Editing Jean Piaget (section)

===Study of figurative thought===
Piaget studied areas of intelligence like [[perception]] and [[memory]] that are not entirely logical. Logical concepts are described as being completely reversible because they can always get back to the starting point, meaning that if one starts with a given premise and follows logical steps to reach a conclusion, the same steps may be done in the opposite order, starting from the conclusion to arrive at the premise. The perceptual concepts Piaget studied could not be manipulated. To describe the figurative process, Piaget uses pictures as examples. Pictures cannot be separated because contours cannot be separated from the forms they outline. Memory is the same way: it is never completely reversible; people cannot necessarily recall all the intervening events between two points. During this last period of work, Piaget and his colleague Inhelder also published books on perception, memory, and other figurative processes such as learning.<ref>Guthrie, James W. (2003) "Piaget, Jean (1896–1980)" in ''Encyclopedia of Education''. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. New York, NY: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 1894–898.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF02687400 | last1 = Valsiner | first1 = J. | year = 2005 | title = Participating in Piaget | journal = Society | volume = 42 | issue = 2| pages = 57–61 | s2cid = 145294976 }}</ref>

Because Piaget's theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of readiness is important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught. According to Piaget's theory, children should not be taught certain concepts until they reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development.<ref>{{Britannica|459096|Jean Piaget}}</ref> For example, young children in the [[preoperational stage]] engage in "irreversible" thought and cannot comprehend that an item that has been transformed in some way may be returned to its original state.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.simplypsychology.org/preoperational.html |title=Preoperational Stage – Egocentrism |last=McLeod |first=Saul |website=Simply Psychology |access-date=2018-08-07}}</ref>