4 - Cognitive Flashcards
Who believes that development is mostly discontinuous
Piaget
What is discontinuous development
Cognition develops through series of distinct stages
Is development entirely continuous/discontinuous
No
Stage theory
Universally experienced, invariant stages of development
How does stage theory explain individual differences?
Speed of development
Domain General Mechanism
All abilities are linked (not separate categories like math, interpersonal etc.)
According to Piaget, where do individual strengths come from?
Interest -> pursuit of knowledge/learning/exploring
What does “Children as active agents” mean?
Children seek stimulation out of what interests them in their environment
Constructivist approach
Children build knowledge through interactions with their environment
Assimilation
New experience incorporated into child’s existing theories (specific -> general)
Accommodation
New experiences modify a child’s theory (general -> specific)
Schemas
Small units of information allowing for the construction of knowledge
What are the 4 stages of cognitive development (Piaget)
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Sensorimotor age range
0-2
Preoperational age range
2-7
Concrete operational age range
7-11
Formal operational age range
11+
What age does goal directed behaviour/cause and effect emerge?
8-12 months
A-not-B error
Hide something in spot A repeatedly, baby will find it. Hide it in spot B (in front of baby) and they will look in spot A
Preoperational stage
Children cannot for mental operations, must rely on external operations
Conservation of liquid task
Shown 2 glasses with same amount of liquid, 1 glass poured into tall skinny glass. Child in pre operational will think tall glass = more liquid
Reversibility
Ability to go through series of steps in reverse direction to solve a problem
Conservation
Understanding that same amount remains despite changes in appearance
Egocentrism
Understanding limited to own perspective, lack of cognitive flexibility
What are concrete operations
- Conservation
- Reversibility
- Less influenced by external appearance
Formal opperations
- Abstract reasoning
- Generate ideas without experiencing them
- Increased metacognition
What was Vygotsky on about?
Learning occurs in the social plane and is cultural
Ontogenetic
development of individual over their lifetime
Microgenetic
Changes occurring in brief periods of time
Phylogenetic
Changes over evolutionary time
Sociohistorical
Changes occurring across generations in culture/norms etc.
How does a culture’s history shape cognitive development?
Brain evolved to survive in environment, environment creates culture
How is culture transmitted to children?
Adult interaction
How does the language a child is exposed to impact their cognition?
Develops the way you think
Intersubjectivity
Shared understanding among participants in an activity
Social behaviours impact
Internal thoughts/understanding
Children’s involvement in structured activity with children more skilled than them leads to…
Cognitive growth
Does structured activity need to require explicit instruction?
No
Who’s theory is the zone of proximal development
Vygotsky
Zone of proximal development
Range of tasks too difficult for children to achieve on their own but can be accomplished with help from adults/skilled peers
Scaffolding
Small steps & more guidance, eventually move to larger tasks with more independence
What is the key part of scaffolding
Task shouldn’t be too easy or too hard
Private speech Vygotsky
Self-directed speech to guide/assist in new tasks
Private speech Piaget
Egocentrist practice
Inner speech
Internalization of private speech, requires practice communicating
Flipped classroom
Traditional learning should be done outside the classroom, in class should be activity based
How are hippocampal volume and socioeconomic status related in children
Higher SES = higher hippocampal volume
Why does low SES impact hippocampal volume
Stress impairs hippocampus (can be prenatal or child’s own)
What are protective factors against impact to hippocampus due to low SES
Enriched environment and parental support
How can you tell if a 10 month old will pass the A-not-B test?
If they have frontal activation (medial frontal and lateral frontal)
Prolonged cognitive engagement
increases brain activation (theta waves) gradually
How does the brain deal with different task demands
Modulate brain activity
How are individual differences in performance predicted through EEG
Difference in brain activity
Why do adults have stronger activation of visual areas during object recognition?
More adaptation to same object despite changes on viewpoints
Do adults and children have the same brain resting rate?
Prolly not
What can cause children having different resting rates
They actively have to inhibit moving/talking/fidgeting
Default Mode Network
“New brain” regions of association cortex that fire together and rest together
When is the default mode network active?
Remembering, envisioning, making social inferences
Resting baseline
Reference point for comparison to cognitive activity
Is the default mode network present at birth?
No
How is irritability related to cognitive flexibility
Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation associated with cog flexibility and positively correlated with irritability