Childhood (11.1 Lecture)

Question 1

cognitive development

Answer 1

change in our thinking, reasoning, etc.

Question 2

who was Jean Piaget?

Answer 2

A childhood “prodigy” of scientific curiosity, he got his Ph.D. at 11 and became a developmental psychologist, he changed how we viewed children.
He worked a Binet’s school wth the IQ test and he used the errors and gather insight on childhood psychology

Question 3

constructivism

Answer 3

knowledge is constructed through an interaction of what already know and what we experience

Question 4

how do we interpret and categorize knowledge of the world?

Answer 4

carry it in our schemes to interpret experiences (assimilation). we simultaneously use experiences to revise schemas (accommodation). through these processes, knowledge is constructed over time

Question 5

how does play impact our schemas?

Answer 5

we actively seek info to test and revise schemes, according to piaget this progresses through 4 stages

Question 6

sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

Answer 6

• sensory & motor schemas (physical interactions with objects)
• still developing: symbolic representation (ex. language, object permanence - understanding objects continue to exist even if they are out of sight [hide & seek video ex.])

Question 7

giraffe study of sensorimotor stage

Answer 7

a giraffe is hidden in front of a baby under a towel. but when this happens the baby acts as if the giraffe is gone

Question 8

preoperational stage (2-6 years)

Answer 8

• symbolic schemas (language, imagination)
• still developing: the ability to manage multiple schemas simultaneously (conservation - certain physical properties [volume, mass, number, etc.] stay consistent despite physical transformations)

Question 9

conservation task

Answer 9

two cups of water (some cup) then one cup of water is poured into a taller, more narrow cup. The kids almost always say the taller cup has more water even thourhg its equal

Question 10

why does conservation task work (according to piaget)?

Answer 10

ego-centrism: tendency to perceive the world from one’s own POV.

Question 11

ego-centrism task

Answer 11

(cartoon demonstration) Sally leaves her ball in a basket and when she leaves someone moves it to another basket. When she returns it prompts the participant to answer where she would look for her ball. Most say she would look in the basket where it is, not the one she thought she left it in. By around age 5, start passing the test

Question 12

concrete operational (6-11 years)

Answer 12

• ability to flexibly manage and manipulate schema
• ability to categorize in many different ways using rules, logic
• still developing: abstract, hypothetical, system reasoning

Question 13

formal operational (12 + years)

Answer 13

use of abstract, hypothetical, systematic thought (complex play, ex. D&D)

Question 14

what is Piaget’s legacy?

Answer 14

constructivism - scientific, cultural, and practical significance
- kids aren’t just mimes, they are scientific mavericks
- kids need opportunities to explore and play
questions about the nature of children’s thinking (shaped research today)

Question 15

neural maturation in the brain

Answer 15

• synaptogenesis - creation of new synapses
• pruning - reduction of synaptic connections “use it or lose it” (Hebbian principle)
• myelinization - creation of myelin (white matter) which speeds up neural communication

Question 16

what part of the brain develops last?

Answer 16

the prefontal cortex (executive functions)
- planning
- working memory
- control of attention, behavior (inhibitions)

Question 17

what happens when your PFC is damaged?

Answer 17

tests that show damage:
- stroop test (aren’t able to override system 1)
- Wisconsin card-sort task (aren’t able to sort it a different way

Question 18

dimensional change card sort (in kids) (perseveration)

Answer 18

sort by kids sort cards in two ways. after asked to do the second rule, they find they are unable to do the new way even though they know the new rule (video from class, boat and rabbit vs. colors)

Question 19

how can not functioning PFC explain Piaget’s studies?

Answer 19

babies don’t have system 2 thinking, so aren’t able to override their automatic processes and think more critically

Question 20

hidden search task (systems explanation)

Answer 20

system 1 - pay attention to what you can see
system 2 - hold object in working memory, play a reaching response, inhibit attention to distractions

Question 21

NIRS (Near info-red spectroscopy) for hidden search task

Answer 21

found once they mastered the task that the white matter in the brain increased

Question 22

conservation task (systems explanation)

Answer 22

system 1 - use height to estimate volume
system 2 - override automatic processing of height to reason about the previous state of the liquid

Question 23

false belief task (systems explanation)

Answer 23

system 1 - your own perspective
system 2 - hold original hiding place in working memory, override own perspective (to use Sally’s)

Question 24

habituation method

Answer 24

lower response with repeated exposure to stimulus (getting bored)

Question 25

how can the habituation method show a different picture of children’s thinking than Piaget’s ideas?

Answer 25

it can be used to see what babies understand based on what they habituate to

Question 26

violation of expectation method (VOE)

Answer 26

explore what babies understand based on what they find surprising.
- when observing events, we predict what will happen
- unexpected outcomes require more attention to process

Question 27

how does VOE contradict Piaget?

Answer 27

• evidence of a perception of object permanence
• evidence of understanding of addition and subtraction
  (puppet show study, where did addition and subtraction wrong and babies reacted, showed that when the puppet was out of view still had an understanding it was there and that when the puppet disappeared and didn’t add up, they understood that to be wrong)