Lifespan and Science Inquiry Flashcards
Identify the aim/s of the research
- the purpose of what you are investigating
- a statement of what the researchers/ study aims to find out
- no predictions
Develop a research question based on the aim/s
- identify the problem
- usually done through research
- uses valid and reliable sources
- main aim is to build on work that has already been done
- develop a research questions
Independent
Experimental : manipulated
Non experimental: a difference exist but cannot be changed by the researcher
Eg caffeine tablets or placebo Vs Male or female
Dependent
- responding , change due to the independent variable in experimental or non experimental
Extraneous
- any variable other than the IV that may affect the DV.
Situational Variable ( Extraneous )
aspects of the environment might influence result ( noise, temp, lightning conditions etc. )
Participant variable ( Extraneous
the way in which each participants varies from the other ( mood, intelligence, anxiety, nerves, concentration )
Experimenter Effect ( Extraneous )
the experimenter unconsciously convey to participant how they should behave. Also, age, gender, accent, manner all impacts the experiment
Demand Characteristics ( extraenous )
clues in the experiment which conveys to the participant the purpose of the research. Participants change their behaviour to conform to expectations
Cofounding Variable
- If this is present in experiment – no valid conclusions can be drawn and it may distort finding in non-expt
- variable other than the IV that has systematically affected the DV because its influence is not evenly distributed across the levels of the IV
Experimental Hypothesis
- Manipulated the independent variable and measures the dependent variable
- Cause and effect
- Quantitative data
- Done through controlled and experimental groups
Non- Experimental Inquiry Questions
- Measure variables as they naturally occur without manipulation.
- Descriptive research through observations and interpretations
- Used when experimental methods can’t
- Variables cannot be changed e.g., sex or age
- Ethical concerns e.g., can’t start smoking
- Not convenient or possible e.g., change schools
- No random allocation to E or C group e.g., can’t allocate someone into marijuana group or non-marijuana group
- Can be qualitative or quantitative
- Done through case study, observation, archival study
Quantitative
- Used to measure variables and describe frequencies, averages and correlations
- Fixed and more structured techniques such as closed-ended questions
- Instrument or test-based
- Information is collected as numbers
- Used for statistical tests
- Hypothesis
Qualitative
- Used to understand subjective experiences, beliefs and concepts
- Semi-structured or unstructured techniques such as open-ended questions
- Not instrument or test based
- Information is collected as text
- Not used for statistical tests
- Inquiry Question
Directional Hypothesis
- Differentiates the experimental and control group
- Anticipates what the change will be
- Also called one-tailed hypothesis (you predict the way the experiment will go)
- Based on prior knowledge/research
- Caffeine intake will increase heart rate in adults compared to those who do not consume caffeine
Non-Directional Hypothesis
- Differentiates the experimental and control group
- Doesn’t anticipate what the change will be
- Also called two-tailed hypothesis (because it could go either way)
- Used when unsure as to what will happen to the DV
- Caffeine intake will alter heart rate in adults compared to those who do not consume caffeine
How to make a inquiry question ( qualitative )
Research will be designed to answer this question
The data collected will be qualitative/descriptive
Depending on the question, depends on what variables are involved
o How will participants describe changes in how they feel before and after consuming caffeine?
o Do males and females feel differently after they consume caffeine?
- minimise the effects of extraneous and confounding variables
random allocation of participants – ensures they are equally distributed between groups
single-blind procedures- the participants do not which study group they are in but in a double blind: neither the participant or the researchers know which study group is which
standardisation of procedures and instructions – to minimize the variance of the estimator which maximizes the power of the test
Prenatal ( Conception to Birth ) Physical
Physical: curl their toes, suck their thumbs and move their arms and legs ( 14 weeks )
small muscle like smile and grimace
Prenatal ( Conception to Birth ) Cognitive
unborn babies of 30 weeks listen to their mothers talk and learn sounds
Prenatal ( Conception to Birth ) Social and Emotional
some research has suggested that the foetus can sense and react to their mother emotions
Infancy ( Birth - 1 ) Physical
Gross Motor: hold their heads when on their stomach
- roll, crawl, sit without support, stand up and walk
Fine Motor: baby’s grasp reflexively to anything that touches their palm
Infancy ( Birth - 1 ) Cognitive
- show desire to communicate with others
- can react to facial expressions
infants use vocalisation like cries, cooing and babbling
around 1: partial words like da
Infancy ( Birth - 1 ) Social and Emotional
2mth: smiling
4mth: plays with others
6mth: responding emotion
9mth: clingy with primary caregiver
1 year: plays games like peek-a-boo
Childhood ( 1-12 yrs ) Physical
1yrs: Fine Motor: spoon, scribbling with a pen, unzipping zipper
Gross Motor Skill: walk, up steps, run,kick or throw a ball
5yrs: Fine Motor: turn book pages, use scissors
Gross Motor: hop, swing, run easily and walk up and down stair.
Childhood ( 1-12 yrs ) Cognitive
Age 3: vocab of 200 sentences of 2 or 4 words are used
Age 5: speak clearly, tell simple stories, and understand basic grammar.
Age 11: have vocab of 19000 words
Childhood ( 1-12 yrs ) Social and Emotional
Between 15 mths - 2 years: children experience self-awareness
Age 2: show affection to their family, engage in prentend play, have temper tantrum.
age 5: cooperate with other children, range of complex and develops self-concept
age 12: self esteem develops and decline at 12
6-12: develop relationships outisde of family
Adolescence ( 12-20 ) Physical
Fine motor skills: to sew, write ,draw and play an instrument requiring fine muscle coordination
Gross motor skills: to play adult sport s with specilaised skills within the sport
What is the role of brain plasticity?
- neural connections and pathways could not change with age… we now know, thanks to advances in brain scanning techniques e.g. fMRI, that this is incorrect.
- Neural connections can change throughout life (early
childhood, adulthood etc..) - They can influence bad habits and reinforce good habits.
- They can influence human emotion, thinking and decision
making.
If you do not use these neural pathways, they will weaken
and die. The more that you use neural pathways they will
strengthen and adapt.
What is brain plasticity ?
BRAIN PLASTICITY is the ability of neural connections to grow and reorganise.
How does brain plasticity help with injuries ?
Neuroplasticity provides protective effects in managing traumas during human development.
This occurs in all healthy people, especially children, after various problems like brain injuries.
Plasticity allows the brain to cope better with the indirect effects of brain damage resulting from inadequate blood supply following a stroke.
- the nervous system needs to rearrange itself to adapt to the unfolding situation that it faces.
- The genes program the body to have neuroplasticity so that animals can survive in unpredictable environments.
What is development plasticity ?
: The ability of neural connections in the brain to reorganise in response to sensory input from the environment.
* Occurs over a lifespan but diminishes with age.
What is adaptive plasticity ?
the ability of neural connections in the brain to reorganise in response to learning new information, or to compensate for lost functions and take advantage of remaining functions.
example of developmental plasticity :
- EXAMPLE OF DEVELOPMENTAL PLASTICITY: A baby practising a motor skill, such as turning the wheels of a toy truck (brain is functionally reorganised).
Example of adaptive plasticity:
- EXAMPLE OF ADAPTIVE PLASTICITY: Individual who has suffered a stroke is now suffering from Broca’s aphasia. This individual will be experiencing a heightened state of plasticity where neural connections will be rearranged and re-established. Speech therapy will be important
Stage 1: Proliferation
PROLIFERATION: Is the growth and division of cells, including neurons, that leads to the increase in the total cell number.
While most neurons are already formed when the infant is born, some neurons are still created during infancy.
There is still debate over whether the production of new neurons continues into childhood and throughout adulthood.
Stage 2: Migration
While an infant is born with around 100 billion neurons, there are still neurons being generated after birth from deep inside the brain.
Newly generated neurons move throughout the brain until reaching their final position; this position allows for connections between neurons (neural circuits) to be made.
Neurons migrate by following chemical trails laid
down by other neurons, or by moving along
scaffolding fibres in the brain.
Research has shown that the migration of neurons
end around the age of five months.
Stage 3: Circuit Formation
After neurons have migrated.
Neurons are able to form neural circuits (neural connections) whereby neurons send electrochemical messages between each other.
These connections can be within clusters of neurons, as well as over larger distances within the brain.
During infancy, neural circuits develop
rapidly, especially in primary sensory
cortex and primary visual cortex.
Stage 4: Synaptic Pruning
As infants are born with more neurons than required, neurons that do not form active neural connections die, those that have strengthen.
Synaptic pruning increases the efficiency of the nervous system by allowing remaining neural connections to strengthen and grow in complexity.
Stage 5: Myelination
A fatty substance called myelin starts growing over the axons of neurons, insulating neural connections, and allowing for faster and more efficient nerve impulse travel throughout the brain.
Myelination contributes to the dramatic brain growth typical in infants.
Myelination begins in the spinal cord,
then in the hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain
and finally, in the peripheral nervous system.
The role of the brain plasticity in adolescence?
- Circuit formation continues during childhood : the volume of grey matter is at its maximum.
- Synaptic pruning :increasing brain efficiency and specialisation of brain areas in response to sensory experiences.
- Loss of grey matter is a result of synaptic pruning progresses from the back of the front of the brain, with the pre-frontal cortex being the last to structurally change.
- The neural connections that remain after synaptic pruning undergo myelination, and while the process occurs in a few areas of the brain during adolescence, it does not occur in the pre-frontal cortex until approximately age 20.
- While young children can perform goal-directed behaviour through planning, attention and impulse control, these executive functions controlled by the prefrontal cortex are not able to be consistently used until brain plasticity occurs during adolescence.
Cerebellum During Adolescence
MAIN ROLE of the CEREBELLUM that you are aware of includes:
* Balance and co-ordination
* Posture
* Fine motor movement
* Voluntary control
However, there is evidence that suggest the cerebellum links with emotional regulation (e.g. aggression), risk-taking behaviour, emotional memory storage.
- Synaptic pruning affects behaviour and emotion significantly due to cerebellum (which takes up 10% of brain volume), consists of more than 50% of the neurons in the brain.
- Activity in the cerebellum has been linked to decision making, reward learning, motivation, emotional control and processing mood.
- Teenagers who are yet to have a fully developed typically display impulsive decision making and have some difficulties regulating emotion.
Corpus Callosum role in Adolescence:
The corpus callosum is a thick band of fibres that allows for communication between the two hemispheres
Thickness of corpus callosum increases during adolescence through the process of myelination.
Corpus callosum does not grow uniformly (various regions grow at different rates).
Hormonal surges may account for these growth patterns.
As the neural networks strengthen, leading to a stronger connection between two hemispheres , behaviour and emotional regulation continue to improve
The role of the amygdala:
-collection of nuceli deep within each temporal lobe
-play a role in emotional response (including modulation of fear) and the immediate behavioural reactions as a response to emotion.
-In adults – prefrontal cortex regulates the amygdala but during adolescence this is not the case as the prefrontal cortex is still developing, as are the connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Instead of the prefrontal cortex leading actions based on rational and logical thinking, the volatile amygdala guides many of the automatic actions.
The amygdala is highly reactional to emotional stimuli, such as facial expressions of other people, and situations perceived to be stressful.
This leads to teenagers being more likely to misinterpret emotions of others and social cues, consequently get into accidents or behave inappropriately without thinking before they act.
The role of the frontal lobe in adolescence:
FRONTAL LOBE DURING ADOLESCENCE:
* The frontal lobes evaluate emotions and use rational thinking when referring to past experiences before responding in a conscious manner.
This control of voluntary behaviour is not characteristic of teenagers as these lobes are one of the last regions of the brain to mature
FRONTAL LOBES DURING ADOLESCENCE; MYELINATION
* The frontal lobes are not completely myelinated until around the age of thirty, therefore teenagers have less white matter (myelinated axons) in this region compared to adults.
* Myelinated neurons improve connectivity between parts of the brain, and with the frontal lobes not yet fully connected, the reduced ability to integrate information from the brain regions affects cognition and emotional processes.
* The connection between frontal lobes and amygdala, for example, is still strengthening during adolescence, therefore teenagers may exhibit limited impulse control, poor decision making and planning and reduced emotional regulation (typically leading to mood swings).
Pre-frontal development during adolescence
PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX DEVELOPMENT
* Synaptic pruning begins at the back of the brain and continues forward with the prefrontal cortex being the last part of the brain to develop.
* This region is responsible for problem solving, attention and the ability to predict consequences of behaviours by referring to past experiences, and assessing whether these behaviours will lead to reaching a desired goal.
* This makes it easier to understand why some teenagers do not seem to assess potential risks and end up engaging in risky and dangerous behaviour.
* The ability to regulate emotion continues to improve during adolescence, as too does the ability to recognise emotions in other people.
Piaget’s Key Principle
Piaget believed that all children pass through a series of distinct, age-related stages in cognitive development.
He proposed that children’s thinking developed through a process of mental adaptation. They take in new information, interpret it and organise it in a way that makes sense to them.
Assimilation
Assimilation: involves the child applying existing mental structures or processes to new experiences.
Accommodation
Accommodation: involves the child changing their mental idea or representation in response to new information or experiences
Schema
Schema: the mental representation developed from their experiences, that represents a person’s general knowledge about different kinds of objects and events.
Equilibrium
EQUILIBRIUM: the state experienced when existing schema (based on prior knowledge), can account for new information.
Disequilibrium
DISEQUILIBRIUM: the state experienced when existing schema are unable to account for new information.
Sensorimotor ( 0-2 yrs )
- Children learn to coordinate purposeful movements with information from the senses by looking at, touching and mouthing objects in their immediate environment.
- Key characteristics and cognitive accomplishments:
Goal-directed behaviour: learning that there is a relationship between their actions and the external world, where they can manipulate objects and produce effects.
Object permanence: understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.
