How to Grow a Baby: A Reevaluation of Image-Schema and Piagetian Action Approaches to Representation

This essay examines the development of representational thought from two divergent perspectives: (a) Mandler’s image-schema theory, and (b) an action-theoretical approach fundamentally derived from Piaget’s theory. Juxtaposition of the two approaches highlights conceptual problems that are inherent in image-schema theory but become resolved through an action-theoretical approach. Empirical studies in the domains of early concept development, object permanence, causality, and memory are critically reviewed with emphasis on the question of the interpretive validity of findings suggesting an early onset of mental representation. It is concluded that the empirical findings fail to support the hypotheses of early onset, and that representational development is more adequately interpreted within the context of an action-theoretical approach. Finally, the analysis examines the role of the divergent metatheoretical assumptions that contextualize image-schema theory and action theory in the understanding of the development of mental representation.