Final answer:
Jean Piaget's research revealed that while newborns may not recognize themselves as individuals, they have some innate cognitive abilities. The development of these abilities includes acquiring object permanence and later theory-of-mind, which help children understand their environment and social world. These develop as children interact with their world, adjusting their cognitive frameworks to process new experiences and information.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jean Piaget, a renowned developmental psychologist, discovered that newborns do not have a developed self-concept in the sense of recognizing themselves, as reflected in the example of the mirror test where an infant will reach out to touch their image, thinking it is another baby. However, Piaget's research showed that infants are already equipped with a rudimentary understanding of the world around them, as they lack object permanence, the understanding that physical things continue to exist even when they are out of sight. Piaget's theories indicate that cognitive abilities develop through direct interaction with the environment, yet more recent studies have suggested that even very young infants have some level of understanding beyond what Piaget proposed.
For instance, Baillargeon's research demonstrated that young infants could anticipate that solid objects cannot pass through each other, a concept Piaget believed was beyond their cognitive abilities. This development of cognitive skills, including object permanence, and later the ability to recognize others have different thoughts and feelings (known as theory-of-mind), is a part of the broader cognitive development that occurs as a result of both biological maturation and environmental interaction.
Piaget's studies also contributed to our knowledge of how children develop schemata to categorize and interpret information through a cycle of assimilation and accommodation, adjusting their cognitive framework as they acquire new experiences and information.