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PSYC 302 > L7-L9 > Flashcards

L7-L9 Flashcards

cognitive development in infancy, attention, memory, categorization

1
Q

Piagetian view of children’s nature

“it is the nature of the child to react to its nurture”

A
  • child actively constructs knowledge
  • child as a scientist (generates hypotheses, performs experiments, draws conclusions)
  • child as a motivated learner that learns for its own sake

  • actively constructs schemas or rule-based theories of how the world works from their experiences
  • rules in the early stages are egocentric (focused on self) then become allocentric in the late stages (refer to the external world)
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2
Q

4 main characteristics of Piagetian theory of development

i.e. Piagetian constructivism

A
  • stage theory: distinct, discontinuous changes wherein each stage = a coherent way of understanding the world
  • qualitative changes: fundamentally different thinking across stages
  • domain-general changes: apply to all aspects of the world
  • occur in an invariant order

each big stage consists of smaller stages and no stage is skipped

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3
Q

Piaget’s 3 developmental processes

A
  1. assimilation: fit new information into existing schemas
  2. accomodation: change schemas to fit new experiences
  3. equilibration: balance assimilation and accomodation
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4
Q

Information processing theories

i.e. computational model

A
  • perceive mind as a computer with emphasis on structure (neuronal connections) and processes (memory, attention) involved in thinking
  • assume simplest program possible to explain a pattern of behavior (e.g. associative models)
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5
Q

Information processing view of children’s nature

A
  • child as an active, limited-capacity processor
  • growth is continuous and gradual with domain-general processes (e.g. association, attention, memory) that are innate and develop with experience
  • focus on individual differences (e.g. unique experiences)

  • limited by hardware (e.g. memory capacity, processing speed) and software (e.g. existing knowledge)
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6
Q

Core-knowledge theories

A
  • mind, like the body, is a product of natural selection
  • innate knowledge of domains that would have been important in evolutionary history

examples of domains are living/non-living things, faces, agents, space, objects, number, language

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7
Q

Core knowledge view on children’s nature

A
  • child has domain-specific innate capacities (i.e. core knowledge)
  • child as an active, specialized learner that enters the world with domain-specific learning structures

  • Core knowledge: intuitive/naive theories of how domains work, their guiding principles, etc.
  • Domain-specific learning structures allow for rapid acquisition of new information within core domains
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8
Q

Sociocultural theories

Vygotsky

A
  • learning happens in an interpersonal context and in a broader cultural context
  • more knowledgeable other (e.g. teacher) guides less knowledgeable (e.g. child)
  • learning is best in the zone of proximal development: just above what the child can currently do on their own
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9
Q

Sociocultural view of children’s nature

A
  • child as a social and active learner
  • learning is domain-general, continuous, quantitative, and gradual
  • children internalize others’ speech into their own thoughts

children are shaped by and shapes their cultural context

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10
Q

2 main concerns in Piaget’s sensorimotor stage

consists of 6 stages from ages 0-2

A
  1. object concept: how an infant understands the properties of solid objects
  2. object permanence: whether or not an object exists outside of an infant’s experience (sensory and motor) with them

Piaget believes that infants don’t have object permanence, at least not until well into the sensorimotor stage

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11
Q

6 stages in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  1. reflexes (0-1 month)
  2. primary circular reactions (1-4 months)
  3. secondary circular reactions (4-8 months)
  4. coordination of secondary schema (8-12 months)
  5. tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)
  6. invention of new means through mental combinations (18 months+)

circular reactions: actions performed by an infant are repeated because of their effect

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12
Q

Stage 1: Reflexes

0-1 month in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  • poor object concept: objects don’t exist outside of infants’ interactions with them
  • infants cannot integrate across sensory modalities (e.g. seen, heard, felt mother)
  • the same object to us is many different objects to infants
  • infants’ interactions with the world are limited to reflexes, the most primitive form of schema

  • action reflexes like sucking and grasping
  • at odds with intermodal perception studies
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13
Q

Stage 2: primary circular reactions

1-4 months in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  • motor schema from stage 1 are applied to new objects by chance (e.g. from breastfeeding to bottles, toys)
  • usually happens on an infant’s own body (e.g. lip-licking, sucking fingers)
  • repeated because it feels good
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14
Q

Stage 3: secondary circular reactions

4-8 months in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  • schemas are applied to objects outside of infants’ bodies
  • new schema are developed through accident and accomodation from actions that produce interesting effects (e.g. rattle-shaking)
  • object concept improving but objects still embedded within schema
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15
Q

Stage 4: coordination of secondary schema

8-12 months in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  • applying multiple schema to the same object allows for object permanence
  • large number of independent schema coordinated into a few complex and flexible schema, and applied to new situations (e.g. using lid and spoon to bang a pot)
  • means-ends behavior emerges (e.g. pulling something to bring something else closer)

objects now have enduring properties

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16
Q

A-not-B error

object permanence in sensorimotor stage 4

A
  • when a toy is hidden under cover A, a baby will search for it under cover A and will continue to do so even when the toy is hidden under cover B
  • babies are able to search for objects that are out of sight (object permanence) BUT still weak on ability to integrate schemas properly (object concept)

baby’s object-retrieval is formed from the cover, not the object (egocentric, not allocentric)

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17
Q

Stage 5: tertiary circular reactions

12-18 months in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  • active experimentation: babies intentionally use schemas to understand the world
  • babies search for hidden objects and pass the A-not-B task BUT still fail at invisible displacements

invisible displacements: hidden objects changing locations (e.g. ball under a cup)

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18
Q

Stage 6: invention of new means through mental combinations

18 months+ in Piaget’s sensorimotor period

A
  • symbolic thought develops: infants form mental representations of objects, events, language
  • combination of schemas through mental representations
  • fully-flexible and fully-functioning object concept (pass even invisible displacements)

allows for pretend play (e.g. putting a doll to sleep)

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19
Q

2 main criticisms of Piagetian stage theory

well-replicated but…

A
  1. competence/performance distinction: limits of infants may just be task-related, not cognitive
  2. nativist viewpoint (e.g. core knowledge) suggests that some aspects of cognition (e.g. object concept) are innate

infants actually show object permanence even before sensorimotor experience could be solely responsible (e.g. screen or drawbridge study)

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20
Q

3 possible explanations for A-not-B error

when measured with looking time

A
  1. motor issue: difficulty with coordinated actions (means-end behavior) necessary for retrieval
  2. memory issue: built-up motor memory (retrieve from A) competes with short-term sensory memory (hide in B)
  3. problem with inhibiting a prepotent response involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

babies fail the transparent barrier task: coordinated-action task that doesn’t require object permanence

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21
Q

Core knowledge view of object concept development in infants

A

object knowledge is not built up over experience, rather it is the result of innate, core principles of what objects are and how they behave

Spelke, Baillargeon, etc.

22
Q

4 aspects of object permanence

according to core knowledge

A
  1. continuity: no blipping
  2. solidity/cohesion: objects don’t disintegrate
  3. support/gravity: unsupported objects fall
  4. contact causality: no action at a distance and objects need outside force to move
23
Q

Rational learning

for reasoning

A

using prior experience or information to generate expectations about what will happen next

e.g. person who was angry in the past may get angry again

24
Q

Attention

A
  • the act of selectively focusing on something
  • what we attend to = what we learn about

measured in looking preference in infants

25
Q

3 aspects of attention

A
  1. Orienting: “attention-getting” or directing attention to specific objects or locations
  2. Selecting: focusing on just some things and filtering out others
  3. Maintaining: “attention-holding” or continuing to attend despite potential distractions

present in newborns (even fetuses can orient) and develops over infancy

26
Q

Disengagement or un-orienting

Hood & Atkinson

A
  • sticky looking: young infants find it hard to disengage from a central target or stimulus
  • when the central target remains onscreen when the peripheral target appears, looking to the peripheral target is slower

true for all, even adults, but especially young infants

27
Q

Visual preferences in stimuli when orienting/disengaging

A

faster to orient to and slower to disengage from:
* faces, especially ones showing negative emotions (e.g. fear bias by 7 months)
* snakes (vs. frogs)

suggests selective orienting to and less un-orienting to threat-relevant stimuli

28
Q

What do infants first attend to in an array of stimuli?

selective attention

A
  1. novel objects
  2. bright/colorful objects
  3. faces (longer looking time but not necessarily first)

infants also show cross-cultural differences (e.g. objects in American children vs. actions in Chinese children at age 2)

29
Q

Changes in looking time before and after 6 months

A

believed that longer looking time = longer processing time
* for infants <6 months, younger look longer at the same stimulus
* from 6 months, look longer at more complex objects

  • younger infants are more distractible but also sometimes have a harder time disengaging
  • higher SES infants in the US are better at maintaining attention than lower SES infants of the same age
30
Q

Episodic memories

A
  • memories of events including what, when, where, with whom
  • called autobiographical memories when events are about yourself
  • highly unlikely before age 3 or 4 as memories may be due to stories you’ve heard, called childhood amnesia
31
Q

4 methods for studying memory in infancy

must look at behavioral changes

A
  1. habituation
  2. visual recognition memory
  3. operant conditioning
  4. deferred imitation

all paradigms converge on the same conclusions about memory in infancy

32
Q

Habituation = memory

A
  • habituating to (or getting bored with) a repeated stimulus suggests that they remember it
  • dishabituating to a novel stimulus suggests that they don’t remember it
33
Q

Visual paired comparison test

for recognition memory

A
  • familiarize an infant to one stimulus then examine their preference for a novel stimulus
  • showing a preference for the novel stimulus suggests that they remember the familiar one

can include various delays to test memory capacity

34
Q

Operant conditioning

to test memory in infancy

A
  • a baby randomly causes an outcome via an operand
  • if they remember, they should intentionally act on the operand again after a delay
35
Q

Deferred imitation

to test memory in infancy

A

Meltzoff’s head touch study
* guide 14-month-olds to perform a novel behavior they are unlikely to do on their own (hit a push light with their head instead of hand)
* deferred imitation suggest they have memory

36
Q

3 principles of infant memory

A

older infants…
1. encode information faster (habituate rates decrease with age so it takes less trials to learn new information)
2. remember information longer
3. retrieve information more easily (exploit a wider range of cues)

37
Q

Longer memory retention with age

in infant humans and rats

findings from mobile/train operant conditioning studies

A
  • 2-month-olds remember for 1 day
  • 6-month-olds for 2 weeks
  • 12-month-olds for 8 weeks
  • 18-month-olds for months
38
Q

2 possible reasons for childhood amnesia

A
  1. lack of language at encoding (shrinking machine study by Simcock & Hayne)
  2. maturational changes in the brain (hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe)

  • behavioral recall of 2- to 4-year-olds is fine 6-12 months after playing a game, but verbal recall is limited to their vocabulary during the original event
  • no clear link between hippocampal maturation and memory improvements
39
Q

2 possible reasons that account for memory differences in kids of the same age

A
  1. differences in the encoding environment
  2. individual differences

  1. better memory when learning involves verbal description (18-month-olds), occurs across related contexts, and allows for practice
  2. short vs. long lookers, motor development, sleep, bilingualism, tendency to be surrounded by reminiscing (e.g. multi-generational households)
40
Q

Short vs long lookers

individual differences in visual recognition memory tasks

A

short lookers
* need less time to process information and habituate faster (though doesn’t mean more efficient at encoding)
* do better on recognition, language, play, intelligence
* show global precedence: focus primarily on global info rather than local

show brain activity differences between familiar and novel-global stimuli

41
Q

Memory differences due to:
* motor development
* sleep
* bilingualism

A
  • at the same age, crawlers tend to outperform non-crawlers on generalization tasks (more context-insensitive)
  • babies that take a nap after learning perform better on memory test
  • bilingual babies perform better on generalization tasks (perhaps due to better representational flexibility)
42
Q

Categorization vs concept

A
  • responding to different entites that share some commonality as members of the same category
  • mental representation of a category
43
Q

3 categorical levels

A
  1. global/superordinate (e.g. living things)
  2. basic level (e.g. dogs)
  3. subordinate (e.g. german sheperds)
44
Q

How can categories be used as tools?

pros and cons

A
  • allows us to generalize: apply category-level information to new exemplars
  • frees up cognitive resources as we don’t have to learn about every new exemplar
  • may cause us to ignore individual characteristics

e.g. dogs bark, breathe, eat, have fur, and wag their tails

45
Q

How early do infants categorize?

Turati et al.

A
  • In a sample of newborns, half were habituated to closed forms and the other half to open forms
  • when shown new exemplars from the old or new category, newborns showed preference for novel form

  • ensured that newborns had no a priori preference for one form and could discriminate within-category items
  • also lots of evidence that newborns can categorize speech sounds
46
Q

What categories can infants recognize?

based on studies

A
  • spatial categories (e.g. left/right, on/in)
  • left/right (shown in newborns!)
  • movement categories (e.g. walking/jumping)
  • 3- to 4-month-olds can only categorize perceptually similar items
47
Q

Acquired equivalence

A
  • items given the same verbal label increase in similarity
  • items given different labels decrease in similarity

strongest version means that there are no concepts/categories without language

48
Q

How do verbal labels help with categorization?

A
  • language may not be required but perhaps invites category formation
  • eye-tracking studies suggest that labels encourage focus on common features
  • labels are not just another perceptual similarity (distinct sound)

can get even pre-verbal babies to pass perceptual categorization tasks

49
Q

Examples of small-scale spatial information`

A
  • object shape (e.g. triangle vs. square, right vs. isosceles triangle)
  • object orientation/rotation
  • relations between close-together objects (e.g. above/below, in/on)
50
Q

When does the ability for time perception develop?

A
  • sensitivity to time appears to emerge early (even from birth)
  • this includes sensitivity to temporal patterns (e.g. left, right, left…), order, approximate time intervals
  • ability is ratio-dependent like that of large number discrimination

e.g. babies dishabituate to a time change when they are familiarized to 5-second time intervals

51
Q

How do babies’ numerical understanding develop?

A
  • counting is just memorization at first
  • improvements in “give a number” tasks (e.g. can I have 2 objects?) between ages 2 and 4
  • don’t fully link count list to number until around age 5

e.g. they understand that 6 means 1 more than 5

PSYC 302 (9 decks)

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