Lecture 3-Intelligence Flashcards

1
Q

2 techniques in studying neural changes

A

positron electron tomography (PET):3D image of functional processes in the body
functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI):detects neural activity in brain by detecting associated changes in blood flow related to changes in energy used by brain cells.

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2
Q

Neural developments over the lifespan

A

infancy: brain growth
childhood: lateralisation/plasticity-organs change and develop
adolescence: cortical changes
adulthood: gain-loss dialectic

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3
Q

neural developments in infancy

A

-birth: brain 25% adult weight
-2 years: brain 80% adult weight
SUBCORTICAL STRUCTURES-at birth, most mature
CEREBRAL CORTEX-most immature, particularly frontal cortex

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4
Q

dendrites+synapses+cortex? what happens at infancy..

A

-rapid growth of dendrites and synaptic connections among brain cells combines with cortical maturation
resultant behaviours: capacity to control neck muscles/motor coordination for sitting upright/gains socialization

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5
Q

Cortex take-over?what happens..

A
  • cortex takes over voluntary control from lower brain centre
  • changes in:reflexes/attention/sleep patterns
  • positive babinski sign
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6
Q

4 factors in increased brain weight in infancy

A

neurons
dendrites
synapses
myelination

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7
Q

dendrites

A

-addition of dendrites and axon terminals to form interconnections with each other.
TRANSIENT EXUBERANCE: initial dramatic burst in growth of dendrites
-allows brain to organise itself in response to stimulation from outside world.

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8
Q

synapses

A
  • growth of synapses, followed by pruning to simplify brains wiring
  • streamlines brains activities with maximum efficiency
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9
Q

myelination process

A

-speeds transmission of neural impulses
-rapid information processing
-brain control over motor functioning
GLIAL CELLS: myelination process governed by this, continues to grow throughout life, unlike neurons

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10
Q

2 developments of cortex

A

medial temporal lobe: 6 to 12 months-remember and imitate actions/recognize picture of object held in hands/crucial in language development.
frontal temporal lobe: later childhood-higher cognitive functions

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11
Q

primary neural developments in childhood

A
  • increase in brain size
  • myelination
  • lateralization
  • brains plasticity:growth and flexibility to change in response to experience
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12
Q

increase in brain size in childhood

A

-90% of adult volume by age of 5
GIEDD (2003): mri of brains of 1500 healthy children, growth in brains grey ARBORIZATION
-enhances plasticity in response to early experience

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13
Q

3 myelination process in childhood

A
  • sensory pathways:birth
  • hippocampus: 6 years-improved memorisation ability in preschool
  • reticular formation: brainstem, alertness and arousal + frontal cortex- process complete in adolescence
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14
Q

lateralisation in childhood

A

left hemisphere : speech-comprehension, problem solving,analytic thinking, language skills and reading
right hemisphere: music perception, artistic and musical, form/shape perception,spatial cognition, intuitive thought, creative inspiration
-specialisation for handedness and language begins in preschool and ends in puberty
-critical for language development
-implications for second language learning.

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15
Q

neural developments in adolescence

A

-cognitive abilities are more developed than in childhood

in comparison: abstract/metacognitive/multidimensional/relativistic

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16
Q

3 aspects linked with behavioural/emotional and cognitive development during adolescence

A

-cortical synapses
-neurotransmitters in limbic system
synaptic pruning and myelination of the prefrontal cortex

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17
Q

cortical synapses

A

growth means more efficient and focussed

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18
Q

neurotransmitters in limbic system

A

more emotionality
more responsive to stress
less responsive to rewards

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19
Q

synaptic pruning and myelination of the pre fontal cortex

A

more efficient at high level cognitive tasks

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20
Q

importance of brain exercise

A
  • brain cells continue to grow and regenerate throughout adult life
  • exercising the brain: wards off decline/enhances psychological functions
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21
Q

london taxi driver

A

-drivers had larger hippocampus in comparison to group of adult
HIPPOCAMPUS: associated with memory and navigation/grew larger the longer the drivers were on the job.

22
Q

brains declining weight. when?

A

-weight of average human brain declines from 40 to 90 years
HOWEVER:-gains in adult brain growth also occur within the context of ageing brain
-yet even in old age, brain cognitive development is a dialectical balance of gain against loss. SOC-SELECTIVE OPTIMISATION WITH COMPENSATION

23
Q

brain development in young adulthood

A

frontal lobes of cerebral cortex+ limbic system:

  • less impulsivity
  • increased ability to consider broad plans and make wise decisions: until age of 60, cognitive abilities improve-increased performance on tests of vocabulary, comprehension and general knowledge/learn new knowledge and skills/superior performance on complex mental tasks-reasoning and verbal memory
24
Q

brain in late adulthood

A

declines in late adulthood:

  • rapid and flexible manipulation of ideas and symbols
  • active thinking and reasoning
  • mental effort
25
Q

reasons for decline

A
  • specific disease processes (arteriosclerosis, prolonged alcohol abuse)
  • drugs given to treat age related ailments
  • terminal illness (alzheimers disease)
  • isolated, unstimulating institutional way of life.
26
Q

Late adult gains in brain

A

baltes (1992): increased in wisdom

27
Q

wisdom

A
  • expertise in fundamental pragmatics of life
  • rich, procedural knowledge (how to prioritise and weigh risks against probabilistic gains)
  • the capacity to avoid dogmatism or being judgemental
  • philosophic tolerance of uncertainty and the possibility of change
  • ability to infer what others are thinking-improves over the later adult years.
28
Q

Cognitive Developmental approach

A

Development thru thinking

29
Q

2 cognitive theorists

A

Jean Piaget

Lee vygotsky

30
Q

Piagets 4 stages of cognitive development

A

sensori motor stage (birth to 2 years)
pre operational stage (2 years to 7 years)
concrete operational stage (7 years to 11 years)
formal operational stage (11 years onwards)

31
Q

Sensori motor stage

A

-integration of sensory and motor abilities
OBJECT PERMANENCE-understanding that an object continue to exist when out of immediate perception
-development of mental representations

32
Q

pre operational stage

A

2 to 7 years old
2 sub stages:Pre-operational (2 to 4 yrs old)
-intuitive thought (4 to 7 yrs old)

33
Q

pre operational stage 2 to 4 yrs old

A
  • use of symbols to represent objects that are not present:deferred imitation, language
  • developing intuitive theories about the ways in which the world works: differences in children thought of adult thought.
34
Q

animism

A

belief that inanimate objects are alive and have consciousness

35
Q

egocentrism

A

belief that all others in the world have the same perspective as the child

36
Q

concrete operational stage

A

7 to 11 years old
CONSERVATION: ability to recognise that properties of a substance (number, length, weight, volume) remain constant despite changes in the shape of the substance .
VERTICAL DECALAGE: order in which conservation abilities occur.(number, length, liquid, mass, area, weight, volume)
CLASSIFICATION: ability to group sets of discrete items into a logical category
SERIATION: capacity to order quantifiable objects and events on a continuum

37
Q

the four operations

A

REVERSIBILITY-any operation in system has opposing operation that undoes/cancels its influence (addition/subtraction)
CLOSURE-logical & mathematical operations are grouped so that all individual operations are part of the group.
ASSOCIATIVITY- (no sticky notes)
IDENTITY-(no sticky notes)

38
Q

characteristics of formal operational thought

A

ABSTRACT-adolescents think more abstractly than children
IDEALISTIC-adolescents often think about what is possible
LOGICAL-adolescents begin to think more like a scientists

39
Q

Scientific characteristics

A

hypothetic deductive reasoning:pendulum problem
combinatorial logic: four beaker problem
propositional logic: syllogisms

40
Q

3 contributions of piagets theory

A
  • shifts with age
  • active exploring and constructing of knowledge
  • qualitative and quantitative differences from adult thought
41
Q

dialectical processes

A

assimilation: fitting new information into an already existing schema
accommodation: changing schema to incorporate new information.occurs when assimilation fails

42
Q

6 issues with piagets theory

A
  • underestimate abilities
  • changes between stages less consistent and global thought
  • conversational biases in experimental testing
  • ignores importance of social context on cognitive development
  • cognitive abilities continue to develop into adulthood.
43
Q

Vygotsky (1934)

A
  • zone of proximal development
  • scaffolding
  • cultural factors
44
Q

Findings of Schaies (1997) research

A
  • early adulthood to middle age-gains in all cognitive abilities
  • 50 to 60 years: peak mental performance in language ability, reasoning,memory, geometry, creatively fluent thinking
  • 67 years: some decline in numeric ability, but verbal ability and logical reasoning continued to show modest gains.
45
Q

Schaies stages of cognitive development

A
adolescence:acquisition-info is acquired
young adulthood:achieving-application of knowledge to real life problems
middle adulthood (30-60)-executive
young old (60-65)-reorganisation
old-old-reintegrative
46
Q

Intelligence

A

is the ability to : solve problems

-learn and adapt to new situations

47
Q

4 scientists measuring intelligence:

A
Francis Galton (hereditary genius): intelligence runs in families.
Alfred Binet (binet and simon scale): mental age/mental ability of child compared with what is average for his/her chronological age.
Lewis Terman (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale): scoring scheme based on new scoring scheme, based on Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
David Weschler (Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale): first intelligence scale for adults. 2 major innovations: distinguished verbal vs non verbal ability/discarded IQ in favour of new scoring scheme, the normal distribution
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION: curve according to which many characteristics are dispersed in population. Characteristics are symmetric, bell shaped, unimodal
48
Q

Theories of multiple intelligences

A
  • charles spearman: two factor theory
  • robert sternberg: triarchic theory of intelligence
  • howard gardner: multiple intelligences
49
Q

2 factor theory of Charles Spearman

A
  • all mental abilities share common core factor, general mental ability, g
  • specific mental abilities also exist, s
50
Q

3 Triarchic theory of intelligence Robert Sternberg

A

analytic
creative
practical

51
Q

8 multiple intelligences Howard Gardner

A

verbal, mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal, interpersonal, naturalist