned reflexes with food as the rein-forcement, they observed at the same age an ability to dif-ferentiate color. The authors noted certain peculiarities in thedevelopment of this type of visual differentiation at that age.First, one of the essential conditions for the development of dif-ferentiation is the simultaneous presentation of the stimuli to bedifferentiated. Second, visual differeniation obtained as a resultof simultaneous impact of both alimentary and nonalimentarystimuli is immediately disrupted upo~ presentation of only oneobject. In this case, the alimentary reaction is observed in relationto the alimentary stimulus s well as the nonalimentary one and isaccompanied by a markedly shorter latency period than the oneobserved with the presentation of both objects.

Denisova and Figurin recorded interesting observations with re-spect to the process of visual distinction between two simul-taneously presented objects. They noted that the decisive factorin this development was the transfer of sigh t from one object toanother and an alternating fixation uponeach object.

Volkelt's experiments (81) also indicate that differentiation ofform is possible for the five- to twelve-month-old child. Usingfood as reinforcement, Volkelt trained the child to distinguish the

various forms of feeding bottles. As choices, the child was pre-sented with four different forms of bottles-square, triangular,oval, and violinlike. The bottles were quite similar in ali other re-spects. Each bottle was topped with a nipple; however, only oneof these nipples had a hole init. Consequently, the child was ableto obtain milk only by selecting the bottle of a given formo As a

21 Senso ry De velopm ent i n Ea rl y C hildh ood

result of this training, the child learned the various forms pre-sented to him.

Recently, Walk and Gibson (83), relying on extremely ingeniousmethodology, obtained data concerning visual depth differentia-tion in children during the second half of their first year (from sixand a half to fourteen months). With thirty-six children they em-ployed the following designo Each child was placed on a platformin the center of a table covered with thick glass. Under the glassthere was colored linoleum. On one side of the child the linoleumwas placed immediately under the glass; on the other side it wasplaced four feet below the surface of the glass, direc tly on thefloor. The mother of the child approached the table, either fromone side or the other, and stood there for a period of twominutes. She offered toys to the child and verbally encouragedhim to come to her. Whenever the mother stood on the side ofthe platform with the linoleum placed directly under the glass, 75percent of the infants crawled to her; the others remained in thecenter of the table. ln those cases where the mother stood on theside of the table with the colored surface directly on the floor,only 8 percent of the children approached her, 62 percent re-mained in place, and 30 percent crawled in the opposite direc-tion. Walk and Gibson conclude that as soon as children are cap-able of moving around, they begin to show visual perception 1 depth.As far as it is possible to determine on the basis of avai able data

and assuming sufficient contact with a nurturing adult, adjust-ment mechanisms and adaptational perceptual reactions of alisensory systems develop during the first half of the first year of

life. Under the category of adjusting reactions are included visualfixation on an object, visual pursuit of a moving object, auditoryfixation, localization of sound in space, etc., as well as vegeta tivecomponents of orienting sensory reactions-vasomotor andrespiratory reactions. Development of the elementary reactions ofthe sensory apparati is a necessary preliminary stage in the de-

22 De elop ment of Sensation and Perception 23 P h l d P h l A


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velopment of the essentially psychological process of sensory re-flec tion of the objective world, i.e., those sensory activities on thebasis of which it is possible to construct asensory image repro-ducing the objective characteristics of the external object with alithe accompanying connections and relationships.During the second half of the first year, on the hasis of a lready

formed elementary sensory reactions, essentially sensory actions

consist ing of attempts to reproduce motor activity of the externainfluence by imi tat ion of an adult's actions begin to be formed.

Theories concerning the mechanisms of sensory reflectionformed principal ly by Sechenov and deve lopedrecently by Sovietpsychologists (Leontiev, 44, and others), as well as certain ex-perimental investigations, present a basis for assuming that theformation ofessentially sensory actions appears possible onIyunder the condit ions of objective activity. These actions emerge,in other words, only with direct, uninterrupted-for rather pro-longed periods of time-mutual interaction of the sensory organwi th the external object.

Analysis of the child's psychological development shows thatthe object relationship becomes not only a necessary conditionfor the formation of the mechanism for sensory action, but alsoone of the decisive factors in the genesis of sensory activity. Thus,it is only due to interaction with objects that the child developsthe need to take into account objective signs and qualities and toadjust his instrumental responses in terms of their characteristics.As a result of this internalized ac tivity, cogni tive sensory activityappears and is directed at familiarization with objects. This pro-cess is expressed by a visual examination of the object prior tothe instrumental act or by tactual explorat ion interspersed withinstrumental activity. This sensory activity in the presence of anexisting cognitive task may be transformed into essentially per-ceptual rather than instrumental activity.

Data introduced in this chapter concerning development of thechild's sensory sphere during the first stages of life refer to that

22 Develop ment of Sensation and Perception 23 Pre-preschool and Preschoo l Age

aspect of sensory feedback that is dcfined by Sechenov as a reia-tionship on sensation - sensation. to movement and actions,and the ability of tha t sensation to evoke biologically ex-pedient reactions directly from the area of the sensory apparati aswell as from the other types of organismic activity.The process of formation and development of essentially per-

ceptual activity channeled into construction of the sensory image

of the external objects, and the question of maintenance of thesensory image in children during the early stages of ontogenyhave not been investigated. Therefore, the data illuminating thisimportant psychological aspect of the young child's sensory de-velopment a re not discussed in this chapter. These questions mustst ill be exposed to thorough experimental analysis.

Developrnent of Sensation and Perception DuringPre-preschool and Preschool AgePerceptual activity and its development in children of pre-pre-school and preschool age have been explored generalIy from twopoints of view. First, psycho-physiological methods helped toestablish the sensi tivi ty levels of various sensory syslems and tostudy the dynamics of the development of accuracy and precisionin differentiating between individual properties and signs of exter-nal objects during the preschool age. Second, experiments wereconducted investigating separate aspects of perceptual activity ingeneral . Anattempt was made to study the process of sensoryfeedback of the surrounding reality with respect to organization,duration, and in part, conditions of formation of the sensoryimage and its maintenance.Visual SensitivityVisual acuity. Foucault's (25) data presented in Table 1 indica tethat beginning wi th la ter preschool age through fourteen-fifteenyears, visual acuity increases steadily. To measure it Foucaultutilized methodology ordinarily employed in medical practice.This methodology relies on verbal report as the single criterion


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for determining whether or not the subject can distinguish exter-nal stimuli. Yendovitskaya 's 86 ) study conceming the develop-ment of visual acuity in preschool children showed that its in-crease with age is also noted within the limits of preschool child-hood. Measuring the maximal distance from which children atvarious preschool ages were able to detect the break in Landolt'sring-the diameter of the ring was 7 mm and the break was 1mm- Y endovi tskaya showed that fo r chi ldren from four to fiveyears, the average distance was 2 m and 10 cm; for children fromfive to six years of age, 2 m and 70 crn; and for children from sixto seven years, 3 m. He also found that the visual distance forchildren of various age groups increased whenever verbal descrip-tion of the location of the break in Landolt's ring was not re-quired. In other words, the visual dis tance for children of variousage groups was greater whenjhe chi ld was required merely toorient himself toward this break by some type of act ion. Suchaction might involve, for example, pointing out in which of anumber of similar boxes, di.tinguished only by the location ofthe break on a picture of Landolt's r ing pasted on the boxes, apicture was hidden.

This study also examined the relationship between visual acuityand the conditions of activity. The data obtained indicate thatvisual acuity among children of preschool age increases under

Table 1VisualAeuity of Children

24 Development of Sensation and Pereeption

Age(years) MeanDistanee (em)

67

89

10

11 2

3

14 -15

299

326

35 35 5

36 0

375

4 4

44

475

25 Pre-presehooland Presehool Age

those conditions where success of determining the posi tion of tliebreak in Landolt's ring becomes the decisive factor in the fulfill-ment of the required activity. A comparison of the visual distancedetcrmined by the regular method, i.e., by simply presenting thechi ld with the task of identifying the break in the Landolt ring,with the visual distance measured under the condition of activeplay, showed that in the latter case the distance increases forchildren of four to five years on an average of 17.2 percen t; forchildren of five to six years, 29 8 percent; and for children of sixto seven years, 30.2 percent.Differentiation of Coloro Aseries of experimental investigations byBrazhas (11), Arkin (3), Istomina (36, 37), and Danyushevskaya(17, 19) explored fineness and exactness of color differentiationin children. These experiments made use essentially of two basicmethods to determine sensitivity of color distinction. In the firstcase, children were asked to interact with objects, taking theircolor into account without naming the colors; in the second case,verbal definition of the color was used, provided either by theexperimenter or by the chi ld himself.

Brazhas used only children in the first half of preschool child-hood (three to five years). In one case he asked the children tomatch objects according to color by placing differently coloredballs of wool into correspondingly colored boxes. In another casehe asked the children to select an object among other objects,merely by having someone name the color of the object. And in athird case he asked them to name the color of the presentedobject. The data obtained indicate that the first method-match-ing objects according to color-enables children to obtain rela-tively better results in color differentiation than is possible in theother two methods. That is, children make substantially fewermistakes in the first method than in the second or third. Thethird method, requiring the children to identify the color of apresented object, yielded the greatest number of mistakes. Thetechnique of matching colors by direct comparison yielded notonly the fewest errors, but the errors it did precipita te were not

I


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26 Development of Sensation and PerceptionIF Pre-preschool and Preschool Age,

as gross as those in the remaining two methods. In this series of Iure, the children of pre-preschool age (two to three years) solv~dtrials children tended to mix only those colors in c\ose proximity\he problem most easily when the pictures corresponded to basicto one another on the spectrum-yellow and orange, violet and ~alors, making in this case 40 to 50 percent mistakes. Wheneverblue-in contrast with the other two series in which children lhey were asked to match the intermediate colors the percentagetended to mix colors quite distant from one another on the spec-hf errors rose to 70-80 percent. Furthermore, children of this agetrum. da not yet form a stable connection between the color and its

Arkin and Istomina explored the dynamics of color distinction name,even in the case of the basic colors.during the period of preschool age. Both of these investigatians Istomina therefore conc\uded that the ability to differentiateshow that accuracy of color dis tinct ion increases with age. calor, either through direct perception or by naming, improves

The experiments conducted by Arkin asked in one case that ch~roughout the preschool period. Furthermore, beginning at thedren fiU in the centers of large circ\es of different colors with smake of five years, alI children perform errorless sorting and group-circ\es corresponding in color to that of the large circ\es. The rg of both basic and intermediate hues. With respect to the basicsecond case utilized the method of naming; the children were folors, a rather stable connect ion between the color and its nameasked to state verbal ly the color of a given circ\e. The results af 1ppears at the beginning of the fourth year. A fairly stable con-the first series of experiments showed that the children in the Inection between the intermediate hues and their names appearsfirst half of preschool childh~od made mistakes in 24 percent afheginning at age five. Beginning with this age, in grouping coloredthe cases; under conditions of the second series, 52 percent. Chil~ictures children take into account not only hue, but also bright-dren in the second half of ~~eschool childhood recorded an error1ness.rate of 5.5 percent for condition one and 30.5 percent for condi- Danyushevskaya showed that recognition of reiative colort ion two. orightness also may occur with

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