Final answer:
Research supports Piaget's stages of cognitive development, with some contemporary research suggesting more continuous development and an additional postformal stage.
Step-by-step explanation:
Research does support Piaget's view that cognitive development occurs in distinct stages, as he suggested there are four major stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. However, some contemporary studies propose a model of development that is more continuous than Piaget's discrete stages, suggesting that children can reach certain cognitive milestones earlier. Further findings indicate a potential fifth stage, known as postformal thought, which integrates logic with emotion and is reliant on context for decision making, differentiating the thought processes of adults from adolescents.