1
Q
cognition
A
the processes or faculties by which knowledge is acquired and manipulated
- not directly observable, must be inferred
2
Q
development
A
changes in structure or function over time
3
Q
How do psychologists study mental factors?
A
they study the observable behaviour
4
Q
developmental function
A
the species-typical form that cognition takes over time
5
Q
structure
A
refers to some aspect of the organism
ex. tissue, muscle, mental knowledge (e.g. mental dictionary)
6
Q
function
A
refers to some actions related to a structure
ex. experience, word retrieval
7
Q
what is the relationship between structure and function
A
There is a bidirectional relationship
- The functioning of mental structures promotes changes in the structure itself
- this in turn, contributes to how the structure operates (functions)
- Intellectual growth is the result of an interaction between acting and thinking, children and their environment
8
Q
Piaget
A
- believed children developed in stages
- believed children and their interaction with the world drove their development
- universal idea of development (development is independent of the environment)
9
Q
Why is it important to study individual differences and cross culture
A
because there is variability within a child and within different cultures that cannot be accounted for otherwise
10
Q
What is the adaptive nature of immaturity
A
- prevents sensory overload
- creates persistence at difficult tasks
- learning too much too early can interfere with later learning
11
Q
Harry Harlow
A
- trained infant monkeys on a discrimination learning task at different ages
- monkey who started training early performed worse than those who started later
12
Q
What are the 6 truths of cognitive development
A
- Cognitive development proceeds as a result of the dynamic and reciprocal transaction of internal and external factors
- Cognitive development is constructed within a social context
- Cognitive development involves both stability and plasticity over time
- Cognitive development involves changes in the way information is represented
- Knowledge or knowledge base has a significant influence on how children think
- Children develop increasing intentional control over behaviour and cognition
- Cognitive development involves changes in both domain-general and domain-specific abilities
13
Q
genetic determinism
A
one genes determine ones behavior
14
Q
nativism (nature)
A
human intellectual abilities are innate
15
Q
empiricism (nurture)
A
nature provides only species-general learning mechanisms, with cognition arising as a result of experience
16
Q
Developmental contextual model- Richard Lerner
A
all parts of the organism, as well as the whole organism itself, interact dynamically with “the contexts within which the whole organism is embedded”
17
Q
False dichotomy
A
Dichotomy means it has to be one or the other. nature vs. nurture is a false dichotomy because it is an interaction between the two
18
Q
reaction range
A
Genetics determine a range within which something will fall (upper and lower limit) and the environment determines where in that range it will fall (pick where in that range)
19
Q
Vygotsky
A
- emphasized the importance of social and cultural factors
- believed that the child can not be separated from these factors
20
Q
Bronfenbrenner model
A
- focused on the interaction between an individual and their environment
Microsystems
- direct interaction
- ex. school, family, peers
Mesosystem
- interaction between various aspects of the microsystems
- ex. family attitude toward school
Exosystem
- indirect interaction
- Ex. parents workplace (come home upset)
Macrosystem
- culture
- ex. attitudes, beliefs, and heritage
chronosystem
- time and how things change over time
21
Q
stability
A
the degree to which there is consistency across time
22
Q
plasticity
A
the degree to which there can be change as a result of experience across time
23
Q
Jerome Kagan- tape recorder model of development
A
Every experience is seen as being recorded without the opportunity to erase or rerecord
24
Q
evidence for stability
A
- Children reared in a non-stimulating environment showed persistent signs of intellectual impairment even after leaving the institution
- Harry Harlow’s study on infant monkeys and isolating them from their mothers adversely affected their later social and sexual behaviours
25
Evidence for plasticity
infants believed to be intellectually impaired were moved from their overcrowded orphanage to an institution for the intellectually impaired where they received more attention, later presented with normal IQ levels
26
Kagan
- proposed one reason to expect resilience is that development does not proceed as a tape recorder
- development is translational, with relatively drastic changes occurring between adjacent stages
27
representation
mental encoding of information
28
infantile amnesia
unable to recall memories from the earliest years of life
- many believed this is due to a difference in encoding infants (actions) adults (symbols- language)
29
Gabrielle Simcock and Harlene Hayne- babies recall
- showed 27-39 months olds sequences of actions
- interviewed 6-12 months later, both on verbal and nonverbal memory of the event
- Children who were more verbally sophisticated at the time of initial testing tended to verbal recall some aspects of the event, but children were seemingly not able to translate preverbal experiences into language
30
strategies
deliberate, goal directed mental operations aimed at solving a problem
31
executive function
the process involved in regulating attention and in determining what to do with information just gathered or retrieved from long term memory
32
how does knowledge impact thinking
- what children know impacts their cognition
- Knowing more helps us solve problems
- organization of knowledge also impacts how that knowledge affects cognition
ex. chess recall pro vs beginner
33
working memory
holding and processing information simultaneously
34
inhibition
ability to stop yourself from doing what you would typically do in that situation
35
planning
problem solving for the future
36
cognitive flexibility
thinking of multiple uses for one thing
37
domain specific abilities
modularity: structure dedicated to development in some area
- specific structures in the brain are strictly for certain cognitive functions
38
Domain general
- a set of skills contributes to development in some areas
- thinking is influenced by a single set of factors, with these factors affecting all aspects of cognition
39
quantitative change
continuous, steady increase or decrease
ex. working memory
40
qualitative change
stage-like (shift in one way of thinking to another way of thinking), sudden increase or decrease
ex. object permanence
41
troubles with qualitative vs. quantitative
- We are inferring cognition from observation (sometimes this can cause us to mistake quantitative for qualitative development)
- Insufficient measures to pick up on small changes
- Need to be cautious, because changes which appear stage-like may actually be continuous
42
sociocultural perspective
- How we develop (especially learning to think) is primarily a function of social and cultural environment
- Cognitive development is viewed as inseparable from its cultural context
- biological factors are not ignored, brains are seen as evolved to develop within a social context
43
Rogoff
- development is best seen as transformation of participation
- focus is on participation and contribution, not just on outcome
44
Vygotskys four inter-related levels of development
ontogenetic: life span of the individual
microgenetic: small units of time (development over a shorter time period- more specific)
phylogenetic: evolutionary time (history of a species)
sociohistorical: over generations
45
tools of intellectual adaptation
methods of thinking and problem solving that children internalize from their interactions with more competent members of society and that permit children to use their basic mental functions more adaptively
- can be mental or physical
46
Vygotsky and cognitive artifacts
claimed that infants are equipped with few elementary mental functions (attention, sensation, perception, and memory), Culture and social interactions transform them into higher mental functions
47
examples of physical cognitive artifacts
maps, calculator
48
examples of mental cognitive artifacts
ways of thinking or reasoning
49
Piraha and quantity
- some Piraha children learn Portuguese
- number system is 1, 2, many (impacts mathematical computation)
- once they learn the Portuguese number system mathematical skills improve
50
Language and numeracy differences
- The logographic symbols used in Chinese affect visual/spatial processing
- The inversion of numbers in German may make it more difficult for children to learn to write the numbers and how they perform mathematical equations involving carrying
- The value of different things influences abilities (the value of math in asian cultures)
- Absolute (cardinal) vs relative (egocentric) languages
51
private speech
comments intended to regulate own behaviour
52
inner speech
internalized speech (thought)
53
age of digital native
Technology influences how one learns, remembers, and problem solves
54
radical vs. weak language determinism
Language determines thought vs. language influences thought but doesn't constrict our thoughts
55
Colour and language
When they did a study on people whose language only had names for light or dark they expected them do categorize a colour pallet into two group but in fact they separated it into about 8 groups- indicating their language did not restrict how they perceived (thought about) the colours
56
Vygotsky, higher cognitive processes develop twice
first on the social plan and then, after they've been internalized, develop on the psychological plane
57
General genetic law of cultural development
"any function in the child's cultural development appears twice, or on two planes. First it appears between people as an interpsychological category, and then within the child as an intrapsychological category
58
what type of approach does Vygotsky prefer
naturalistic observation
- argues lab-based approach are not valuable because it is artificial
59
Zone of proximal development
"the distance between what a child can do independently, and what the child can do in interaction with an adult or more advanced people
60
Scaffolding
a more-skilled person adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the earner's current level of performance
61
contingent interaction
turn-taking back and forth, each participant recognizes the other in some way
example: adult talking to a baby and the baby makes noises in response
62
joint attention
both focusing on the same thing
example: looking at the same object
63
theory of mind
ability to understand people's mental states
- experiment with infants watched a model demonstrate a behaviour with an object and see if the infant only replicates the behaviour or if they understand the goal behind the behaviour (ex. putting a lid on a bottle)
64
imitative learning
repeating what you perceive
65
instructed learning
learning by following directions
66
collaborative learning
working together
67
guided participation
adult-child interactions not only during explicit instruction but also during more routine activities and communication of everyday life
68
Carrot juice study
- 3 groups of pregnant women
1 - drank carrot juice 4 times a week for 3 weeks then after birth they only drank water
2- drank water during pregnancy and carrot juice after birth
3- drank water during pregnancy and after birth (control)
- Had babies eat cereal one regular and one mixed in with carrot juice
- They found that infants exposed to carrot juice during pregnancy or after birth had a more positive response to the cereal with carrot juice than the control group
Results indicate that being previously exposed to carrot juice increased positive response (familiar) meaning that the babies remember the taste in the prenatal period and that babies have some time of perceptual ability of taste during the prenatal stage
69
pre-natal and post-natal facial expressions
- Women were given concentrated kale or concentrated carrot juice pills
- Facial expressions were recorded in the womb
- Exposed to the smell of either the kale or carrot after birth
Infants showed more positive responses to the flavour they were exposed to in the prenatal period
70
Neonate perception
Odours (olfactory)
- prefer nursing parents' smell to other people's smells
- neonates' pain is reduced when exposed to odours from their own mother's milk (soothing)
71
Auditory perception
Vibroacoustic stimulation leads to habituation and memory formation
- vibration and sound waves to the abdomen, the fetus responds with movement
- with repeated exposures the fetus reduces response
- Look at how quickly the response occurs and find that the response is quicker later in development
- When they do vibroacoustic stimulation earlier in development and then later, habituation occurs faster
- This tells us that the babies store the information
- Habituation indicates memory
72
How can we observe infants?
habituation, attention, sucking rate
73
DeCasper and Spence 'Cat in the Hat'
- Participants at the tail end of a pregnancy
- Recorded mothers telling stories of cat and the hat (rhythmic),cat and the hat changed to dog on the log, third story- non rhythmic
- Read a story out loud, one of the stories every day for the last 6 weeks of pregnancy
- Babies were hooked up to nonnutritive sucking system
- Got a base rate of sucking
- If sucking rate increased significantly the precorded story would play of the story they heard prenatally
- If sucking rate decreased significantly the prerecorded story would play of the story they heard prenatally
- Babies would maintain sucking rate to keep hearing the story
- Control group was used- did not adjust sucking rate to hear the story
- Results indicate babies familiarity with the story
74
young infants can hear the difference between /pa/ and /ba/
- /pa/ is voiceless and /ba/ is voiced (similar articulation)
- Decreases in the frequency of sucking after repeated exposure to /pa/ (habituation)
- Then they hear /ba/ and then the frequency of sucking increases once again (dishabituation)
- Or vice versa
- Indicates that they can hear the difference in the two sounds
- Discriminate between phonemes
75
Visual preference paradigm: Fantz
- Two visual stimuli are presented simultaneously
- Stimuli that differ in some way are presented to determine whether infant has a visual preference (looks longer at)
- Logic of this method? What can it tell us?
- what the babies find interesting
- whether or not they can tell the difference between two stimuli
- Need to first establish a baseline and/ or counterbalance presentation
76
Fantz original looking chamber
- Bed with an infant laying down and looking up
- Observer looking down at the infant tracking looking time
77
Kobayashi et al
- Ability to recognize faces at different levels of detail
- 6-, 7- and 8-month-olds
- Method: visual preference paradigm
- DV? (looking time)
- Presented photos, cartoon and line drawing of familiar and non familiar faces
- They found that the youngest infants only found familiarity for the photos
- For older infants they found familiarity for photos and cartoon drawings
- Neither age group presented with any type of familiarity for line drawings
78
perception
involving the organization of the sensations
79
implicit measures
thought to capture aspects of cognition that are unconscious and cannot be expressed directly or verbally
80
explicit measures
participant reports on the contents of their cognition or behave in observable ways that are directly related to the task
81
habituation
decreased response to a stimuli as a result of repeated exposure
82
dishabituation
Following habituation, a new stimulus is presented that increases the response
- demonstrates the ability to discriminate between two stimuli
- demonstrates memory
83
infants eyes
- less sensitive to light
- can't discriminate among a wide range of colours
84
visual preferences
- moving objects
- high contrast
- contour
- symmetry
- curvature
- face like
85
externality effect
infants of 1 month direct attention primarily to the outside of a figure
86
top heavy
more attention to the upper portion of a simulus
87
differentiation theory
posits that infants perception becomes increasingly specific with time, as the sense of familiarity allows them to distinguish one stimulus from another
88
Goldilocks effect
Infants take an active role in sampling their environment, looking longer at stimuli that are neither too simple nor too complex
89
Morton and Johnson two process theory for infant preference
An initial process is accessed primarily through subcortical pathways, and this controls newborns' tracking of faces, but because of limited sensory capabilities, infants are not able to learn the features of faces until about 8 weeks
The second process is under the control of cortical circuits. The system depends on cortical maturation and experience with faces during the first 2 months, as infants begin to build a representation or schema that enables them to discriminate the human face from other stimuli
90
auditory preferences
- high frequency tones (women's voices)
- novel and familiar
- temporal order and sequence
- language
- simple ratios
- music of their own culture
91
schema
a representation of an event that preserves the temporal and spatial arrangement of its distinctive elements without necessarily being isomorphic with the event
92
intersensory integration
the coordination of two or more sensory modalities
93
Elizabeth Spelke sound allocation
- 4 month olds watched side by side clips of either peek-a-boo or someone drumming with only one of the sound tracks playing
- infants were able to figure out which clip the sound belonged to a spent more time looking at that clip
- recognize that certain sounds sequences go with certain visual displays
94
lorraine bahrick and john wilson -ability of 5 month old to integrate proprioceptive and visual information
- Babies were seated in a chair with a tray blocking their legs
- Two screens were displayed, either of their legs live or a video of the other legs
- Babies were able to discriminate between the two films and spend more time looking at one than the other
- tried the same with 3 month olds- no preference - established that proprioceptive -visual integration is established by 5 months
95
intersensory matching
a child must be able to recognize an object initially inspected in one modality through another modality
96
Susan Rose and collegues - infant visual tactile integration
- presented 6-month-olds with an object in one modality and later in another modality
- Infants spent more time during the transfer phase exploring novel stimuli
97
perceptual narrowing
the process by which infants use environmental experience to become specialists in perceiving stimuli relevant to their species and culture
98
other race effect
- Infants develop the ability to discriminate between faces of their own race relative to those of other races
99
Sample study: numerical precision
- Participants: 4-month-olds
Method
- DV: increase or decrease in looking time
- Ratio of 1:4
- Interested in the sensitivity to different ratios
- Images of 24 items repeatedly or images of 6 items repeatedly (different arrangement to ensure habituation is because of the quantity not due to the pattern)
- Once habituation occurs they show a new stimulus or familiar amount
Results
- Modification
- Increase in looking time for novel stimuli (dishabituation)
- Steady looking time for familiar stimuli (habituation)
Tried the study again with a 1:3 ratio
- Not a significant difference in looking time
- Ran the experiment again with auditory stimuli and then infants were able to discriminate between stimuli
Interpretation
- 1:4 is a big enough difference in quantity for infants to notice a difference and discriminate between the quantity of stimuli but 1:3 is not a big enough difference
With the addition of auditory information infants are able to discriminate between 1:3 ratios
100
Head-turn preference (duration of orientation)
- Auditory perception
- DV = how long do infants maintain that orientation
- Parent wears noise canceling head phones and acts as a car seat for the infant
- Speakers on the right and left with a light
- Observers and video recording in front of the infant
- Green light goes off in front to get the infant to look ahead
- Red light goes off on the right or the left to get the infant to orient their head in that direction
- The sound will be played in the direction of the light as long as the infant is oriented in that direction
- Once the sound begins the light turns off
- Sounds are counterbalanced on each side to rule out bias for direction
- Looking time is measured
Sample finding using this method
- Preverbal infants prefer fast play songs over slow ones
- 6-month-old infants do not demonstrate a preference for iambic vs. trochaic disyllabic sequences (stress patterns)
Iambic: two syllable words with the stress on the second syllable
Trochaic: two syllable words with the stress on the first syllable
Cognitive Development
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