Cog Human Dev Flashcards
Information Processing Model - basics about
Computer analogy - thinking is like information processing - Siegler 1998
Hardware = brain; neural connections; working memory; sensory input
Software = mental programs for recieving, interpreting, storing and analysing information
Information Processing in Babies
Foundations = translate info into coherent representations; make predictions; innate programs/software is natural
Learning = children reprogram themselves; neural rewiring
Other People = We are programmed to be naturally attracted to babies to nurture them and help them learn to reprogram themselves - how we interact with dev brain, higher pitched voice; attuned = dev secure attachment
Information Processing + Neural Dev
Development is continuous, rather than stage-like
Children are limited in amount of info they can take in, store, manipulate and retrieve = different cognitive abilities to adults
Children have less myelin sheath
Information Processing Approach
Emphasises basic mental processes (cog and higher functions)
- attention
- perception
- memory and learning
- decision making
Child’s Thinking Siegler 1998
Encoding - process of info to memory; encode relevant + ignore irrelevant (screening)
Automaticity - process info with little/no effort (schemas)
Strategy Construction - discovery of new procedure for processing info
Generalise - apply info to other problems
Attention - Child
Newborn - rudimentary attention; can effectively scan novel stimuli –> by 4mths can selectively attend
Toddler - rapidly shifts attention between activities - focus capacity increases with age
Pre-School - attend up to 30 mins but attend to irrelevant info just as much as relevant
Age 6/7 - child can attend to relevant dimensions of task - dev cog control
Incidental Learning + Neural Proning
Children process all info (irrelevant and relevant) incase it is relevant
Through childhood until 11yrs
Neural Proning - unnecessary neural connections made through childhood are lost in teens 60-70% - start age 11
Attention - Adolescence + Adult
Adolescence - Incidental learning decreases quickly; Capacity to shift attention from one cognitive task to another increases (multi-tasking = takes cog toll 40%)
Adult - attention declines with age; less able to multi-task with age
Technology - loss of attentional ability = they do attentional work so cognitive doesn’t need work at remaining attention
Memory - Infancy
Rudimentary memory shown in deferred imitation @ 6mths
Birth - recognition memory (cued by stimulus)
8-11mths - recall (uncured)
2yrs - complex and durable memories
Memory - habituation = show brief storage of memory from birth; by recognition only (cued by stimulus); lasts few seconds; apply to auditory, visual + tactile
Learning - Infancy
Operant Conditioning
- reactivation = reinforcer reactivates conditioned learning
- encoding specificity = retrieval more efficient if external environments are similar
Implicit vs. Explicit Memory
Implicit
- unconscious
- motor memory + affects behaviour
- conditioned learning/associative memory
- Matures at 2/3 + remains though lifespan
- repetition priming age 3
- strong in kids with learning problems
Explicit
- ability to consciously recall the past
- true recall age 8-11mths e.g., search for hidden object; deferred imitation
- explicit recall improves with age and matures in adolescence
- explicit memory task = 2yrs - 1/2 items, 4=4, 8=7
Memory through age
processing time gets shorter = can manipulate more info at once in working memory; faster + more efficient neural processing
Memory strategies change
knowledge base changes - metamemory (judgement made about a memory)
Knowledge about the world - familiar easier to remember = builds greater context to fit info into and remember
Old Age - learn new material more slowly & remember it less well
Memory strategies STM to LTM
Rehearsal - repetition
Scripts - remembering info in bigger picture (2/3yrs) - guiding expectations about the world e.g., what happens at a birthday party
Organisation - chunking, categorisation (9-10yrs)
Elaboration - create meaningful links (12+)
Tired learning - cog tipping point = brain enacts the motions of learning but is too tired to take the info in
Schemas
Mental framework about some facet of experience
Automatically triggered by something relevant to it
Guide expectations + actions automatically
Frame how we interpret experiences and expectations - is my experience in line with my schema?
Types of Memory and who is better? old/young
Episodic - where and when; young have better recall
Semantic - knowledge about world; young retrieve info quicker
Working memory = decline from 40ish
Processing speed = decline 25ish
Explicit and implicit – explicit memory declines more than implicit memory
Memory Strategies = used less by older people
