Cognitive Development: Information Processing and Social Context

Question 1

What is Piaget’s explanation for why children fail in differentiating between quantity and width, size, etc.?

Answer 1

They lack logical thought processes to apply principles (1 attribute at a time)

Question 2

What is the criticism towards Piaget’s explanation for why children fail in differentiating between quantity and width, size, etc.?

Answer 2

• Superficial changes in design affect results
• Sometimes we do see success at younger ages if we tweak the design, which challenges Piaget’s theory

Question 3

What is Information Processing Approach’s explanation for why children fail in differentiating between quantity and width, size, etc.?

Answer 3

Cognitive limitations in terms of memory, problem-solving, attention, and metacognition

Question 4

Explain the Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) Model of Information Processing

Answer 4

• Consists of 3 memory stores (flow of info) and control processes that operate on them
• Explains strategies for encoding, retrieving, maintaining info in short-term/working memory and long-term memory

Question 5

What are the information processing limitations?

Answer 5

• Encoding limitations: Don’t encode the appropriate info
• Computational limitations: Don’t have strategies in LTM to apply
• Retrieval limitations: Retrieve inappropriate strategy
• Storage limitations: Restrictions in working memory
• Work-space limitations: Restrictions in working memory

Question 6

Explain Brainerd’s (1983) Probability Judgment Task

Answer 6

Started with Piaget & Inhelder (1951)
- Children correct on 1st trial but not following
- Concluded that they lack probabilistic reasoning

• 4-5yo children in 5 trials
• Hyp 1: storage limitations -> still performed poorly on last 4 trials; concluded findings insig
• Hyp 2: retrieval problem -> they retrieve wrong info bcs of last response; children successful on all trials

Question 7

How does information processing change with age?

Answer 7

• Attention
• Memory development: Strategies in encoding and retrieval
• Metacognition
• Constructive memory
• Role of knowledge and experience

Question 8

What is attention?

Answer 8

• The ability to identify most crucial aspects of a task
• Pinpoint relevant and ignore irrelevant

Question 9

Explain the encoding strategy: Rehearsal

Answer 9

• Mental repetition of info
• Older children apply this strategy more effectively

Question 10

Explain the encoding strategy: Organisation

Answer 10

• Chunking or grouping info together
• 10yo and older organise more effectively

Question 11

Explain the encoding strategy: Elaboration

Answer 11

• Making associations
• ex. words to remember, combine into image or sentence

Question 12

How do memory strategies develop?

Answer 12

• Older children can spontaneously use more sophisticated/effective strategies
• Younger children CAN be taught more effective strategies
• Strategies take up too much of limited processing capacity; Thus why it might not result in better recall or be seen as useful

Question 13

What is metacognition?

Answer 13

Awareness of own cognitive limitations

Question 14

How does metacognition develop with age?

Answer 14

• More aware of memory capacity with age
• More aware of usefulness of memory strategies

Question 15

What is constructive memory?

Answer 15

Ability to infer/extrapolate novel info using scripts and schema

Question 16

What are scripts, in the context of constructive memory?

Answer 16

Sequence of actions appropriate for specific context

Question 17

What are schema, in the context of constructive memory?

Answer 17

What information is known about a scene, place, object, etc.

Question 18

How does constructive memory develop with age?

Answer 18

Young children use these, but do so flexibly than older children and adults

Question 19

How does the role of knowledge and memory develop with age?

Answer 19

• Older children have more experience and knowledge
• Makes it easier to process and encode novel information, and retrieve relevant information
• An interesting study found that children are better at remembering chess positions than adults; Adults are better at digits

Question 20

Describe Vygotsky’s view on learning in a social context

Answer 20

• Learning is the result of the interaction between a child and a more knowledgeable individual
• Empiricist view
• Culture provides the context within which interactions take place
• Language provides the means through which meanings are shared

Question 21

Describe Vygotsky’s view on cognition, memory and attention

Answer 21

• The three are not only individual characteristics
• ## Cognitive processes are directly influenced by the type of culture and resources in child’s upbringing (ex. access to education)

Question 22

What is Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?

Answer 22

Difference between actual performance and potential performance

Question 23

Describe Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Answer 23

• It illustrates how the child learns with the help of others
• At level beyond existing skill (but not too far)

Question 24

What was the importance of external monologue according to Vygotsky?

Answer 24

• Transition from language as tool for communication to a tool for thought
• Help organise and plan behaviour
• Internalised to become inner speech at 7months

Question 25

Explain Bruner and Scaffolding (in terms of how knowledge is passed from expert adult to novice child)

Answer 25

1. Recruitment: engage interest of child
2. Reduction of degrees of freedom: reduce number of acts required, simplify
3. Direction maintenance: keep motivation up
4. Marking critical features: Marking relevant features
5. Demonstrate: modelling solutions

Question 26

What behaviours in cognitive development are uniquely human?

Answer 26

1. Ability to adapt
2. Many of the behaviours that distinguish us are supported by social learning; Examples are…
   - Cultures (e.g. music, language, art, history)
   - Tools and technology (e.g. computers, internet, cars)
3. Many animals socially learn, some even exhibit cultures or traditions BUT cultures not as complex as humans

Question 27

Explain the Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis

Answer 27

• Humans have evolved special-cognitive skills (ex. ToM, social learning, communication, cooperation, imitation, teaching)
• This relies on input from demonstrator and observer

Question 28

In the Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis, what is the role of the skilled ‘demonstrator’?

Answer 28

Role of the skilled ‘demonstrator’ is scaffolding, teaching, “natural pedagogy”

Question 29

In the Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis, what is the role of the observer (child)?

Answer 29

• “Primed” to attend to demonstrator’s cues
• Copying to higher level of fidelity -> Bener2 faithfully imitating (Imitation vs Emulation; Overimitation wherein irrelevant features are copied too)