ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the development of the ability to make use of our perceptions of the world so that we can behave in a flexible and, usually, appropriate manner, adapting to a wide variety of situations. Cognition is often seen as the unobservable process intervening between perception and action. In the oversimplified perception—cognition—action model mentioned above, the role of perception is the passive gathering of information, to be grist to the cognitive mill. The greatest contribution to the understanding of cognitive development comes from the work of Jean Piaget, his Genevan associates and the many investigators who have chosen to work within the Piagetian framework. M. Donaldson has found several situations where children can perform better than Piagetian theory would predict. Reference has already been made to Bower's work on the cognitive/perceptual skills of babies. Bower's experiments allow babies to demonstrate what are, in Piagetian terms, startingly sophisticated behaviours.
