Cogntition and Development

Question 1

cognitive delevopment

Answer 1

describing development of all mental processes, in particular thinking, reasoning and our understanding of world

Question 2

schema

Answer 2

mental framework of beliefs + expectations that influence cognitive processing. developed from experience.

Question 3

assimilation

Answer 3

form of learning - takes place when we acquire new info/more advanced understanding of object, person or idea that fits into existing schemas without making any change.

Question 4

accommodation

Answer 4

form of learning - takes place when we acquire new info that changes our understanding of a topic to extent that we need to form 1 or more new schemas and /or radically change existing schemas to deal with new understanding.

Question 5

equilibration

Answer 5

Experiencing a balance between existing schemas + new experiences. takes place when new info is built into our understanding of a topic - either by assimilating it into existing schema/ accommodating it by forming new one.

Question 6

piaget’s theory

Answer 6

proposed adults don’t just know more, they think in quite a different way. cog development result of 2 influences :
maturation - effect of biological processes of ageing. as kids get older, certain mental processes become possible
environment - thro interactions with environ, kid’s understanding of world become more complex

Question 7

schema - piaget

Answer 7

mental structure containing all of info that we have bout 1 aspect of world. as kids develop, they construct more detailed + complex mental representations of world. p believe kids born with small n.o of schemas to allow interactions w others. in infancy we thought to construct new schemas + me schema = all child’s knowledge about themselves stored. w time, we develop schema for other people, objects, abstract ideas like justice. occurs as result of interactions w environ. schema can be behavioural (e.g grasping objects) or cognitive (e.g classifying objects). p proposed 2 ways that schema can become more complex - assimilation + accommodation

Question 8

assimilation

Answer 8

trying to understand any new info in terms of their existing knowledge bout world. occurs when. an existing scheme is used on new object.

Question 9

accommodation

Answer 9

in response to dramatically new experiences. has to adjust to these by radically changing current schemas/ forming new ones.

Question 10

equilibration

Answer 10

driving for these changes/adaptions is principle of equilibrium. motivated to learn when existing schemas don’t allow to make sense of something new. human mind strives to maintain sense of balance. if experience can’t be assimilated into existing schemas, then there’s a state of imbalance which is experienced as unpleasant state and indiv seeks to restore balance thro equilibriation. cog development is result of adaption between indiv’s existing schemes + environmental demands for changes.

Question 11

lifespan learning

Answer 11

ass, acc + equil takes place thro life as our experiences present us w knowledge. some limitations on what can be learned at diff stages. a young child can’t always accommodate new experiences into new schemas cause their mind is simply not mature enough - links to CD stages

Question 12

Piaget - underplaying roles of others in learning

Answer 12

P - P may have underplayed role of other people in learning.
E - Although Piaget don’t believe kids learn best on their own, other people aren’t main focus of his theory as he saw learning in terms of what happens in mind of the indiv .
E - However, other theories of learning + CD, and a range of research findings suggest other people r absolutely crucial to process of learning.
I - reduces validity of Plage’s work.

Question 13

Piaget - language development

Answer 13

P - development of language is important aspect of CD
E - To P, language was just cognitive ability that developed in line with other developing abilities.
E - However, other theorists have placed a lot more importance on language development, suggesting that P may have underplayed its importance.
I - this reduces validity of piaget’s theory as it’s doesn’t acknowledge all factors affecting CD

Question 14

Piaget’s theory evaluation - application to education

Answer 14

P - been successfully applied to education.
E - Prior to his work, classrooms had kids sat silently in rows, copying from board. replaced by activity-orientated classrooms in which children actively engage in tasks that allow them to construct own understandings.
E - change in educational practices support the theory that children learn by actively exploring their environment and forming their own mental representations of the world
I - high applicability and validity of theory as it has improved the education system

Question 15

Stages of Intellectual Development

Answer 15

P identified 4 stages of intellectual development. Each stage is characterised by a different level of reasoning ability. Although exact ages vary between kids, all kids develop through same sequence of stages.

Question 16

Object Permanence

Answer 16

ability to realise that object still exists when it passes out of visual field

Question 17

Conservation

Answer 17

ability to realise quantity remains same even when appearance of object or group of objects changes.

Question 18

Egocentrism

Answer 18

child’s tendency to only be able to see world from own point of view.

Question 19

Class Inclusion

Answer 19

advanced classification skill in which we recognise classes of objects have subsets and are themselves subsets of larger classes

Question 20

Sensorimotor Stage - (0-2yrs)

Answer 20

• babies focus on physical sensations + basic coordination between what they see + their body movement
• understand other people r separate objects + acquire some basic language
• object permanence develops after 8 months = belief that object still exist when it goes out of view

Question 21

Pre- operational Stage - (2-7 yrs)

Answer 21

• can’t conserve
• r egocentric ( applied to physical objects + arguments in which kids can only appreciate their own perspective)
• find class inclusion

Question 22

Concrete Operations Stage (7-11yrs)

Answer 22

• around 7yrs most kids can conserve + perform much better on egocentric + class inclusion tasks
• have reasoning problems = only abel to reason/operate on physical operations in their presence
• struggle to reason bout abstract ideas + to imagine objects/situations they can’t see

Question 23

Formal Operations Stage (11yrs +)

Answer 23

• abstract reasoning develops = kids can think beyond the here + now in scientific way
• kids can focus on argument + not to be distracted by its content. formal reasoning can be tested using syllogisms

Question 24

Piaget’s Stages Evalution - object permanence

Answer 24

P - Object permanence may occur at a much younger age than Piaget theorised
E - Bower and Wishart (1972) found infants aged 1 to 4 months continued to reach for object for up to 90 seconds after lights turned out.
E - baby may been distracted by cloth in Piaget’s original study, meaning they didn’t continue to search from object when it went out of sight.
I - reduces validity of Piaget’s work.

Question 25

Piaget’s Stages Evaluation - pre-operational stage

Answer 25

P - p underestimated ability of children in pre-operational stage.
E - McGarrigle + Donaldson (1974) found lids aged 4 to 6 could conserve, if they weren’t put off by the way they were questioned. If counters moved accidentally by a ‘naughty teddy’ then 72% of children under 7 correctly said n.o was same as before.
E - reason kids performed poorly in P’s study was cause hearing 2 questions from researcher prompted them to change their original ans.
I - P’s tests of conservation therefore lacked validity.

Question 26

Piaget’s Stages Evaluation- evidence for formal operation stage

Answer 26

P - evidence for formal operations stage
E - Smith et al. (1998) found that children younger than this stage struggled with syllogistic reasoning tasks such as working out “how many heads does a yellow cat have, if all yellow cats have two heads?”. lids answered with “1” when ans to this abstract task is 2.
E - They were too distracted by the content to think in a logical way.
I - validity for this stage of intellectual development

Question 27

Zone of Proximal Development

Answer 27

gap between a child’s current level of development, defined by cognitive tasks they can perform unaided, and what they can potentially do with right help from a more expert other, who may be an adult or a more advanced child.

Question 28

Scaffolding

Answer 28

approach to instruction that aims to support learner only when absolutely necessary i.e. to provide support framework to assist the learning process. helps learner to cross ZPD + advance as much as they can, given their stage of development.

Question 29

Social + Indiv Level

Answer 29

saw CD as social process of learning from more experienced others (experts). every function in child’s CD appears x2. knowledge is 1st intermental (between more + less expert indiv = social level), then intramental (within mind of less expert indiv = indiv level)

Question 30

Elements + Higher Mental Functions

Answer 30

proposed kids born w elementary mental processes such as perception + memory. these r transformed into higher mental functions like use of mathematical systems by influence of culture. elementary mental functions r biological + form of nature development. higher metal functions r exclusively human. role of culture is to transform elementary mental functions into higher.

Question 31

Role of Others

Answer 31

learns thro problem solving experiences shared within someone else, usually parent/teacher, but also more competent peers. all people w greater knowledge than child r called experts. initially, person interacting w child assumes most of responsibility for guiding problem solving activity, but gradually this responsibility transfers to child

Question 32

Role of Language

Answer 32

believed culture is transmitted by experts using semiotics (signs + symbols developed in certain culture). language - semiotic system of foremost importance but mathematical symbols valuable too. language + maths r means by which culture transmitted from expert to child. begin w, language takes form of shared dialogues between adult + child (pre-intellectual speech), but as child develops mental representation they begin to communicate w themselves. this way, languages (semiotics) enables intellectual development.

Question 33

cultural differences in cognitive abilities

Answer 33

if reasoning abilities r acquired from more experienced indiv with whom child has contact, makes sense child will acquire reasoning abilities of those people. means there may be cultural differences in CD, w kids picking up the mental ‘tools’ that r most important for kid in within their physical, social + work environ. mental tools can be anything like hand eye coordination needed to hunt w bow + arrow to evaluation skills in A level psych

Question 34

ZPD

Answer 34

region where CD takes place. V believed learning precedes development + thought learning/CD doesn’t take place in area of current development nor doesn’t take place too far ahead of what child can already do independently. in 1st instance, nothing new would be learned + in second instance, new challenges would be too far from child’s current knowledge to be useful

Question 35

scaffolding

Answer 35

term to describe process of assisting a learner thro ZPD. expert creates a ‘scaffold’, which is gradually withdrawn when child is more able to work independently. wood, bruner + ross identified 5 aspects to scaffolding - general ways in which adult helps a child to better + understand a task

Question 36

5 aspects to scaffolding

Answer 36

recruitment - engaging child’s interest in task
reduction of degrees of freedom - focusing child on task + where to start w solving it
direction maintenance - encouraging child to help them to stay motivated + continue trying to complete task
marking critical features - highlighting most important parts of task
demonstration - showing child how to do aspects of task

wood - noted certain strategies that experts used when scaffolding. generally, as leaner crosses ZPD, level of help given in scaffolding declines from level 5 to level 1. adult more likely to use high level of help strategies when first helping, then gradually withdrawing level of help as child grasps task

Question 37

ZPD Evaluation - support

Answer 37

P - support for ZPD
E - Roazzi + Bryant (1988) found 4-5 yrs worked better on a ‘number of sweets’ challenge when working w than alone
E - demonstrated kids could develop more reasoning skills when working w more expert people
I - s ZPD is a valid concept

Question 38

ZPD Evaluation - Indiv Differences

Answer 38

P - V assumed process of learning is largely same in all children
E - some kids learn best during social interaction but this may not be same for everyone
E - personality + style of info processing may have powerful effects on what sort of activities + what sort of help works for different kids
I - V’s theory therefore doesn’t take account of indiv differences

Question 39

ZPoD Evaluation - Application to Education

Answer 39

P - V’s theory has been highly influential in education
E - Van Keer + Verhaege (2005) found 7 yrs tutored by 19 yrs, in addition
to whole class teaching, progressed further in reading than a control group who only had class teaching
E - s kids can learn more and faster w appropriate scaffolding.
I - raised expectations of what kids should be able to achieve

Question 40

Knowledge of Physical World

Answer 40

extent to which we understand how physical world works. An e.g is object permanence. debate about which ages kids develop this kind of knowledge.

Question 41

Nativism

Answer 41

theory suggesting humans r born w innate abilities

Question 42

Physical Reasoning System

Answer 42

innate system provides a framework for reasoning about displacements + interactions of physical objects.

Question 43

Violation of Expectation Research

Answer 43

approach to investigating infant knowledge of world. idea is if kids understand how physical world operates then they will expect
certain things to happen in particular situations. If these don’t occur and kids react accordingly, it suggests they have an intact knowledge of that aspect of world.

Question 44

Baillaegeon’s Ideas

Answer 44

infants in sensorimotor stage may have a better-developed understanding of physical world than previously thought. because they lacked necessary motor skills to complete task.

Question 45

VOE research

Answer 45

Aim - compare infant reactions to expected+ unexpected event, thus able to make inferences about infant’s cognitive abilities.
Procedure - 24 infants, aged 5-6 months, shown a tall/short rabbit passing behind a
screen with a window
Possible condition - tall rabbit can be seen passing the window but short one cannot
Impossible condition - tall rabbit didn’t appear at window
Findings - The infants looked for average of 33.07 seconds at impossible condition compared to 25.11 seconds at possible condition. interpreted as meaning infants were surprised at impossible condition as they looked at it for longer. because they knew tall rabbit should have reappeared at window. demonstrated as an understanding of object permanence at < six months

Question 46

VOE research is e.g of what study ?

Answer 46

occlusion study (one object occluded other)

Question 47

VOE studies used to test ?

Answer 47

Infants understanding of :
Containment - idea that when object is seen to enter container it should still be there when container is opened.
Support - idea that object should fall when unsupported but not when it is on a horizontal surface.

Question 48

Baillargeon’s Theory of Infant Physical Reasoning

Answer 48

proposed that humans are born with a physical reasoning system (PRS). born
hardwired with basic understanding of the physical world + ability to learn more details easily. know as nativist approach.
primitive awareness of the physical properties of the world. more sophisticated as we learn from experience. at birth we have object permanence.

Question 49

Event Categories, Occlusion and Impossible events

Answer 49

1st few weeks of life, infants begin to identify event categories. Each event category corresponds to 1 way in which objects. Occlusion events occur when 1 object blocks view of another. Because child is born with basic understanding of object persistence and quickly learns 1 object can block their view of another, by time they are tested in tasks like rabbit one above, children have good understanding that rabbit should appear at window. ‘impossible’ event captures infants’ attention as nature of PRS means they r predisposed attend to new events that might allow to develop understanding of physical world.

Question 50

Piaget vs Baillorgean

Answer 50

development of object permanence - have similar ideas (born w object permanence)
PRS - piaget (everything is learned through interaction) while Baillorgeon (born w innate abilities)
reasoning for not reaching for objects in object permanence - piaget ( they lacked
understanding of object permanence) while Baillorgeon (lacked necessary motor skills to complete task)

Question 51

Baillargeon’s Theory on Infant Abilities Evaluation - Alternative Explanation

Answer 51

P - alternative explanations of infant’s knowledge of physical world
E - Spelke believes infants are born w substantial knowledge regarding objects - an innate principles approach.
E - contradicts Baillargeon’s idea of an innate mechanisms explanation, where kids r born with ability to acquire certain knowledge very rapidly
C - However, Baillargeon argues that innate principles approach would predict infants should demonstrate expectations about all events related to 1 core principle, i.e. the principle of occlusion, at the same time, but evidence does not support this.

Question 52

Baillargeon’s Theory on Infant Abilities Evaluation - Controlled Research

Answer 52

P - Baillargeon’s research was carefully controlled.
E - For each of Baillargeon’s studies, infant sat on their parent’s lap. The parent could have unconsciously communicated cues about how baby should react.
E - To prevent this, Baillargeon asked parents to keep their eyes shut and were asked not to interact with their child.
I - increases validity of findings as it reduces impact of extraneous variables.

Question 53

Baillargeon’s Theory on Infant Abilities Evaluation - Difficult Judgement

Answer 53

P - hard to judge what infant understands.
E - appears children look longer at scenes where objects appear to violate physical laws, however we are simply inferring this means they understand physical world.
E - could be children are not looking at impossible events for longer, or there could be many reasons why they find 1 scene more interesting than another.
I - problems mean VOE may not be an entirely valid way of investigating infant understanding of physical world.

Question 54

Perspective Taking

Answer 54

ability to appreciate social situation from pov of other people. cognitive ability underlies much of social interaction.

Question 55

Socially Egocentric

Answer 55

child can’t reliably distinguish between own emotions + others. can generally identify emotional states in others but don’t understand what social behav might have caused them

Question 56

Social Information + Role Taking

Answer 56

child can tell difference between own pov and of another, but can usually focus on only one of these perspectives.

Question 57

Interpersonal Understanding

Answer 57

if we can take diff roles then this shows we can understand social situations

Question 58

interpersonal negotiation strategies

Answer 58

as well as understanding what others thinks in social, must develop skills in how to respond to them. develop social skills like asserting position + managing conflict

Question 59

awareness of personal meaning of relationships

Answer 59

as well as understanding what others think in social situations + how to manage them, social developments requires ability to reflect on social behav in context of life history + full range of relationships

Question 60

theory of mind

Answer 60

perosn understanding (theory) of what other people r thinking + feeling - mind reading

Question 61

social cognition

Answer 61

mental process we use to make use of when engaged in social interaction

Question 62

paiget vs selman

Answer 62

p believed in domain general cog development so believed physical + social perspective taking would occur hand in hand.
S proposed development of social perspective taking is separate process. domain specific approach to explaining cog development

Question 63

Selman perceptive taking dilemmas

Answer 63

conducted research in children’s perspective taking abilities by using series of dilemmas which explore child’s reasoning when faced w conflicting feelings. dilemmas require child to have to take someone’s else’s/ several others perspective

Question 64

selmans research

Answer 64

procedure - 30 boys + girls took part (20 each of age 4,5,6). all individually given task designed to measure role taking ability. involved asking how each felt in various scenario
findings - n.o of distinct levels of role taking identified. found level of role taking correlated w age, suggesting clear developmental sequence

Question 65

stage 0 (socially egocentric)

Answer 65

3-6 yrs
child’s can’t reliably distinguish between own emotions + others. generally identify emotional states in others but don’t understand what social behav might caused it

Question 66

stage 1 (social info role taking )

Answer 66

6-8 yrs
can’t tell diff between own POV + others but can usually focus on only 1 of these perspectives

Question 67

stage 2 (self reflective role taking )

Answer 67

8-10yrs
put themselves in position of another person + fully appreciate their perspective. can only take on board one POV at a time

Question 68

stage 3 (mutual role taking)

Answer 68

10-12 yrs
able to look at sit from own + other POV at same time

Question 69

stage 4 (social + conventional system role taking)

Answer 69

12+ yrs
young people become able to see sometimes understanding others POV isn’t enough to allow people to reach agreement. why social conventions needed to keep order

Question 70

what did S believe development thro these stages were based on?

Answer 70

maturity + experience

Question 71

later development to S’s theory

Answer 71

3 aspects to social development
- interpersonal understanding (measured in earlier role taking research)
- interpersonal negotiation strategies
- awareness of personal meaning of relationships

Question 72

relationship to deception

Answer 72

interesting outcome of perspective taking is ability to deceive. deception entails child being able to plant false belief in someone else’s mind. usually do this around age 3 . cole found kids this age were able to hide disappointment when received worst present rather than best one, if were being watched by others, but did show disappointment when filmed secretly on own.

Question 73

S’s levels of perspective evaluation

Answer 73

P - mixed evidence for importance of perspective taking
E - found neg correlation between age, perspective taking + coercive behav eg trying to force parnets to buy them for things.
E - suggest perspective taking important in developing pro social behav
C - but found bullies displayed no difficulties in perspective taking. problems for S’s approach as suggest perspective taking may not be important factors in development of socially desirable behav.

Question 74

S’s levels of perspective evaluation

Answer 74

P - perspective taking explanation could be seen as ‘overly cog).
E - S’s approach doesn’t consider other factors like empathy development, emotional self regulation, family climate + opportunities or learn from peer interaction
E - more to children social development than developing cog abilities + isn’t considered

Question 75

S’s levels of perspective evaluation

Answer 75

P - research suggest kids w ADHD + those on autistic spectrum have problems w perspective taking
E - Martin compared 50 8-12yrs w diagnosis of ADHD w control group on performance on perspective taking tasks. those w ADHD did worse on understanding the scenarios, identifying feelings of each person involved + evaluating consequences of diff actions.
E - strength of S’s work as research has useful application to understanding atypical development in social congnition

Question 76

false belief

Answer 76

understanding others may hold + act on mistaken beliefs

Question 77

autism spectrum disorder

Answer 77

wide range of symptoms. all disorders on spectrum share impairments to 3 main areas : empathy, social interaction + social imagination.

Question 78

autism

Answer 78

mental disorder which usually appears in early childhood + typically involves avoidance of social contact, abnormal lang + so called stereotype behav

Question 79

sally anne task

Answer 79

story bout 2 dolls. sally doesn’t know her marble moved but audience do. where will she look for her ball - where she left it/where audience know isn’t? used to test whether child has theory of mind

Question 80

diff methods used to study TOM at diff points in development

Answer 80

• intentional reasoning research (assess emergence of simple TOM in toddlers)
• false belief tasks (assess more sophisticated level of TOM)
• eyes tasks (assess advanced TOM in older kids + adults ; parti judge complex emotions w minimal info bout facial expressions)

Question 81

intentional reasoning in toddlers

Answer 81

M provided convincing evid to show toddlers aged bout 18 mnths understand adults intentions when carrying out simple actions
P - kids of 18 mths observed adults place beads into jar. in experimental condition adults appeared to struggle w this + dropped beads. in control condition adults placed the beads successfully in jar.
F - shaped plastic bags in both conditions, toddlers placed beads in jar; dropped no more beads in experimental condition. suggests they were imitating what adult intended to do
concl - kind of research shows very young child have simple TOM

Question 82

false belief tasks

Answer 82

developed to test whether kids can understand people can believe something that isn’t true
P - told 3/4 yrs story where maxi left his choc in blue cupboard in kitchen + went to playground. maxi’s mum used some of choc in cooking + placed remainder in green cupboard. kids asked where maxi would look for his choc when he comes back from playground
F - most 3 yr incorrectly said would look in green cupboard. know it’s in green cupboard but don’t realise maxi doesn’t know mum moved it. most 4 yrs correctly identified blue cupboard
C - suggested TOM undergoes shift + becomes more advanced around 4 yrs

Question 83

Sally Anne Studies

Answer 83

Barents cohen + colleagues explored link between TOM deficits + ASD using false belief talks
P - 20 high functioning kids diagnosed w ASD + control group of 14 kids w DOEB syndrome + 27 w/out diagnosis were individually administered SA study
F - 85% kids in contorl groups correctly identified where Sally would look for her marble. 20% kids in ASD group correctly answered
C - diff demonstrated ASD involves TOM deficit. Baron Cohen + colleagues suggest deficits TOM might be complete explanation for ASD

Question 84

Testing older kids + adults

Answer 84

AS (asperger syndrome) type of ASD characterised by probs w empathy,social development + imagination but normal lang development. studies of kids + adults - group succeeded easily on false believe tasks. contradicted idea ASD explained by TOM deficits
Bareb-cohen + colleagues developed more challenging tasks to ASD in adolescents + adults. eye takes - reading complex emotions in picture showing small area around eye. adults w AS + diagnosis of high functioning ASD struggled w task. adults on autism spectrum had men’s score of 16.3 while typical parti had mean of 20.3/25. supports idea TOM deficits might be cause of ASD

Question 85

biological basis

Answer 85

TOM appears to develop at specific age + it is likely to be absent in autistic people. Naren-cohen proposed TOM module (TOMM), specific mechanism that matures in brain round 4yrs + explains indiv’s ability to understand mental states of others. w develops of TOM comes ability to manipulate + deceive others by hiding one’s emotions + intentions. occurs from 3yrs

Question 86

TOM evalution

Answer 86

P - Eyes Task lacks validity.
E - l experience of looking at static pair of eyes in isolation is very diff from real life where usually have access to more additional info.
E - questions TOM research as suggests theory isn’t standing on acceptable level of empirically based ideas.
I - may be concepts difficult to test but, until they are, theory can’t regarded as valid.

Question 87

TOm evaluation

Answer 87

P - TOM research been useful in helping understand differing experiences of those on autistic spectrum and those who are “neurotypical”.
E - It’s agreed people on autistic spectrum have more difficulty than others on age-appropriate TOM tests.
C - However, suggestion by Baron-cohen that autism spectrum disorder is direct result of TOM has been questioned.
I - Tager-Flusberg (2007) suggests more recent research has questioned assumption TOM problems are specific to ASD + that all those on autism spectrum suffer TOM problems.

Question 88

TOM evalution

Answer 88

P - meant methods used to study TON could simply measure perspective taking
E - Eg, responses to Sally anne task could be explained in terms of children’s ability to take Sally’s perspective.
E - TOM is hard to distinguish from perspective taking.
I - Challenges validity of TOM research if it’s just measuring the ability to view social sit from another person’s POV

Question 89

mirror neurons

Answer 89

neurons that fire both in response to personal action + in response to action on part of others

Question 90

discovery of mirror neurons

Answer 90

Rizzolatti et al (2002) studying electrical activity in monkey’s motor cortex (responsible for movement), when one of
researchers reached for lunch in view of monkey. monkey’s motor cortex became activated in same way as did when animal itself reached for food; same brain cells fired when monkey reached itself/ watched someone else reach. called mirror neurons as mirror motor activity in another indiv.

Question 91

mirror neurons + intention

Answer 91

goalless + goldman suggested mirror neurons respond not just to observed actions but to intentions behind behav. believed we don’t just interpret people actions w reference to our mem but we stimulate others actions in our mirror system + experience their intentions using our mirror neurons

Question 92

Mirror neurons Study

Answer 92

P - 23 right handed subject (M/F) watched 3 film clips do visual stimuli. 1. context only (scenes containing objects) 2. action only (grasping actions w/out context) 2. intention (context w action either drinking/cleaning up)
researcher investigated whether obsv of same grasping action elicited same or diff activity in mirror neurons for grasping in human basin. FMRI used to measure brain activity.
F- observing grasping actions embedded in contexts (intention) yielded greater activity in mirror endurance areas in inferior frontal cortex, associated w grasping than observing actions w/out contexts/ while observing contexts onto
C - permit mirror neuron areas - areas active during execution + obvs of action) previously thought to be involved only in action recognise r involve in understanding intention of others, basis of empathy

Question 93

struss

Answer 93

reposted indivs w damage to frontal lobes (motor cortex) often unable to empathise w + read other people’s intentions + easy to secure. suggest damage to mirror neuron systems + empathise it’s important in typical human social cognition

Question 94

mirror neurons + perspective taking

Answer 94

suggested mirror neurons r important in TOM + ability to take others’ perspectives. If mirror neurons fire in response to others’ actions + intentions, this might +
us a neural mechanism for experiencing and understanding other people’s perspectives + emotional states. may allow to interpret what others are thinking + feeling.

Question 95

mirron neurons + human evolution

Answer 95

Ramachandran (2011) suggested mirror neurons r so important they have shaped human evolution. uniquely complex social interactions humans have, require brain system that facilitates understanding of intention, emotion + perspective. w/out these cog abilities we wouldn’t be able to live in large groups w complex social roles + rules characterise human culture. suggests mirror neurons r key to understanding way humans have developed as social species.

Question 96

mirror neurons + ASD

Answer 96

ASS associated w probs w social-cog abilities like perspective-taking. If kids w ASD can be shown to have poor mirror neuron system , may go a long way to explaining ASD.
Ramachandran and Oberman (2006) proposed “broken mirror” theory of AD. idea that neurological deficits including dysfunction in mirror neuron system prevent a developing child imitating + understanding social behav in others. manifests itself in infancy when kids later diagnosed w ASD typically mimic adult behaviour less than others. Later, probs w mirror neuron system lead to difficulties in social communication as children to not develop usual abilities to read intentions + emotion in others.

Question 97

Mirror Neuron evalution

Answer 97

P - evid for atypical mirror neuron function in ASD.
E - reviewed evidence for link between ASD + deficit in mirror neuron function + found some support. Structural brain scans have shown smaller average thickness for pars opercularis (area believed to be rich in mirror neurons) in parti w ASD.
E - Studies using functional scans have shown lower activity in brain areas associated w mirror neurons in parti w ASD. C - However, not all findings have been replicated consistently so evid linking AS to mirror neurons is mixed.
E - prob for broken mirror theory of ASD as there a lack of reliable direct evid to support theory.

Question 98

Mirror Neuron evalution

Answer 98

P - evid for mirror neuron activity comes from brain scanning.
E - Brain scans like fMRi’s identify activity levels in regions of the brain but don’t allow to measure activity in indiv brain cells.
E - Researchers therefore inferring that activity in parts of brain means activity in mirror neurons.
I - lack of direct evidence for mirror neuron activity in humans.

Question 99

Mirror Neuron evalution

Answer 99

P - questions over precise role of mirror neurons.
E - suggests mirror neuron activity may have more to do with using others’ behav to plan our own, rather than understanding cognitions behind it.
E - Researchers should provide better evidence to support their claims of role of mirror neurons in social cognition.