Chapter 7: Cognitive Change - Information Processing Approach Flashcards
What was Piaget’s approach to cognitive development?
believed that cognitive change occurs as individuals develop over time
What was Vygotsky’s approach to cognitive development?
believed that individuals change as individuals interact with people and their environment
What is the information processing approach?
suggests that cognitive change occurs when new information becomes available and is processed in the mind
What is the information processing system?
our minds are composed of three different places where information exists: sensory memory, working memory, long-term memory
Sensory Memory
What is the sensory memory?
holds incoming sensory information in its original form
Sensory Memory
What is attention?
awareness of information
Working Memory (Short-term)
holds and processes information that is being “worked on”:
- manipulated
- encoded (transferring into long-term memory)
- retrieved (recalling it from long-term memory)
all cognition takes place in the working memory, very active
Working Memory (Short-term)
What is the central executive?
control processor that directs the flow of information and regulates cognitive activities such as attention, action, and problem-solving
- determines what is important to combine new and previously stored information (“directing traffic”)—tells information where to go
Working Memory (Short-term)
What is the executive function?
cognitive process of understanding information, making decisions, and solving problems
- carries out working memory (makes sense of the information): involved in goal setting, inhibiting impulses
Information Processing in Infancy
Describe attention.
direct one’s awareness at a particular object (shown by 10 weeks)
- more attentive to dynamic stimuli (stimuli that changes over time) rather than static stimuli (stimuli that does not change over time)
- important to present different things to infants because they will pay more attention to things that are different
Information Processing in Infancy
Describe memory.
- newborn babies can recall visual and auditory stimuli
- habituation
- motor activity memory
- emotional engagement (the more engaged an infant is in something, the more it enhances their memory
infants are more likely to remember things (positive or negative) associated with their emotions)
Information Processing in Infancy
What is habituation?
reduction in “looking” time to a stimulus that is familiar and doesn’t change
- infant gets bored looking at the same thing, so they limit the amount of time they look at something that they are already familiar with
Information Processing in Infancy
Describe thinking. What is categorization?
- grouping different stimuli together (as young as 4 months)
- know that certain things are really similar (ie. foods, animals, toys)
- think about assimilation and accommodation (Piaget)
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Describe cognition.
children experience steady increases in central executive function and working memory throughout childhood
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
What is selective attention?
ability to systematically focus on relevant information and ignore distractors
- preschoolers struggle with this (easily distracted)
- around 6 years old (starting school), they are better able to employ selective attention
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
What are memory strategies?
cognitive activities that make us more likely to remember
across childhood, children learn more strategies and get better at selecting them, modifying them to suit the task at hand, and using them more effectively
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Memory Strategies: What is rehearsal?
systematically repeating information in order to retain it in working memory
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Memory Strategies: What is organization?
categorizing items together to remember (putting them in groupings, themes, types)
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Memory Strategies: What is elaboration?
creating an imagined scene or story to link the material to be remembered
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Describe knowledge.
knowledge structures become more elaborate and organized across childhood, as children learn more about specific topics
- information becomes more familiar and meaningful, and easier to store, recall, and manipulate
- acquire increasing amounts of information through formal education, which they naturally organize into meaningful ways
- formal education gives opportunities to practice and refine memory strategies
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Describe cultural influences.
developing countries: memory strategies are different (some may not be used)
developed countries: memory strategies are more likely to be used
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Long-term Memory: What is memory for scripts?
scripts are routines (that can create long-term memories)
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Long-term Memory: What is autobiographical memory?
memory of personally meaningful events that took place at a specific time and place in one’s past
- develops steadily from preschool to adolescence
- language development helps with autobiography memory
- infantile amnesia
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Long-term Memory: What is infantile amnesia?
lack of memories prior to age 3
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Long-term Memory: What is metacognition?
thinking about thinking
- understanding how the mind works, and figuring the best ways to manipulate what is in our own minds, and what’s best for us
- what we have stored in our memory is understanding what memories we have, then picking strategies to retrieve memory information and enhance it
Information Processing in Childhood (Age 2-12)
Long-term Memory: What is metamemory?
understanding of one’s memory and ability to use strategies to enhance it
Information Processing in Adolescence
Describe cognition.
attention, working memory, and executive function skills increase
Information Processing in Adolescence
How does attention change?
greater control, which allows them to deploy it selectively
Information Processing in Adolescence
How does working memory and executive function change?
can better hold existing material in working memory, while also processing and taking in new material (executive function)
Information Processing in Adolescence
What is response inhibition?
impulse control: not responding or activating cognitive operations in response to a stimuli
enables teenagers to select appropriate responses in a given situation
- as brain develops more, and the skills of their mind and information processing system increase, they are better able to learn things
ie. taking turns, not saying something hurtful even though they are thinking it, not speaking out of turn
Information Processing in Adolescence
How does metacognition change?
more planful about their cognitive system
- better able to understand how they learn and how they remember
- better able to pick strategies that enhance their cognitive skills
Information Processing in Adolescence
Describe the link between brain development and adolescent cognition .
the more the brain develops, the better their thinking processes, and their thinking skills become
Information Processing in Adolescence
What is the prefrontal cortex’s function?
helps with thinking, decision-making, having better judgement
Information Processing in Adolescence
What is the cerebellum’s function?
increases connections between left and right hemisphere
- if you improve ability to make decisions and connections between left and right hemispheres, you will be a better thinker
Information Processing in Adolescence
How do the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum work together?
underlie improvements in information processing and executive function
Information Processing in Adolescence
Describe decision-making.
capable of rational decision making than adults, except in risk-taking behaviour
Information Processing in Adolescence
Describe adolescents and risk-taking behaviours.
- adolescents often don’t think about the practicalities associated with each action when it comes to risk-taking behaviours
- adolescence are more responsive to positive feedback, less responsive to negative feedback (ignores advice not to do something)
- place more importance of benefits of risk-taking behaviour, than estimating the potential cost or risk
Information Processing in Adolescence
What is the limbic system?
linked to emotional arousal
Information Processing in Adolescence
Describe the lag time of development between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system.
interferes with decision-making ability
- limbic system is upfront, prefrontal cortex is sitting in the background
- neurological research supports the findings: adolescents show heightened activity in brain systems that support reward processing, and reduced activity in areas responsible for inhibitory control (opposite for adults)
