Cognitive Development. Cognitive Development In Early Childhood. Cognitive skills, or cognitive abilities, are the ways that your brain remembers, reasons, holds attention, solves problems, thinks, reads and learns. Cognitive development encompasses a childs working memory, attention, as well as a childs ability to manage and respond to the experiences and information they experience on a daily basis. Your cognitive abilities help you process new information by taking that information and distributing it into the appropriate areas in your brain. According to Piaget, the child is entering a new stage of cognitive development where they are improving their logical skills. In the United States, formal education begins at a time when children are beginning to think in new and more sophisticated ways. Answer their questions with repsonses that are appropriate for their cognitive development level. This can include things like how to combine, separate, order, and transform objects and actions. Children in middle childhood are beginning a new experiencethat of formal education. A child who successfully passes through the stages progresses from simple sensorimotor responses to the ability to classify and create series of objects and eventually to engage in hypothetical and deductive reasoning, according to "The New Dictionary of Scientific Biography." Here are the four cognitive stages of childhood development as identified by Jean Piaget: Sensorimotor Stage: Birth through about 2 years. Cognitive milestones represent important steps forward in a child's development. Throughout human history, babies were often thought of as simple, passive beings. During this stage, children learn about the world through their senses and the manipulation of objects. Cognitive development means the development of the ability to think and reason. In addition to rapid physical growth, young children also exhibit significant development of their cognitive abilities. Language development in children is probably one of the most amazing aspects of cognitive development in childhood. Prior to the 20th-century, children were often seen simply as miniature versions of adults. During this stage, children develop memory and imagination. Preoperational Stage: Ages 2 through 7. Major Aspects of Cognitive Development in Early Childhood. In just a short period of time a child go from making noises to saying just a few words to producing complete sentences and communicating. Piaget thought that childrens ability to understand objectssuch as learning that a rattle makes a noise when shakenwas a cognitive skill that develops slowly as a child matures and interacts with the environment. Cognitive development in a young child includes attention, memory, logic and reasoning, among other abilities. Piaget broke childhood cognitive development into four stages spanning from birth through adolescence. Children ages 6 to 12, usually think in concrete ways (concrete operations). Cognitive development in early childhood refers to your child's ability to develop thought processes, including remembering things, solving problems, and making decisions. There are many ways that humans process information or perform cognitive tasks. Over the years there have been many theories and studies done to try to understand cognitive development.