CAUSUAL COMPLEXITY AND KNOWLEDGE Flashcards
Myth of Cerebral Palsy (CP) Causation
- rarely due to “birth asphyxia”
- Most acute severe hypoxia follow intrapartum hypoxic events
- CP’s causes are not well understood but most are thought to preceded labour and birth (genetic, inflammatory, preterm)
- Medico-legal climate encourages blame of the insured
Intrapartum mortality:
the number of babies dying during labour or birth
- hard to measure!
perinatal
- around the time of birth
- before and after
stillbirth
born dead
neonatal mortality
first 28 days
what percent of neonatal deaths do small newborn babies account for
> 80%
what might cause small size at birth?
- born preterm (<37 weeks)
- small-for-gestational age
- both of the above
single level of causality
- 1 causal relationship
- complications during birth
- solution: medical care?
2 levels of causality
- 2 causal relationship
- individual factors
- solutions: contraception? counselling? education?
3 levels of causality
- 3 causal relationships
- societal factors
Model 1: number of causes
- relatively simple
- easy to intuitively understand
- We can consider the different causes one at a time
-Does not overload working memory capacity
model 2: number of causes of causality
- Pretty complex
- The more levels, the less intuitive the causality
- Working memory and what part of the brain is linked to it
- allows us to actively hold in mind and manipulate (limited amount of) information
- linked to prefrontal cortex (PFC) function
- when the task gets harder, PFC gets more active!
what parts of the brain deal with working memory?
- Prefrontal cortex functions are linked
- Lateral prefrontal cortex as a whole plays a key role in working memory
- the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) deals with expectations
Relational complexity
The number of relations that need to be considered simultaneously within working memory
Number of causes VS Number of levels of causality
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex role in relational complexity
- Thinking about relations one at a time
(e.g., expectations) - especially if the relationship is NEW!!
- however… when there are multiple relations that need to be considered simultaneously, DLPFC is no longer sufficient
The rostrolateral prefrontal cortex
(RLPFC) role in relational complexity
- Becomes activated when relational integration is necessary.
- When 2 relations must be considered
simultaneously
how many relations MAX can we fit into working memory?
2
The ability of relational integration in working memory in humans
- Unique to humans
- Occurs fairly late in child development
- takes a lot of time for evolution, children, and for us as adults to achieve
area 10
- RLPFC is the lateral portion of Area 10
- is believed to be what allows for relational integration
- bigger and more developed in humans than in chimps
preventive measures
actually solving the root of the issue
mitigative measures
doesn’t solve the root
instead addresses the most direct thing