Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Practical Methodology of Cognitive Tasks Within a Navigational Assessment
Published on: June 1, 2015
Development of children's understanding of cognitive activities
1Northern Illinois University, Department of Psychology, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA. pillow@niu.edu
Abstract:
Children's understanding of cognition increases greatly between early childhood and adolescence. This increase provides a developmental bridge between young children's understanding of mental states to adolescents' and adults' epistemological reflection. The author presents a framework for describing developmental changes in children's understanding of cognitive activities. He distinguishes 4 aspects of children's understanding of cognition: (a) knowledge of mental states, (b) knowledge of occurrence of particular activities, (c) knowledge of organization of cognitive activities, and (d) epistemological thought. He discusses phenomenological awareness of cognitive activities and social experience as influences on children's concepts of cognition.
Related Concept Videos
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
Schemata...
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
Information Processing Approach
Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the concrete...
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky's Cognitive Development in Cultural Context

