ABSTRACT
Piaget's observations of infants and his theories of development imply that young children require a rich variety of sensory stimulation and kinaesthetic experience if they are to establish the schemata underlying perception of a world of objects; also that later conceptual development rests on this prior perceptual stage. Similarly Hebb considers that phase sequences are built up through appropriate experience at the appropriate age; and he has supplied experimental support by his work on dogs and rats brought up either in the meagre environment of a cage, or as pets with the free run of a more stimulating and varied environment. The latter animals showed greater learning and problem-solving capacities as adults than the former, i.e. they had developed better Intelligence B. The mere handling of baby rats is found to increase their later responsiveness, according to S. Levine. The studies described by Spitz, Goldfarb and Wayne Dennis appear to show that Hebb's findings apply at the human level. Babies who were reared in institutions with minimal human contacts or sensory stimulation were grossly retarded, or they even regressed in perceptual and motor development. These, however, were extreme conditions and it seems improbable that, even in quite primitive ethnic groups, infants do not normally see plenty of shapes, objects and people on which to try out their maturing skills. They may have no toys, bricks, blocks or pictures, few utensils and no furniture, but nature surely supplies plenty of sticks, stones, water, light and shade, noises and human contacts, through which the basic schemata can be laid down.
