The Difference Between Motor & Cognitive Development

Physical Changes

• Motor development occurs as physical changes occur in the course of a person's development. These physical changes include weight gain and general growth as well as advancements in the development of sensory perceptions, such that infants become more aware of their physical space and the physical space they inhabit. Motor development advances along with these physical developments.

Motor Development Changes

• As infants, reflexes are humans' primary motor physical capacity. However, as their development progresses, they gain more and more advanced motor skills, including comfortable control of their limbs, head and torso. Something as simple as lifting their own head can be an important motor development step. Likewise, as their physical development continues, motor abilities become more complicated and advanced. For example, infants learn how to use smaller muscles for fine motor skills.

Developmental Psychology

• In developmental psychology, experts study why children think differently from adults. In other words, why is a child's answer to a particular question different from an adult's answer? They found that a child's mind is intrinsically different from an adult's mind. Although the motor and physical developments are relevant to why a child's mind is different, most of the experts put more focus on the cognitive development of the brain.

Piaget's Four Stages

• Jean Piaget was a 20th century Swiss thinker who developed a theory on childhood development in which cognitive growth is the most central aspect of development. Perhaps because of his background in biology and studying nature, Piaget believed that humans, like other creatures, adapted to their environment. He came to understand this adaptation as an expression of cognitive development. His theory comprises four stages of cognitive development: (1) from zero to 2 years old, humans learn that they can control their physical environment; (2) from 2 to 7 years old, humans develop more-advanced and sophisticated thinking patterns and can solve conceptual problems; (3) from 7 to 11 years old, humans start thinking about solving physical problems; and (4) from 11 to 15 years old, humans begin to reason and think about logical solutions to problems.