Cognitive development: middle childhood & adolescence

Question 1

What is achieved in the concrete operations stage?

Answer 1

• horizontal decalage
• decentration - focus on two or more dimensions of a problem at once
• reversibility of thought
• transformational thought - understand the process of change from one state to another

Question 2

What is seriation?

Answer 2

the ability to arrange items mentally along a dimension (arrange from smallest to tallest)

Question 3

What is transitivity?

Answer 3

is the understanding of relationships among elements in a series
(if john is taller than mark and mark is taller than sam - who is taller john or sam?)

Question 4

What improves in the concrete operations stage?

Answer 4

• less egocentrism

- classification improves

Question 5

In the formal operations stage what is Elkind (1967) adolescent egocentrism?

Answer 5

• imaginary audience - everyone is looking at my pimple

- personal fable - no one else is going through what I am

Question 6

In brain development the brain is…

Answer 6

plastic (changeable) that changes continuously in response to its genetic programs

Question 7

What are neurons job?

Answer 7

to receive information from other neurons to integrate that information and to send a signal in the form of an action potential

Question 8

What do glial cells do?

Answer 8

• protect, nourish and support neurons

- in the central nervous system, it provides myelin

Question 9

Describe the action potential

Answer 9

sodium channels open - sodium ions enter - reversing membrane potential
potassium channels open - potassium ions leave - restoring membrane potential
ion transporters pump all ions back to of locations
creates action potential

Question 10

How can you optimise the transmission of the action potential?

Answer 10

• diameter of the axon (bigger = faster)

- Add or take myelin sheath around the axon

Question 11

What is discordant performance?

Answer 11

gestures say different to words

Question 12

What is grey matter?

Answer 12

• Coradical (outer layer)

- Grey matter of cerebral cortex is the collection of neuron cell bodies, dendrites and small eliminated axons

Question 13

What is white matter?

Answer 13

• Myelinated axons

- White matter tracks - connect coradical areas with subcortical areas

Question 14

What are the cortical changes in childhood?

Answer 14

• infancy/early childhood = dramatic period of synaptogenesis and an adaptive process of cell death and pruning
• grey matter development = inverted-U pattern of growth
• white matter increases in roughly linear pattern to early adulthood

Question 15

What is Apoptosis?

Answer 15

programmed neuron cell death, big element of pruning synapses

Question 16

What are the myelogenetic cycles?

Answer 16

• sensory/motor pathways myelinate early

- regions mediating higher-order functions myelinate late

Question 17

What are the different types of views of the brain?

Answer 17

• lateral - side
• midsagital cut in half viewed from side
• Basal - bottom view

Question 18

Executive functions of; working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and other executive functions of; reasoning, problem-solving, planning and executive attention, are functions of what cortex of the brain?

Answer 18

prefrontal cortex

Question 19

What is self-regulation?

Answer 19

includes response inhibition, attention inhibition and control and optimal levels of emotional, motivational, and cognitive arousal

Question 20

What are HOT executive functions?

Answer 20

use the skills in real world with affects and social influences

Question 21

What are COLD executive functions?

Answer 21

underlying cognitive skill in a decontextualised task (no risk)