Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsOverviewSubstagesObject PermanenceSupporting Sensorimotor DevelopmentFrequently Asked QuestionsNext in Stages of Cognitive Development GuideThe Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development
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Table of Contents
Overview
Substages
Object Permanence
Supporting Sensorimotor Development
Frequently Asked Questions
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The sensorimotor stage is the earliest in Piaget’stheory of cognitive development. He described this period as a time of tremendous growth and change.
Piaget’s theory suggests that children progress through a series of four different stages of cognitive development.These stages encompass numerous aspects of mental development including that reasoning, language, morals, and memory. Piaget believed that kids take an active role in this cognitive development, building knowledge as they interact with the world.
Keep reading to learn more about how sensorimotor development works, the six sub-stages that occur during this phase of development, and the important developments that occur.
An Overview of the Sensorimotor Stage
The sensorimotor stage is the period of development from birth through age two. During this initialphase of development, children utilize skills and abilities they were born with (such as looking, sucking, grasping, and listening) to learn more about the environment.
Babies are born with a limited range of abilities, but they use those skills to learn more about the world around them. While it might seem like an infant mostly eats and sleeps, their interactions with caregivers and their environment provide a wealth of information that supports their cognitive growth.
In other words, infants and young children experience the world and gain knowledge through their senses and motor movements. Through trial and error, children discover more about the world around them.
Piaget chose to call this stage the ‘sensorimotor’ stage because it is through the senses and motor abilities that infants gain a basic understanding of the world around them.
The abilities that an infant is born with—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—combined with physical capabilities that continue to develop—including touching, grasping, and tasting—allow infants to interact and build awareness of themselves and what is around them.
As children interact with their environments, they go through an astonishing amount of cognitive growth in a relatively short period of time—the sensorimotor stage lasts from birth to approximately age 2.
7 Main Developmental Theories
Stages of the Sensorimotor Stage
As any parent or caregiver can attest, a great deal of learning and development happens during the first two years of a child’s life. All of the changes that infants and toddlers go through during those first two years of life represent different aspects of this stage of development.
Reflexes (0-1 month)
During this substage, the child understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes such as sucking and looking.
Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months)
Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months)
During this substage, the child becomes more focused on the world and begins to intentionally repeat an action to trigger a response in the environment. For example, a child will purposefully pick up a toy and put it in their mouth.
Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months)
During this substage, the child starts to show clearly intentional actions. The child may also combine schemas in order to achieve the desired effect. Children begin exploring the environment around them and will often imitate the observed behavior of others.
The understanding of objects also begins during this time and children begin to recognize certain objects as having specific qualities. For example, a child might realize that a rattle will make a sound when shaken.
Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months)
Children begin a period of trial-and-error experimentation during the fifth substage. For example, a child may try out different sounds or actions as a way of getting attention from a caregiver.
Early Representational Thought (18-24 months)
Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or objects in the world in the final sensorimotor substage. During this time, children begin to move towards understanding the world through mental operations rather than purely through actions.
RecapThe six stages of the sensorimotor stage are reflexes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and early representational thought.
Recap
The six stages of the sensorimotor stage are reflexes, primary circular reactions, secondary circular reactions, coordination of reactions, tertiary circular reactions, and early representational thought.
Cognitive Developmental Milestones
Object Permanence in the Sensorimotor Stage
According to Piaget, developingobject permanenceis one of the most important accomplishments at the sensorimotor stage of development.
Object permanence is a child’s understanding that objects continue to exist even though they cannot be seen or heard.
Imagine a game of peek-a-boo, for example. A very young infant will believe that the other person or object has actually vanished and will act shocked or startled when the object reappears. Older infants who understand object permanence will realize that the person or object continues to exist even when unseen.
ADHD Symptom Spotlight: Object Permanence
Supporting Healthy Sensorimotor Development
So, what can parents and caregivers do to help foster healthy cognitive development during the sensorimotor stage?
Providing responsive care is essential. During this period of development, children learn many things, including whether they can trust those around them. This helps set the stage not only for further cognitive growth but also for other important developmental skills, includingtrustandsecure attachment.
Other ways to support health sensorimotor development include:
Takeaways
The sensorimotor stage serves as an important base in development and gives children the abilities they need as they progress into the next stage of development. As children enter the next stage starting at around age two, they begin developing symbolic thought allowing them to improve language, imagination, and memory skills.
Examples of events that occur during the sensorimotor stage include the reflexes of rooting and sucking in infancy, learning to sick and wiggle fingers, repeating simple actions like shaking a rattle, taking interest in objects in the environment, and learning that objects they cannot see continue to exist.
Children engage in a variety of activities during the sensorimotor stage to learn more about the world. Some of these activities include sucking, rooting, grasping, crawling, motor coordination, and visual tracking.
What Happens In the Preoperational Stage?
3 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Winstanley MA.Stages in theory and experiment. Fuzzy-structuralism and Piagetian stages.Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2023;57(1):151-173. doi:10.1007/s12124-022-09702-7Lefmann T, Combs-Orme T.Early brain development for social work practice: Integrating neuroscience with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 2013;23:5:640-647. doi:10.1080/10911359.2013.775936An M, Marcinowski EC, Hsu LY, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Pediatr Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909Additional ReadingPiaget, J. (1977). Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J. eds. The Essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget’s Theory. In P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of Child Psychology. 4th edition. Vol. 1. New York: Wiley.Santrock, John W. (2008). A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development (4 ed.). New York City: McGraw-Hill.
3 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Winstanley MA.Stages in theory and experiment. Fuzzy-structuralism and Piagetian stages.Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2023;57(1):151-173. doi:10.1007/s12124-022-09702-7Lefmann T, Combs-Orme T.Early brain development for social work practice: Integrating neuroscience with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 2013;23:5:640-647. doi:10.1080/10911359.2013.775936An M, Marcinowski EC, Hsu LY, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Pediatr Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909Additional ReadingPiaget, J. (1977). Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J. eds. The Essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget’s Theory. In P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of Child Psychology. 4th edition. Vol. 1. New York: Wiley.Santrock, John W. (2008). A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development (4 ed.). New York City: McGraw-Hill.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Winstanley MA.Stages in theory and experiment. Fuzzy-structuralism and Piagetian stages.Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2023;57(1):151-173. doi:10.1007/s12124-022-09702-7Lefmann T, Combs-Orme T.Early brain development for social work practice: Integrating neuroscience with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 2013;23:5:640-647. doi:10.1080/10911359.2013.775936An M, Marcinowski EC, Hsu LY, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Pediatr Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909
Winstanley MA.Stages in theory and experiment. Fuzzy-structuralism and Piagetian stages.Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2023;57(1):151-173. doi:10.1007/s12124-022-09702-7
Lefmann T, Combs-Orme T.Early brain development for social work practice: Integrating neuroscience with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 2013;23:5:640-647. doi:10.1080/10911359.2013.775936
An M, Marcinowski EC, Hsu LY, et al.Object permanence and the relationship to sitting development in infants with motor delays.Pediatr Phys Ther. 2022;34(3):309-316. doi:10.1097/PEP.0000000000000909
Piaget, J. (1977). Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J. eds. The Essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget’s Theory. In P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of Child Psychology. 4th edition. Vol. 1. New York: Wiley.Santrock, John W. (2008). A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development (4 ed.). New York City: McGraw-Hill.
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