Problem Solving during Infancy and Early Childhood, Development of

Problem solving forms an essential part of daily intellectual activities, not only for adults but also for infants and young children. Planning, or the internal processes that mediate an intended action, is a crucial cognitive component for efficient problem solving, with its earliest precursor observed in infants below 1 year of age. This article reviews representative empirical research in the field, which involves various behavioral tasks including tool use such as spoons, tube problems, and maze tasks. Mental processes underlying these behaviors develop from simple prospection of events to organizing different event sequences to face novel problems.