Module 7 Flashcards
3 aspects of attention
orienting, selecting, maintaining
orienting
directing attention to specific objects or locations. attention getting
- newborns do this; improves over infancy
selecting
focus on some things; filter out others
- present early; improves over infancy
maintaining
continuing to attend despite potential distractions. attention holding
- considerable development over infancy and beyond
disengagement
- younger infants also find it hard to disengage: sticky looking
- true for all (even adults), especially true for young infants
selective attention
- in an array infants attend first to:
- novel objects
- bright/ colorful objects (early on)
- faces (from 6 months); look longer to faces all along, just not necessarily first
selective attention in US vs China
objects (US) vs. actions (china) @ age 2
before and after 6 months maintaining attention
before: younger look longer at same stimulus than older
after: look longer at more complex objects
SES vs. maintaining attention
- in US, higher SES infants better maintain attention than lower SES infants of same age
episodic memories
- memories of events including what, where, with whom…
childhood amnesia
infants before age 3 or 4 find it hard to keep memories long-term (if they do, may actually be due to stories you’ve heard)
how to study memory in infancy
habituation, visual recognition memory, operant conditioning, and deferred imitation
habituation
- if they habituate (get bored with= look less over time) to repeated stimulus, suggests they remember it
- if they dishabituate to novel things, suggest don’t remember it
visual recognition memory
- visual paired comparison test
- familiarize to one stimulus, later examine preference for novel stimulus
- if distinguish (prefer) novel, suggests remember familiar
- can insert a variety of delays to test memory capacity
- familiarize to one stimulus, later examine preference for novel stimulus
operant conditioning
baby causes outcome via operand
- insert delay –> do they remember it?
- 6 mos retain for 2 weeks, 18 mos retain for 3 mos
deferred imitation
do novel thing a baby can’t do, after how long do they still reproduce action?
3 principles of infant memory
- older infants encode info faster
- habituation rates decrease with age - older infants remember info longer
- older infants retrieve more easily
- exploit a wider range of cues
mobile/train studies
- 2 mo remember for 1 day
- 6 mo remember for 2 wks
- 12 mo remember for 8 wks
- 18 mo remember for months
when do babies start to show more context-insensitivity?
after 12 mos
memory is better when:
- learning involves verbal description (18 mos)
- learning occurs across related contexts- supports generalization
- practice is possible
individual differences in memory
- short lookers do better on recognition, but also language, play, intelligence
- babies with better motor development
- babies who nap: nap= better memory
- bilingual babies do better on generalization tests
categorization
responding to different entities that share some commonality as members of the same category
concept
mental representation of a category
how are categories useful?
we don’t have to learn new info about every new exemplar; frees up cognitive resources to do other stuff
ways to categorize
- by shape (balls are round)
- by function (chairs are for sitting)
- more abstract properties (knick knacks)
general imitation procedure (14 mos)
- give baby two new toys and bottle, on which do they model drinking?
- suggests they understand that animals drink, vehicles do not
sequential touching procedure
- give multiple exemplar from 2 or more categories
- categorization inferred if infants touch exemplars from one category in sequence before the other
- 12 mos +
how early do infants categorize?
- newborns showed preference for novel form!
- newborns could discriminate within-category items
acquired equivalence
items given same verbal label increase in similarity, items given different labels decrease
piagetian theory
- the child actively constructs knowledge
- child as scientist- generates hypotheses, performs experiments, draws conclusions
- child as motivated, active learner- learning for its own sake
assimilation
fit new info into existing mental structures (schemas)
accommodation
change schemas in response to new experiences
equilibration
balance assimilation and accommodation
important stuff on piagetian theory
- stages are distinct and discontinous
- qualitative change
- domain general
- invariant order
information processing theories
mind as computer
- emphasis on structure (brain, neuronal connections) and processes (attention, memory) involved in thinking
- child as limited-capacity processor
core knowledge theories
- innate knowledge of domains that would have been important in evolutionary history
- children has innate capacities that are domain-specific
- child as active but also specialized learner
vygotsky and tomasello
- vygotsky most notable sociocultural theorist historically; michael tomasello prominent today
sociocultural theories
different contexts support learning different things, in different ways
- more knowledgeable other guides less knowledgeable
- learning best in zone of proximal development- just above what child can currently do on their own
sociocultural view of children’s nature
- social being that is shaped by, and shapes, its cultural context
- urge to teach to be taught (Active)
- learning is continuous, quantitative, gradual
- domain general (learn all kinds of things from others)
piagets sensorimotor stage
mostly concerned with object concept= how an infant understands the properties of solid objects
piagets stage 1
reflexes (0-1 month)
- reflexes most primitive form of schema
- development= schema modified, improved upon 1st month
- object concept: objects don’t exist outside of infant’s interactions with them (sensory and motor)
- the mom they see, hear, smell, taste, feel: all diff, infant cannot integrate across
piagets stage 2
primary circular reactions (1-4 months)
- motor schema from stage 1 are applied to new objects by chance
- repeated because produce a desired effect, feels good
- usually happens on infant’s own body (lip licking scheme)
piagets stage 3
secondary circular reactions (4-8 months)
- schema applied to objects outside of their own body
- through accident and accommodation, new schema are developed from actions that produce interesting effects
- object concept: getting better, but objects still embedded in schema
piagets stage 4
coordination fo secondary schema (8-12 months)
- large # of independent schema get coordinated into a few complex and flexible schema; applied to new situations
- means-ends behavior emerges
- pulling something to bring something else closer
- applying multiple schema to the same object allows for object permanence
- objects now have enduring properties
object permanence in stage 4
- babies now search for objects that are out of sight!
- but still weak on ability to integrate schemes= weak object concept, especially when objects are hidden (A not B error)
piagets stage 5
tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)
- schema used intentionally to help babies understand their worlds; active experimentation
- schema now pretty subordinate to objects
- search for hidden objects
- pass A not B task
- but still fail at invisible displacement
piagets stage 6
invention of new means through mental combination (18 +)
- schema fully flexible, fully functioning object concept (even invisible displacements)
- symbolic thought develops
- language, objects as symbols— mental representations totally distinct from objects in world
- pretend play starts to develop
why A not B error?
- motor issues: transparent barrier task (babies fail the same when having to reach out even if there’s a transparent barrier and they can clearly see the object, so no object permanence needed)
- memory issues: built up motor memory (reaching to a) competes with short term sensory memory (toy at B)
- the longer you make babies wait before searching, the more they fail- suggests failure due to sensory memory decay
visual A not B task
- repeatedly hide/find object in A
- then switch to hide in B
- 2.5 month olds look longer when object reappears in A
- they SOLVE this task! they seem surprised after they get it moved to B
core knowledge general object permanence
- continuity: no blipping
- solidity/ cohesion: objects don’t disintegrate
- support/ gravity: unsupported objects fall
- contact causality (no action at a distance): objects need outside force to move
studying continuity and solidity
babies have principles of continuity, solidity/cohesion, causality (no action at a distance), and support very early in life before they themselves are manipulating objects
contact causality
objects must come into contact with each other in order to cause changes in each other
time perception in infants
sensitivity to time appears to emerge early
