Introduction to Infant and Early Childhood Cognition

How do infants make sense of the world around them long before they can speak? Understanding the early stages of human cognition reveals how we develop concepts of objects, causality, and other minds. This course provides a foundational guide to infant and early childhood cognition, bridging classic developmental theories with modern experimental methods. You will transition from a curious learner to a critical thinker capable of evaluating scientific research on how children think, learn, and reason. What you'll learn: • Understand foundational theories of cognitive development, including object permanence, agency, and physical causality. • Explore the theory of mind and how children learn to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. • Analyze experimental designs used in developmental psychology, such as looking-time paradigms and habituation. • Connect developmental research to philosophical questions about the origins of knowledge and reality. • Learn the basics of writing critical literature reviews and research proposals in cognitive science. • Examine modern approaches to studying child cognition, including contemporary eye-tracking and digital observational tools. The journey begins with core terminology and the historical foundations of developmental psychology. From there, you will explore specific cognitive domains—like spatial reasoning and social cognition—while learning how researchers design ethical, robust experiments to study pre-verbal infants. This text-only course is designed for beginners, parents, educators, and aspiring psychologists. No prior background in cognitive science is required. Start reading today to unlock the fascinating science behind how young children think and learn.