Final answer:
Infants in the sensorimotor stage learn about the world through sensory experiences and motor behaviors, progressing from reflexive actions to more deliberate activities such as crawling and walking. They develop schemata to process information and achieve milestones like object permanence, although contemporary research indicates some cognitive abilities may emerge earlier than Piaget theorized.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cognitive Development in Infants
According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, infants from birth to about 2 years of age are in the sensorimotor stage. During this stage, infants learn about the world through their senses and motor behavior. Activities progress from basic reflexive responses to more complex motor skills, such as crawling and walking. Object exploration is significant, involving behaviors such as mouthing, shaking, and banging objects to explore their properties. A key cognitive milestone during this period is the development of object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible, which emerges between 5 and 8 months old.
Piaget believed that infants develop schemata, mental models that help categorize and interpret information. Infants assimilate and accommodate knowledge about the world through these schemata as they interact with their environment. Despite Piaget's assertions, modern research suggests that infants possess some understanding of object properties earlier than he proposed, challenging the notion of stages tied rigidly to age.