Cognitive Development in Infants

Cognitive Development in Infants

There is a high correlation between social isolation and cognitive health. Cognitive development is vital for infants because it enables them to think critically about the world. It entails the infant’s working memory, attention and the ability of an infant to respond to experience and information that they experience on a daily basis. Due to Covid-19, most of the families I am working with have been asked to self-quarantine.  Therefore as an infant specialist, I will give the clients several strategies that they should use to promote infant cognitive development even while at home.

Strategies to Enhance Infant Development in Isolation

One of the strategies that the clients should use is strengthening the bond between them and the infant.  Emotional development is a vital aspect of cognitive development. One major problem that is associated with emotional development is that infants are not able to differentiate between mothers and strangers within few minutes of birth since they begin to show the wariness of strangers until the age of 6 to seven months. Hebb’s theory argues that until six months of age, the difference between memory traces and perceptual experience results in interest instead of fear.  At this age, infants can develop a hypothesis to differentiate between them. Therefore, I would suggest that parents or caregivers should establish a close connection with the infants.  As a result, the infants will be able to differentiate between them and strangers, thus enhancing cognitive development.

The other strategy that the parent can use to enhance the cognitive development for an infant while in social isolation is for the parents to increase contact with their parents to enable the infants to get used to them and lessen contact with new caregivers. Hebb’s theory argues that problems in cognitive development can result in intensity in emotional reactions to a stimulus or even events. Positive or negative reactions are dependent on things and the context in which the stimulus is encountered. Infants tend to have a positive reaction to strangers in familiar circumstances. When the stranger approach slowly and gradually and then later suddenly and abruptly, it can result in the establishment of trust and positive reactions towards the stranger.

Emotions and Temperament

Emotions and temperaments enhance cognitive development. Gratifying the physical needs of the infant, such as hunger, can influence its emotions while at the same time, it lends the caregiver with special assistance (Bornstein, Arteberry, & Lamb, 2014). The other thing that the parents should do is to avoid often frustrating the child because it can result in negative emotions. For instance, the parent or the caregiver should support the infant while they are crawling or even falling down the stairs. According to the psychoanalytic theories, emotional development partly results in the development of the ego in the parent-infant interaction context (Bornstein, Arteberry, & Lamb, 2014). Through evoking positive responses enables infants to have more positive and persistent and sociable temperaments, which enhance their emotional and cognitive performance. Additionally, the infant can improve cognitive performance measures because they can respond to examiners that they are not familiar with. They tend to adapt better to unfamiliar circumstances, which is perceived in a positive light by testers (Bornstein, Arteberry, & Lamb, 2014).

Emotions that May Develop in Isolation

The feelings that can come up in isolation includes fear of strangers. Infants can develop fear for strangers since their emotional reactions tend to change depending on the context.  Cognitive theories argue that there is a close connection between stimulus and the kind of emotions that infants evoke in diverse situations (Bornstein, Arteberry, & Lamb, 2014).

Conclusion

There is a close connection between emotional development and cognitive development. Therefore one of the strategies that can be used to enhance successful cognitive development in infants while in isolation is enhancing the close connection between the infant and the parent or the caregiver and attending to the needs of the infant to strengthen emotional development. Feelings that can be evoked in isolation among the infants is the fear for strangers.

Reference

Bornstein, M. H., Arteberry, M. E., & Lamb, M. E. (2014). Development in Infancy: A     contemporary Introduction. Nw York, NY: Psychology Press. Chapter 10.