Criticisms of Piaget's stage theory have led neo-Piagetians to redefine stage change
as an age-related-and possibly spurt-like-shift in the level of diverse cognitive
operations. This study tests a hypothesised stage shift according to this
definition, using longitudinal methodology in the period of early infancy. Case's
theory of development predicts a stage transition beginning at about 4 months. To
test this prediction, infants' performance on a battery of six sensorimotor tasks
was examined weekly as they crossed the age range between 2.5 and 5.5 months. For
all tasks, a pass rate of 50% was first observed between 3.7 and 4.6 months, and
task profiles showed some evidence of clustering or synchrony. In addition, onset
age data indicated intra-individual synchrony in task acquisitions, suggesting
discontinuous or spurt-like changes in overall development. These results are
consistent with a neo-Piagetian definition of stage change, and lend support to
Case's model of early cognitive development.
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