Cognitive Development

Question 1

Define assimilation

Answer 1

Expanding your existing theory

Question 2

Define accommodation

Answer 2

Creating a new scheme

Question 3

Adaption

Answer 3

Assimilation & accommodation

When a baby is expanding and creating schemes they’re said to be adapting

Question 4

Define disequilibrium

Answer 4

When we can’t assimilate a situation into an existing Chema were in a state of confusion

Question 5

Define equilibrium

Answer 5

When we can comprehend anything at any given moment

Question 6

What are piagets stages of cognitive development

Answer 6

Sensorimotor (0-2)
Pre-operational (2-7)
Concrete operational (7-11)
Formal operational 11+

Question 7

Define object permanence

Answer 7

The ability to realise that when an object is out of sight, it still exists

Question 8

What is a significant aspect of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 8

Object permanence

Question 9

Define conservation

Answer 9

The ability to understand that amounts do not change even when the physical appearance of something changes

Question 10

Define egocentricism

Answer 10

Pre-operational children were incapable of seeing other people’s point of view

Question 11

In what study did Piaget demonstrate egocentrism in children

Answer 11

Using the 3 mountain task. Children were asked to pick out the picture of the view the doll would see the mountains as. Children instead picked a photo church matched their own view

Question 12

Define class inclusion

Answer 12

It is an advanced classification skill in which we know that classes of objects have subsets.
E.g. dogs, also have pugs labradors etc

Question 13

What are the significant aspects of pre-operational stage?

Answer 13

Conservation
Egocentrism
Class inclusion

Question 14

Evaluate piagets research including BOWER, DONALDSON and HUGHES

Answer 14

Bower- baby in the dark. Showed a toy to infants ages between 1-4 months, and just as the infant reached for it, the light was turned off. Even though the baby couldn’t see the toy, they still reached for it. Which undermines piagets theory on object permanence
McGarrigle and Donaldson- naughty teddy. Donaldson thought that children might have been confused by the conservation of number task. Donaldson shows child new 2 rows of counters similar to piagets, but Donaldson got a puppet teddy to change the rows. The child a told “here comes naughty teddy and he spreads out this row of counters. Do you think the number of counters in each row are the same or are they different?” Donaldson found that children aged 5 would correctly say that the number of counters in each row was the same. This suggests that piagets theory holds demand characteristics. And suggests that children can conserve as long as they were not put off in the way they were questioned.
Hughes policeman doll task- Hughes made a model with 2 walls crossing at the middle. He poisoned a toy policeman who could see into the area marked B and D and C. He asked children to place a doll dressed as a burglar on the model where the policemen wouldn’t be able to see it. 90% of children aged 4-5 could put the doll in the correct place (area A). This undermines piagets theory regarding egocentrism

Question 15

describe earlier research on knowledge of the physical world in relation to Baillargeons research

Answer 15

Piaget thought the infant didnt reach for the object under the blanket because they lacked object permanence , however there are alternative reasons; child could be distracted or loose interest.
baillargeons research demonstrated the theory of object persistence.

Question 16

describe object persistence

Answer 16

an object remains in existence and doesnt spontaneously alter in structure

Question 17

describe event categories in relation to Baillargeons research

Answer 17

in the first weeks infants begin to identify event categories, each event corresponds to ways in which objects interact. e.g. occlusion is when one object is infront of another.
in baillargeons study the impossible event captures the infants attention because the nature of the PRS means theyre interested in new events that might develop their understanding of the physical world

Question 18

describe baillargeons research into cognitive development

Answer 18

she pointed out that alternative research methods have suggested that younger babies may have a better-developed understanding of the physical world than was previously thought, she developed the violation of expectation method to investigate infant understanding of the physical world

Question 19

what is the physical reasoning system?

Answer 19

humans are born with a PRS. in which we are born hardwired with a basic understanding of the physical world and the ability to learn details easily.
initially we have a primitive awareness of the physical properties of the world and this becomes more sophisticated as we learn from experience

Question 20

What is the violation of expectation research?

Answer 20

in the first experiment the baby is introduced ti a novel situation, they’re repeatedly shown this stimuli until they indicate they are no longer interested by looking away.
next infants see 2 tests; a possible event an impossible event. in the control condition the child sees a possible event e.g. a small carrot appears and then a small carrot reappears. in the impossible event a small carrot

Question 21

what are the findings of baillargeons study

Answer 21

• the infants looked for an average of 33.07 seconds at the impossible event as compared to 25.11 seconds in the possible condition
• the researchers interpreted this as meaning that the infants were surprised at the impossible condition
• for them to be surprised it follows that they must have known that the small carrot should have re-appeared which means they’re aware of object persistence

Question 22

evaluate baillargeons study and 1 S and W including HESPOS and MARLE

Answer 22

S a better test than piagets study of cognitive development because it eliminates confounding variables. simply loosing interest in an object wouldnt explain findings that children look for longer at impossible events. this means that VOE has better validity
W its hard to judge what an infant understands, Baillargeons research shows that infants look longer at an impossible event; there are 2 logical explanations for that 1 we are guessing and can never actually know how a baby might respond to a VOE. they may not actually look for longer. 2 althought infants look for different periods of time this doesnt mean they see them as different. there may be a number of reasons why they see one as more interesting
S hespos and marle suggested that without learning we already have a good understanding of physical properties e.g. we know that keys will drop to the ground if let go of. the PRS being universal supports that is it innate

Question 23

Describe vygotskys theory of cognitive development

Answer 23

Social interaction, she believed that cognitive development was a social process and is influenced by society and culture.
“ we become ourselves through others”
The child is seen as the apprentice learning from those with experience and knowledge

Question 24

Describe zone of proximal development

Answer 24

The gap between what a child could do alone and what they could potentially do with help

Question 25

Describe Scaffolding in terms of vygotsky

Answer 25

“Related to the help children receive from parents and other experts around them”

Question 26

Describe Wood Bruner 5 aspects of scaffolding

Answer 26

Level of help Nature of prompt
5 Demonstration
4. Preparation for children
3. Indication of materials
2. Specific verbal instruction
1. General prompts

Question 27

Evaluate vygotskys theory of cognitive development

Answer 27

ROAZZI and BRYANT gave infants the task of estimating the number of sweets in a bowl. They worked alone and then with an older child. In the condition with the older child they were observed to give prompts and pointing in the right direction, most 4/5 y/o with help made a successful estimate 
Evidence of social interaction with tutors. 7 y/o tutored in reading progressed further in reading than controls with only class teaching 

LIGHT argued against social interaction. He argued social facilitation which involves another child being present. Children developed with the mere presence of other children because it has motivational effect
The theory is deterministic because it suggests that the culture we are brought up in has a profound influence on how we think and what we think

Question 28

The development of social cognitive theory of mind- what is Selmans levels of perspective taking

Answer 28

Before we develop an understanding of others, we develop a sense of self, this develops at 18 months
Self awareness and understanding others is inseparable. Our understanding of others often comes from making comparisons to ourselves

Question 29

What is theory of mind

Answer 29

Describes the development of understanding that someone else has separate minds to our own and therefore know they experience the world differently.

Question 30

What was the test for theory of mind

Answer 30

SALLY ANNE study
3 conditions, 20 autistic children aged 6-16, VMA of 5 years and 5m. 14 Down syndrome aged 6-17 VMA by 2y 11m. 27 ‘normal children’ aged 3-5

Procedure- on the desk were 2 dolls, sally and Anne. Sally has a Barclay and Anne has a box, sally ours a marble in her box and goes for a walk. Anne takes the marble and puts it in her box. Sally returns and the child is asked “where will sally look for her marble”
Findings- 85% of normal children said box, 20% of ASD answered correctly
Conclusion- fundamental features of ASD is the absence of a TOM

Question 31

Evaluate TOM

Answer 31

BLOOM and GERMAN says it lacks validity for 2 reasons, 1) false belief tasks refuser other cognitive abilities, 2)children can have a developed TOM and fail false belief task
Hard to distinguish between TOM and perspective taking, sally Anne could be testing either

S an explanation for ASD. Useful in understanding the differing experience of those in the spectrum and those who are neurotypical

Question 32

What is Selmans stages of perspective taking

Answer 32

“Another person has a different perspective from our and it is closely linked to TOM”

Question 33

What was the procedure for Selmans stages of perspective taking

Answer 33

Procedure- 30 boys and 30 girls, 3 conditions, 20 groups of 4/5/6 year olds.
It measured roletaking abilities and how each person felt. “Holly promised her father she wouldn’t climb trees but then she sees a kitten stuck in the tree” the tasks was to describe and explain how each person would feel if holly did/didn’t climb the tree
Findings- a number of distance levels of role taking was identified. He found that each level correlated with age

Question 34

What are Selmans stages of perspective taking

Answer 34

Stage 0- socially egocentric- can’t reliably distinguish between their own emotions and those of others

Stage 1- information role taking- the child knows the difference between their own view and other but focuses on their own

Stage 2- self reflective role taking- they can appreciate other perspectives but only one at a time

Stage 3- mutual role taking- child’s can appreciate their own and others perspective at the same time

Stage 4- social and conventional role taking- sometimes understand perspectives isn’t enough to resolve conflict

Question 35

Who first came around mirror neurons

Answer 35

RIZZOLATTI discovered mirror neurons when studying electrical activity in monkeys motor cortex. When one of his researchers reached for their lunch, the monkeys motor cortex became activated in the same way as when the money reached for his food. Further research discovered that the same brain cells fired when the monkey watched someone perform the behaviour

Question 36

Explain the process of mirror neurons

Answer 36

Neurons fire when an animal makes a movement or when it observed one. Humans also have mirror neuron system so that neurons involved in producing facial features fire when the expression is observed in others. This allows us to identify with others and is thought to be the foundation of our ability to empathise with others

Question 37

How do we study mirror neurons

Answer 37

For ethical reasons we study mirror neurons in humans using MU waves, MU waves arise from the electoral activity of large groups of neurons. This activity is diminished when movement or when others are observed.

Question 38

Who observed MU waves in Ps with autism

Answer 38

oberman examined MU waves in Ps with autism, they didn’t show the typical suppression of the MU rhythm when observing, but didn’t when they moved.
According to oberman saying that autistic Ps can’t socially interact due to lack of TOM is simply restating the symptoms

Question 39

Evaluate mirror neurons

Answer 39

W it is unethical to replicate RIZZOLATTIS experiment on humans which means there’s no direct evidence that humans have mirror neurons.
W can’t generalise to humans
W MN are not enough to explain the complexity of social cognition. Monkeys have limited social cognitive with MN. The ninja brain mechanism underlying social cognitive have evolved way beyond MN system identified in monkeys