What is Cognitive Development?

Source: expresspharma

What is Cognitive Development?

The overall developmental journey of the child encompasses various domains, including physical, socio-emotional, and intellectual, that are interlinked with each other. When the child develops through different age groups, all these domains must evolve predictably for the child’s progress to be on track.

While growing up, the child receives information through various means, but being able to process that information, organize it, comprehend it properly, and use it wisely is what cognitive development facilitates.

All these crucial mental processes of thinking, reasoning, decision-making, and critical thinking are the prime components of Cognitive Development. The process of cognitive development pans across several age-wise developmental stages, starting at birth and extending throughout life.

All these abilities form the crux of successful independent living and are essential for people to learn and adapt at various stages in life.

What are Cognitive Development Stages?

Brain development leads to children’s thinking, learning, and overall understanding of their surroundings and occurs in stages. Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, put forth a well-known hypothesis in 1952 that defines four broad stages of brain development. Each stage marks a distinct way of thinking and solving problems in children.

Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 Years)

At this point, babies and toddlers learn by doing and sensing. They develop their knowledge of people and things as they explore the environment.

Key Characteristics:

• Learning occurs through senses such as touch, sight, hearing, taste, and movement.
• Actions lead to consequences, teaching cause-and-effect relationships.
• Development of motor skills like crawling and walking.
• Recognition that objects exist even when out of sight (object permanence).
• Differentiation between self and external objects or people.

Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 Years)

The pre-operational stage kickstarts with a rapid spurt in the process of language development, which implies that children now use their speech as the prime medium to share their thoughts and feelings.

Children use imagination and begin representing objects with words and images.

Key Characteristics:

• Development of pretend play and imitation.
• Playing alongside each other instead of playing with each other, also known as parallel play.
• For children, the world is centered around them. They feel that everyone perceives the world just as they do.
• They finally understand that a particular word represents a particular idea or an object.
• Use of speech for expressing their emotions or feelings.

Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 Years)

The crucial skill of logical thinking appears here, but their main thought process is based on concrete logic. They become more aware of others’ thoughts and emotions.

Key Characteristics:

• tighter problem-solving by logical reasoning.
• Value for cause and effect.
• Decrease in egocentric thinking, with a rise in awareness of other views.
• Struggle with abstract or hypothetical thinking.

Formal Operational Stage (12 Years and Older)

Teens in this age group now acquire abstract thinking skills, and their thought process is much more refined. They begin questioning ideas and forming their own beliefs.

Key Characteristics:

• Ability to understand abstract, moral, and hypothetical concepts.
• Critical thinking skills improve, allowing logical problem-solving.
• Increased focus on social, political, and ethical issues.
• Development of personal identity and independent thought.

The various Stages of Cognitive Development occur at different age groups, and these mental abilities start appearing gradually as the child develops. The above-listed stages provide a proper framework for understanding the process of cognitive development and its impact on how the child evolves.

Source: depositphotos

How to Increase Cognitive Skills?

Cognitive Health is being recognized as an increasingly significant factor responsible for the overall development of the child. Therefore, efforts must be taken to improve the cognitive skills so that the child acquires the important mental processes at the right age, enabling them to think, study, and comprehend information correctly.

Indulging in Physical activities daily that keep the body and mind active and having a healthy diet can make a huge impact on fostering cognitive skills.

Ways to Improve Cognitive Skills

How people think, learn, process information, and solve problems are influenced by their cognitive functions. These Cognitive performances can be significantly impacted by changes in lifestyle.

Some of the ways to improve are mentioned below:

Stay Active

• Being on the move or staying active helps in releasing essential hormones that aid in proper blood circulation and regulation, which accentuates the brain’s memory learning capabilities.
• Resistance training (weightlifting, bodyweight) enhances memory and executive function.

Get Enough Sleep

Getting adequate sleep helps the child to regain the energy lost and is extremely important for children to rejuvenate for bigger challenges.

• See to it that the child sleeps peacefully for at least 7 to 9 hours.
• Develop a consistent sleep schedule to promote brain health.
• Make it a habit to avoid screens, whether TV or Mobile, 2 hours before sleeping to get peaceful sleep.

Challenge Your Brain

Engage in cognitive challenges that give a boost to the brain to sharpen its cognitive capacity.

• Try and acquire some new skills, e.g, learning to play some musical instrument or even learning a new game
• Have a target of solving some puzzles, chess, or any picture card games for fostering the processing abilities.
• Practice simple breathing exercises or perform yoga or stretching exercises to release stress from the body and calm your mind.

Additional Brain Health Tips

Activities of daily living are most significant in ensuring cognition.

Keep interacting socially

Social conversation and social interaction exercises thought and memory.

Consume a brain-feeding diet.

A Mediterranean diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats nurtures the brain.

Limit alcohol use

Keep alcohol consumption to a moderate amount (no more than one drink per day).

No smoking

Smoking harms brain health and increases the risk of cognitive decline.

Maintaining Brain Health for the Future

Challenging the brain all one’s life reduces cognitive loss in old age. Some health conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and depression, can influence thought processes and memory. Good health maintenance and healthy brain habits assist in keeping cognitive skills throughout life.

Image made by using AI

What are the Activities for Cognitive Development?

The different mental abilities of logical thinking, reasoning, and critical thinking have a humongous share in determining the child’s success, and it facilitates the child’s overall well-being, enabling him to make proper sense of the world around him.

Cognitive development comprises of these essential skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, which can be deciding factors for fostering the academic excellence of the child.

A child’s environment is the first basic atmosphere where the cognitive skills can be nurtured by providing them ample discovering and learning experiences that improve memory, decision making, and precision.

When children are provided with properly structured activities, it helps to strengthen their cognitive capacity, helping them process the information they receive in the right manner and make proper sense of it using proper comprehension skills.

Cognitive Development Activities for Children

Puzzles and Brain Games

Jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku, and thinking games enhance problem-solving and critical thinking.

Storytelling and Reading

Getting children to read and tell stories assists with understanding and language.

Building Blocks and Building Games

LEGO and construction sets assist with developing spatial awareness and creativity.

Memory Games

Card games and matching games assist with developing memory holding and recall.

Pretend Play

Role play and fantasy games assist with cognitive flexibility as well as decision-making.

Art and Craft Activities

Drawing, coloring, and crafting require creativity and fine motor function.

Adult Cognitive Developmental Activities

• Acquiring a New Skill – Learning to play an instrument, a new language, or a pastime like painting or cooking works the brain.
• Problem-Solving Activities – Crossword, chess, and strategy games improve reasoning.
• Mindfulness and Meditation – Mindfulness practice improves focus, memory, and emotional regulation.
• Physical Exercise as aerobics, dancing, or yoga improves brain function through increased blood circulation.
• Social Engagement – Debates, discussions, and group work alert the mind.
• Memory Exercises – Repeating lists, visualization, and mnemonic devices improve recall.

For exceptional learners, especially customizers, cognitive development activity can prove to be useful. Vidhyanidhi Education Society (Govt. Regd.) provides a Special Education Needs Course that enables teachers and caregivers to gain proper skills for managing cognitive development in children with multiple learning needs. The course is useful for creating challenging and personalized study plans that stimulate mental growth.

Participation in cognitive development activities at every phase of life keeps the brain healthy and enhances learning capacity. Merging these activities into day-to-day activities will prove helpful for people in developing stronger cognitive functions and keeping the mind active even after decades.

“Join Vidhyanidhi Education Society’s SEN Course and transform lives with autism. Enroll now, be the change!”

To join Vidhyanidhi Education Society’s SEN Course, call / WhatsApp +919321024137 / +919869866277.

To download the brochure of the SEN Course, click here.

Special Education Needs Course

FAQs