Development Flashcards
Development
age related changes that occur as individual progresses from conception to death
(predictable sequence, Life-history theory)
Continues through adolescence and adulthood
Prenatal and Childhood Development
Brain development
Cognitive development
Moral development
Attachment
Plasticity
brain’s ability to change structure and function overtime
Plasticity changes in structure:
Number of dendrites and connections increases dramatically following birth
2 years: 15,000 synapses/neuron; twice as many as adults
Plasticity changes in function:
Newborns: high activity in thalamus (for sensory input)
Highly dependent on reflexes
2-3 months: increased activity in cortex
8-9 months: increased activity in frontal cortex
Synaptic pruning
unused synpases are eliminated
- after pruning it makes it difficult to learn language
connections peak between 6-7 years
Neurogenesis
Creation of new neurons
- Humans produce new cells in olfactoery bulb and hippocampus
- New cells migrate to other regions of the brain and form connections with existing cells
- Associated with learning
White matter
myelinated neurons facilitate communication between regions
- growth increases between childhood and puberty, then slows
Grey matter
- information processing
- Second round of synaptic overproduction and pruning decreases volume
prefrontal cortex
- Changes most pronounced and continue until mid 20s
- High level cognitive functioning (planning, organization)
- Strengthen connection to limbic system; impulsive and subject to peer pressure
(emotional centres - influenced by emotional argument)
Jean Piaget
Interested in childhood thought processes leading to incoreect answers on IQ test
Four stage model of cognitive development
- sequence of stages is constant, timetable variable
- doesn’t account for individual differences
- evidence of mixing elements of different stages
Assimilation
Interpreting new experiences in terms of exisitng mental structures (different internal representations of the world per child)
Accommodation
Changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences
Four stages of cognitive development
- Sensorimotor period
- Pre-operational period
- Concerete operational period
- Formal operational period
Sensorimotor period
Coordination of sensory input and motor responses; development of object permanence
Symbolic thoughts begin to develop (eg mental images of favourite toy)
(birth to 2 years)
Object permanence
recognition that objects continue to exist in the absence of sensory stimulation
- Four months; no permanence (peek-a boo)
- Four to 8 months: partial permanence (completley covered object will be forgotten)
- 18 months: permanence mastered
Preoperational period
Development of symbolic thought marked by irreversibility, centration, egocentrism
(2 to 7 years)
Conservation: awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in shape or appearance
Characteristics of preoperational thought
Centration: Focus on one feature of a problem
Irreversibility: inability to envision reversing an action
Egocentrism: inability to share another’s viewpoint (my sister vs her sister)
Animism: belief that all things are living (talking teddy bears)
Concrete operational period
Mental operations applied to concrete events; mastery of conservation (liguqid, mass number, area, leangth) , hierachial classification (problems that require two levels of classification)
(7 to 11 years)
Cant think abstractly
Operations performed on tangible objects: Reversibility, decentration, decline in egocentrisim
Formal operational period
Mental operations applied to abstract ideas; logical, systematic thinking
applies operations to abstract concepts (justice, love, freewill)
Further development reflect changes in degree (more systematic in problem-solving, less trial and error)
(11 throughout adulthood)
Habituation-dishabituation paradigm
Habituation: infant looses interest in stimulus presented repeatedly
Dishabituation: new stimulus elicits interest from infant
Habituation-dishabituation: What do Four month olds understand
- Add and subtract small numbers
- Objects are distinct entities
- Objects move in continuous paths
- Solid objects cannot pass through each other
- Objects cannot pass through openings smaller in size
- Objects on slopes roll down
if these don’t happen, their HR goes up
Theory of mind; the nature of “mind”
- Ability to recognize other minds are distinct from own
- Ability to know other mind have different content
- Ability to anticipate the content of other minds
- Ability to know that thoughts and desires motivated behaviour
- Ability to recognize that not all thoughts reflect reality (False beliefs)
Theory of mind: autism
poverty, underdeveloped theory of mind
