lecture 1

Question 1

what are the aims of developmental research?

Answer 1

to describe how performance changes with age

uncover the earliest instances of knowledge

Question 2

what is competence?

Answer 2

conceptual understanding required to solve a problem

Question 3

what is performance?

Answer 3

cognitive skills required to access and express understanding

Question 4

what are 3 types of study designs?

Answer 4

cross sectional design
longitudnal designs
microgenetic design

Question 5

what happens in cross sectional design?

Answer 5

single point in time

compares the behaviour of different age groups at the same time

Question 6

what are the advantages of cross sectional design?

Answer 6

time efficient
cost efficient
shows differences between older and younger children

Question 7

what are the disadvantages of cross sectional design?

Answer 7

individual differences
doesn’t explain why development happens

Question 8

what is a longitudnal design?

Answer 8

compares the abilities or behaviour of a group of children over several time points

can involve experimental manipulation or analysis of naturally occurring behaviours

Question 9

what is the advantage of a longitudnal design?

Answer 9

can observe change over time within individuals

reveals the proportion of children showing certain developmental trajectories

can investigate longitudnal predictors

Question 10

what are the disadvantages of longitudnal studies?

Answer 10

resource intensive

subject attrition (ppts may drop out)

practice effects- may learn from previous exposure or get bored with the repeated task

repeated testing may change the course of development

Question 11

what happens in microgenetic design?

Answer 11

study children on the verge of an important developmental change

study the change as it is occurring

same children studied repeatedly over a short period of time

Question 12

what is explicit knowledge?

Answer 12

knowledge is easily accessible to the child

measure via an elicited response

Question 13

what is implicit knowledge?

Answer 13

knowledge the child is unaware of
measure via spontaneous response

Question 14

who investigated gestures?

Answer 14

church and goldin meadow (1986)

alibali and goldin meadow (1993)

Question 15

what can gestures alongside speech demonstrate?

Answer 15

partial knowledge not shown in speech

Question 17

what is gesture speech mismatch?

Answer 17

information conveyed in a gesture may not appear anywhere in accompanying speech

Question 18

what are the results for gestures 1 year old?

Answer 18

children fail the task regarding gesture and speech

Question 19

what are the results for gesture 2 year old?

Answer 19

children fail the task in their verbal response

show knowledge via gestures

this inconsistency shows the transition

Question 20

what are the results for gestures aged 3?

Answer 20

children pass the task through their gesture and speech

Question 21

how can we measure infant knowledge using preferential looking?

Answer 21

if infants can distinguish between different visual stimuli

have attentional preference for one over the other

works well for positive but not negative results (as inconclusive)

Question 22

how can intermodal preferential looking be used to measure infant knowledge?

Answer 22

determines if infants can link stimuli across different modalities

choice between two simultaneously presented visual stimuli

one matches an accompanying verbal stimulus

if infants comprehend the link- predicted to look longer at matching than non matching

Question 23

what is habituation?

Answer 23

organisms response to a repeated stimulus decreases over time

Question 24

what is dishabituation?

Answer 24

temporary recovery of a response which had habituated

new intense stimulus introduced or original stimulus removed= increased looking

Question 25

how can we measure infant’s knowledge using violation of expectancy?

Answer 25

repeated exposure to a particular event/stimulus

infants form expectations about how the world works

test phase= introduce unexpected event, goes against established expectations

Question 26

how can we use anticipatory looking to assess infant’s knowledge?

Answer 26

infants direct their attention to a specific location in anticipation of an event or stimulus

looking behaviour/prediction used to determine if they correctly anticipate what will happen next

Question 27

how can pupilometry be used to assess an infant’s knowledge?

Answer 27

analyse the change in the size of a pupil

dilates in response to cogntively demanding tasks/novel events/emotional stimuli