Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

Developmental I (S2) > Cognitive development in Adolescence > Flashcards

Cognitive development in Adolescence Flashcards

1
Q

What are the basic level cognitive functions and what brain structure are they associated with?

A

Attention, perception and memory - Limbic system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the high level cognitive functions and what brain structure are they associated with?

A

Logical reasoning and problem solving - PFC

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are cognitive functions linked to?

A

Cognitive functions, especially high functions, are linked to the prefrontal cortex

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the maturation of the PFC linked to?

A

Maturation of cognitive functions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the three interrelated concepts with cognitive functions in adolescents?

A

1) Content of adolescent cognitive functions – ie what information is being used
2) Structure in which adolescents’ cognitive functions are organised - ie how it is related to other cognitive functions
3) Process by which adolescents perform basic and higher functions - ie how a problem is approached from beginning to solution

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is perception?

A

A cognitive ability that is present from early in life.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Does perception change with age?

A

Yes, it changes with age and we see changes in the flexibility of perception

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

How is flexibility of perception tested?

A

It is tested easily with ambiguous figures. (IE a figure that can be perceived in two or more ways)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Give an example of a research study that tests perception.

A

Gopnik and Rosati 2001, Van Krevelen 1959, Wimmer et al 2011
Found that when presented with ambiguous figures
- younger children (3-5 year olds) generally report seeing one figure
- Only when an adult makes the distinction between the two elements do younger children see a second figure
- Young adolescents 11-13 year olds can perceive them more flexibly

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is selective attention?

A

The ability to allocate attentional resources and focus on a specific object.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Does selective attention change?

A

Yes, the ability improves with age, especially in adolescence.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is selective attention crucial for?

A

Problem solving where you may need to pay attention to relevant information and ignore irrelevant information

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is an example of a research study to do with selective attention?

A

Central incidental learning task
- A task using set cards containing two objects belonging to different categories, e.g an animal and a tool
- Participants asked to remember only one category (ie central) and not pay attention to the other one (incidental)
Later they are asked to recall items from both categories
Adolescents are more likely than younger children to remember more items from the central class than the incidental class - so better at selective attention

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is processing speed?

A

It is defined as the time it takes the brain to receive or output information, or the speed in which mental calculation can be carried out.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

When does speed of processing develop?

A

Rapidly during childhood and continues to develop during adolescence

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Describe processing speed in adolescents.

A

Older adolescents show faster speed of processing compared to younger ones.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is the development of processing speed driven by?

A

Maturation of white matter in the brain - maelynation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is matrix reasoning?

A

A type of reasoning measure
It is a subtest of the Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence
Modelled after a traditional test of ‘fluid’ or non-verbal reasoning; the Raven’s progressive Matrices - Raven 1938
Measures the ability to select the geometrical visual stimulus that accurately completes an array of stimuli arranged according to one or more progression rules

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is the block design reasoning measure?

A

Another subtest of WASI
Measures the ability to arrange a set of red-and-white blocks in such a way as to reproduce a two-dimensional visual pattern shown on a set of cards

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is concept formation?

A

Subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson tests of achievement
Participants must identify rules that make up geometric figures after being exposed to concepts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is analysis synthesis?

A

Subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson tests of achievement
Measures the ability to analyse the structure of an incomplete logic puzzle and complete the missing parts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is short term memory?

A

Memory that is only required for a short period of time
Sometimes referred to as temporal memory or working memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is STM subject to?

A

Temporal decay - loss over time - and chunk capacity limits - storage limit

24
Q

What is the span task?

A

A form of measuring the STM by presenting a series items at a rate of 1/sec (letter, digits, or words) - task is to repeat them in the same order

25
What is the spatial span task?
A measure of the STM Blocks are presented in a particular arrangement and the experimenter taps the blocks in a specific order. Participants are required to repeat the sequence
26
Describe the pattern of recall in the span task in younger children and adults
Relative to 13-17 year old adults, younger children between 9-10 years of age remember fewer items on tests of immediate recall, and 11-12 year olds remember fewer items relative to 16-17 year olds and adults - Conklin et al 2007, Luciana et al 2005 IE CHUNK CAPACITY IMPROVES DURING ADOLESCENCE
27
What is the neurological explanation for age-related improvement in STM?
Neurological changes during childhood and adolescence Volumetric changes in the medial temporal lobe as a result of sexual maturation during puberty - Hu et al 2013 - changes in the amygdala, hippocampus etc Gray matter changes in the frontal lobe as a result of brain maturation during adolescence - Conklin et al 2007
28
What is the experience explanation for age related improvement in the STM?
It could be that developmental changes in STM reflect greater familiarity with words, letters as one ages rather the brain change per se.
29
What are Cowan 2008's three different conceptualisation of WM?
1) STM applied to cognitive tasks 2) A multi-component system that holds and manipulates information in short term memory 3) The use of attention to manage short term memory
29
What is the modified span task?
A measure of WM Participants are presented with a series of items and asked to reproduce them in reverse order
30
What is the letter span task?
A measure of WM A list of random letters are presented, and participants are required to repeat the letters in the order they appear
31
What is LTM?
Longer than STM Memory for people or events and general knowledge Absolute capacity does not appear to change with age but strategies on how we form these memories does change with age
32
What is memory formation?
Forming memories relies on brain plasticity - ie neurogenesis, synaptogenesis and pruning.
33
Describe experience expectant plasticity and experience dependant plasticity.
Experience dependant plasticity increases with age whereas experience expectant decreases with age.
34
Why do our brains retain the ability to learn?
Due to experience-dependent plasticity.
35
What is the plasticity of our brains during sensitive periods?
Experience expectant
36
What memory strategies do younger children typically use?
Rehearsal strategy
37
What memory strategy do older children tend to use?
More complex strategies known as elaboration strategies e.g realising that the first three numbers are the same as the number of days in the year Next two numbers are a quarter of 100 And the last two numbers are the number of players in a football team
38
What is more effective in helping STM, rehearsal or elaboration?
Rehearsal
39
What is a different kind of elaboration?
Organisation strategy
40
What group is the organisation strategy seen in?
Older children who are able to organise clusters (or chunks) of items in memory - this is called the cluster effect
41
Do younger children use elaboration strategies?
Yes, but in a limited way.
42
What is the association between strategies and childhood?
More sophisticated strategies for remembering information increase throughout childhood.
43
What do adolescents do when presented with a list of items of different categories to remember?
E.G colours or animals Adolescents will use categories to recall more items when asked to recall as many items as possible from a list - ie they actively organise the material ie cluster it
44
Do elaboration strategies always have the same effect?
No, they do not produce the same level of benefit for WM as they do for LTM
45
What is an example of a study that explores WM strategies?
Luciana et al 2005 Tested 9-20 year olds on various WM tasks 1) Non-verbal facial recognitions - participants presented with faces, then presented with a pair of faces - one face previously seen 2) Delayed spatial recall - dots flashed at different locations on screen with a short or long delay, and participants needed to indicate the location of the dot with a touch pen 3) Spatial memory span - sequences tapped on three blocks in front of participants, which they needed to reproduce in correct order (as a test of immediate spatial recall and attention) and backwards (as a non-verbal test of working memory) 4) Spatial self-ordered search - measures the participant's ability to conduct an organised search of locations to obtain tokens hidden at each locations
46
What did Luciana et al's study on WM strategies find?
So what did they find? - Recall-guided action for single units of spatial information develops by 11-12 years - The ability to maintain and manipulate multiple spatial units in WM develops by 13-15 years Strategic self-organisation develops by ages 16-17 years
47
What did Bruck, Cavanagh and Ceci's 1991 study find about face processing?
90% accuracy in recognising faces of high school classmates from yearbook photos - as long as 45 years after graduation
48
What is adult recognition ability the result of?
The rapid development of face processing during childhood and adolescence with adult level at around 16 years of age.
49
What does the encoding switch hypothesis (Carey and Diamond 1977) suggest?
That younger children rely on information about individual features Adolescents and adults use information about the configuration of the features
50
What does evidence show children younger than ten use to identify?
Paraphernalia - hats or glasses Suggested that a failure of a child to identify a person no longer wearing a hat or glasses is because they encoded non-essential information about identity while adolescents encoded critical information
51
What are face processing strategies in adolescents?
Still developing
52
What was Mondloch's study on face processing
Participants were - 24 children, ages 6-10 year olds They were asked to complete five tasks measuring different aspects of face cognition Another experiment was also conducted with late adolescents/adults between the ages of 18 and 24
53
What did Mondloch find about face processing?
Mondloch et al They found that - 6 year olds made more errors than adults on all five tasks - 8 year olds were as accurate as adults on facial expression and the lip-reading tasks - ie tasks 1,3 and 4, but not tasks 2 and 5 - 10 year olds made more errors than adults only on tas 2 - matching facial identity when there was a change in head orientation - e.g from frontal to tilted up
54
What did Fuhrmann et al find about face cognition?
Face cognition abilities mature relatively late, at around 16 years of age They also found female advantage in face memory, but not in face perception, both in adolescence and adulthood Late maturation in the face perception task was driven mainly by protracted development in identity perception Gaze perception abilities were already comparatively mature in early adolescence
55
What brain structure could face processing be associated with?
Face identity perception could be to do with specific temporal lobe areas such as the fusiform gyrus and white matter tracts connecting this area to the occipital lobe - responsible for vision Tracks as white matter organisation develops throughout childhood and adolescence. This fusiform gyrus also increases in volume - Peelen et al 2009

Developmental I (S2) (8 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions