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Development and Language > TB8 - Cognitive Learning > Flashcards

TB8 - Cognitive Learning Flashcards

1
Q

What would cognitive psychology say a “concept” is?

A

Concepts are general ideas that allow us to organise objects, events etc on the basis of some similarity.

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2
Q

What is the nativist argument for how we acquire concepts?

A

We are already born with some concepts

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3
Q

What is the empiricist argument for how we acquire concepts?

A

Concepts are only gained and formed via experience

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4
Q

How are categories formed?

A

Perceived similarities, associative learning or language/symbolic representation.

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5
Q

What does Rosch (1970) argue about learning concepts?

A

Basic levels are acquired first then we develop the concepts of super-ordinate or sub-ordinate categories.
For example, we would learn what a dog is, then learn more about smaller groups such as poodle, or larger groups like mammals.

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6
Q

Who argued that we acquire knowledge of basic levels (dog) before learning about super-ordinate (mammals) or sub-ordinate (poodles/bulldog etc)

A

Rosch (1970)

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7
Q

What did Bornstein and Arterberry (2010) argue about learning concepts?

A

We start by learning the super-ordinate (mammal), then develop more selection about basic (dog) categories and ordinate (poodle/bulldog etc) categories

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8
Q

Who argued that we start by learning concepts of super-ordinate categories, then develop concepts of basic and sub-ordinate categories?

A

Bornstein and Aterberry (2010)

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9
Q

Which belief about the development of concepts is more likely to be correct?

A

Bornstein and Aterberry (2010)

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10
Q

What is prototypicality?

A

How close something is to the typical idea of a category

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11
Q

What is the measure of how close something is to the typical idea of a category, and what is something that matches this idea called?

A

Prototypicality

Prototype

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12
Q

What is abstraction?

A

Filtering out information and selecting only that needed for a purpose/specific category.
For example abstracting a football so that it is only generalised as a ball.

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13
Q

What does the visual comparison test do?

A

It allows us to see what infants can distinguish between

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14
Q

Which test allows us to see what infants distinguish between?

A

The visual comparison test

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15
Q

What did Quinn, Eimas and Rosenkrantz (1993) do and find?

A

Familiarised infants to pictures of one kind of animal, then shown that animal alongside another. The infants look much longer at the one they haven’t seen before, so have habituated to the first animal.

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16
Q

At what age do we believe infants can use perceptual information to create abstract categories?

A

3 months old

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17
Q

What perceptual cues can infants use to form categories?

A

Basic visual features(shape, colour size)
Higher level visual features (spatial configuration)
Auditory cues (voice, phonetics)
Other perceptual cues (Touch/texture)

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18
Q

What did Pauen (2002) do and find?

A

Infants were exposed to animal toys. When introduced to a new animal toy they showed a small novelty effect and played with it more. However, when introduced to a toy from a new category completely (Eg: car) they played with it even more, showing a large novelty effect. The same effect was seen when the reverse occurred and the animal was from the new category of toys.

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19
Q

What are the ages and stages that development occurs in hidden object searching?

A

0-8 months: No search
8-12 months: Search for moved object in original location
12-18 months: Can find an object moved in front of them, but can’t track objects that change locations out of sight
18-24 months: Full object permanence/tracking

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20
Q

What do Meltzoff and Borton (1977, 1979) find evidence for?

A

Neonates can combine different modalities of perception as they can infer things from texture and imitate motor movements from vision.

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21
Q

Who found evidence for neonates inferring things from texture and imitating movements from seeing them?

A

Meltzoff and Borton (1977, 1979)

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22
Q

Then did Baillargeon (1987) find evidence for?

A

Infants can represent hidden objects even if they do not search for them.

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23
Q

Who found evidence for infants being able to represent hidden objects?

A

Baillargeon (1987)

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24
Q

What do nativists say we have knowledge about from birth (core knowledge)?

A

Objects
Actions
Numbers
Geometry

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25
Q

With regards to object knowledge, what is cohesion?

A

This is when objects move as connected and bounded wholes.

Infants will believe that two objects moving together are a whole.

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26
Q

With regards to object knowledge, what is continuity?

A

Objects can move on connected, unobstructed paths.

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27
Q

With regards to object knowledge, what is continuity?

A

Objects influence each other through contact

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28
Q

What did Gergleu, Bekkering and Kiraly (2002) find with regards to core action knowledge?

A

Adults turned a light on using their forehead. Infants were given the chance to imitate. If the adults’ hands were free then the infant would also use their forehead, but if the adults’ hand were restrained the infant would use their hands.
This suggests that the infants are considering the “why” of an action.

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29
Q

What did Izard (2009) find with regards to core number knowledge?

A

Infants could tell when numbers matched. For example, when played 16 sounds they looked longer at a presentation of 16 objects rather then a presentation of 4 objects, but switched when hearing 4 sounds.

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30
Q

When did Gouteux and Spelke (2001) find with regards to core geometrical knowledge?

A

Children can find objects using spatial cues, but only with large scale geometry like length of the wall as supposed to using specific objects like wall hangings.

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31
Q

List constraints of the nativist perspective.

A

It is difficult to measure exactly what is innate - when it emerges as behaviour cannot be a direct indicator of whether it is or isn’t innate.
It is difficult to understand how perceptual experience can change or shape innate qualities
It is hard to answer WHY something might be innate

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32
Q

What did Plunket (2008) do and find with regards to semantic information and categorisation in infants?

A

He created different groups of abstract animals. They were categorised based on features such as leg length, arm length, body size etc
In different experiments, children were habituated to different groups of these animals. When new groups were introduced, a novelty effect was seen.

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33
Q

What did Waxman (1990) find with regards to syntactic information and categorisation in infants?

A

Children were given words, and then shown photos of categories (such as animal, clothing and food). The children had to select the photo closest to the word they were given.
Children were better at categorising with nouns than with adjectives, suggesting nouns are associated with a superordinate category.
Children were better at categorising adjectives with subordinate categories.
Children use syntax when categorising.

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34
Q

What are the basic assumptions of the information processing perspective?

A

There is a limit to how much information we can process at once.
A written sentence may come in via the input, this will then be attended to, transformed into a mental representation and assigned meaning. The output will then be motor behaviour, or a decision, or a long term memory store.

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35
Q

How can our information processing change as we age?

A

Children’s brains mature as they age, which leads to advances in input, output and information processing.

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36
Q

How can we study memory in preverbal infants?

A

If they show a novelty effect between two pictures this suggests they have stored one of them in memory

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37
Q

How can operant conditioning be used to test whether pre-verbal infants have developed memory?

A

Infants showed the ability remember that kicking a mobile would make it move, therefore pleasing them.

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38
Q

Which factors affect the encoding of memories in infants?

A

Time: Infants at 12 months needed only 10 seconds to encode a shape, whilst at 6 months infants need at least 20 seconds.
Stimulus Complexity: It takes longer for infants to encode a shape if it is more complex, also younger infants cannot encode complex shapes until 4 months, and get better by 5-6 months.

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39
Q

What will trigger the retrieval of memories best?

A

Cues similar to the actual memory

40
Q

What are common memory strategies?

A

Rehearsal, Organisation and Elaboration

41
Q

What is meta-memory?

A

This is the ability to understand how you encode, retain and retrieve your memories. Your understanding of memory itself, and the ability to select strategies that optimise performance, get better as you get older.

42
Q

What is sensory memory?

A

Memory that includes vision (known as iconic memory), audition (echoic) and touch (haptic)

43
Q

What are the qualities of short-term (working) memory?

A

It has a central executive with a phonological loop and visual-spatial sketchpad.
Performance improves across childhood on a range of STM tasks.

44
Q

Which form of memory has It has a central executive with a phonological loop and visual-spatial sketchpad?

A

Short term memory

45
Q

Which impairments of STM are related to

  1. Dyslexia
  2. Dyscalculia
  3. Deficits in the central executive
A
  1. Impaired phonological loop
  2. Deficits in the visual-spatial sketchpad
  3. ADHD: Deficits in the central executive
46
Q

What are the qualities of long-term memory?

A

You can have either explicit or implicit memories (declarative or procedural) and episodic or semantic. It is autobiographical.

47
Q

What do claims suggest with regards to explicit/declarative and implicit/procedural memory

A

Implicit/procedural develops before explicit/declarative as the latter is associated with accessing language skills

48
Q

What does evidence suggest with regards to semantic and episodic memory?

A

That semantic emerges before episodic. 4 year olds showed much better capabilities of recalling where they had hidden a key after a length of time than 3 year olds.

49
Q

What is inhibition and what is an example of it?

A

This is when dominant responses are inhibited. For example in the stroop task we naturally want to read the word but inhibit this to state the colour.

50
Q

What is shifting/felxibility?

A

The ability to switch from one task to another. Accuracy increases with age but speed decreases.

51
Q

Which functions activate the PFC?

A

Executive functions such as inhibition and switching. This is why prefrontal areas are seen to develop later than primary motor areas, for example.

52
Q

What is ADHD and which symptoms are seen?

A

Attention Deficit Disorder

It shows persistent and impairing symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.

53
Q

What symbolises “inattention” in ADHD?

A

Careless mistakes
Difficulty sustaining attention
Struggles with listening and organising during tasks

54
Q

What symbolises “hyperactivity” in ADHD?

A 
Fidgets
Leaves seat when staying seated is expected
Difficulty engaging quietly 
Difficulty waiting
Blurts out speech
55
Q

What are two categories of treatments for ADHD?

A
  1. Psychological Interventions - Parental training, social skills training, cognitive training, classroom interventions
  2. Drugs - Psychostimulants, showing effects on core symptoms but there are unclear long-term effects
56
Q

What does Spearman argue “intelligence” is?

A

A single trait, referring to it as a general intelligence (g) to be used in many cognitive tasks.

57
Q

What do fluid and crystallised intelligence refer to?

A

Fluid - The ability to solve novel problems

Crystallised - The ability to use skills, knowledge and experience.

58
Q

What does Gardner argue with regards to intelligence?

A

We have multiple intelligences: linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalistic

59
Q

What is the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID)?

Which scales does it have?

A

This is an intelligence test for infants between the ages of 1 month and 3.5 years.
A mental scale, a motor scale, language, emotion, and adaptive behaviour

60
Q

What is the Standford-Binet test?

A

This is an intelligence test that places an emphasis on higher functions such as reasoning, judgements, memory and comprehension. It considers concepts such as mental age, cultural backgrounds and educational standards.

61
Q

What is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale? (WISC)

A

Provides a measure of intelligence in domains such as verbal comprehension (vocab) and perceptual reasoning (understanding categories and patterns)

62
Q

What is reliability vs validity?

A

Reliability refers to how consistently a test produces the same results, whilst validity refers to how accurately it measures what it claims to.

63
Q

Do IQ scores contimue?

A

Not necessarily, it was found that the correlation of IQ in infancy to 3 year olds is low. However, a correlation starts becoming stronger from the ages of 3 to 6.
This is effected by the proximity of the tests. They correlate more for 5-6 than 5-15.

64
Q

What is “nature” when it comes to the influence of development?

A

This refers to genetic contributions and genotype-environment interactions.

65
Q

What are the levels that “nurture” can be split into?

A

Microsystems - Family, school etc
Mesosystems - Interactions between those around you
Exosystems - Poverty, parents’ stress levels
Macrosystems - Cultural stereotypes

66
Q

What have studies shown about genetic correlations in intelligence?

A

Correlation is lower if family members are reared apart.

Correlation decreases as genetic similarities decrease.

67
Q

Give an example of a passive genotype-environment interaction

A

The genes of the parents will shape the home environment they create and so these genes will then be passed on the children. Therefore the environment is a marker of the genes but has not caused the trait.

68
Q

Give an example of an evocative genotype-environment interaction

A

Children inherit genes which emerge more due to the influence of those around them.

69
Q

Give an example of an active genotype-environment interaction

A

The children have inherited genes which cause them to select a specific environment. The environment isn’t affecting the genes, it is there because of them.

70
Q

Which things within the microsystem of the family can predict an infant’s intelligence?
And when is this correlation strongest?

A

Interactions between child and caregiver
How the child is disciplined
Types of toys available
How the child’s personal space is organised

The correlation is strongest at 3-5. Whilst the correlation was there from 2-8, it was then weaker at 6-8 potentially because of the school’s influence.

71
Q

Give an example of a mesosystem - how microsystems interact

A

The influence of a school environment will push against the influence of a home environment and vice versa

72
Q

How can the exosystem of poverty and social class influence a child’s intelligence?

A 
Family income before the age of 3 has been found to positively predict the child's IQ score at age 5.
Social class in the 1950s could predict the child's IQ at age 7, 9 and 11.
73
Q

What other social risk factors can be found in the exosystem that may impact IQ?

A 
Minority group status
Maternal education and mental health
Family size
Father absence
Stressful life events
74
Q

What do studies of adopted children show with regards to the effect of a macrosystem on IQ?
What does this suggest about the difference in IQ in races?

A 
Adopted children of all backgrounds show a drastic improvement in IQ score when adopted into and raised in a good environment. 
This shows that it is the social class of race (racism) that effects IQ, not the genetics of the race.
75
Q

What was found with regards to IQ and income?

A

IQ at 17 could predict income at 35 and again at 53. 15 points of IQ translated to a 3-12% earning increase.

76
Q

What are the three main areas in behaviourist theories of learning?

A

Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Observational conditioning

77
Q

How does learning occur with classical conditioning?

A

An association is built between two previously unrelated stimuli

78
Q

How does learning occur with operant conditioning?

A

One learns that one’s behaviour results in consequences (either positive or negative)

79
Q

What are neutral operants, reinforcers and punishers with regards to operant conditioning?

A

Neutral Operants - Responses from the environment have no effect on the probability of the behaviour being repeated
Reinforcer - Responses from the environment increase the the probability of the behaviour being repeated
Punisher - Responses from the environment decrease the the probability of the behaviour being repeated

80
Q

What is observational learning?

A

Changes in behaviour after observing another perform an action

81
Q

What kind of learning mechanisms do we have according to cognitivist accounts of learning

A

Learning through…
Statistical regularities
Association
Imitation

82
Q

What has been found with regards to children’s imitation?

A

It is goal directed and rational

83
Q

What has been found with regards to explanation-based learning?

A

Children who can explain things when they are doing them then perform better in other cognitive tasks

84
Q

What does the cognitive genetics perspective say with regards to what developmental disorders tell us about cognition?

A

If certain abilities are connected with a genetic disorder then we can infer how these genes interact with cognitive development.

85
Q

What does the neuroconstructivism genetics perspective say with regards to what developmental disorders tell us about cognition?

A

It is hard to know if a trait is the result of gene coding, or the result of something in the environment that changes gene expression.
This argument says that development causes gene expression and so the role of environmental interaction needs to be paid attention to.

86
Q

What are the physical features of William’s Syndrome?

A

Cardiac, musculoskeletal, renal and dental anomalies
Hypercalcemia
Small stature
Distinctive facial morphology
Problems with binocular vision
Hyperacusis (affects how you perceive sound)

87
Q

What are some typical personality traits of someone with William’s Syndrome?

A 
Love of music
Very friendly
Unafraid of strangers
Empathetic
Overactive, poor concentration
Anxiety and phobias
88
Q

What is impaired in William’s Syndrome, and what is still intact?

A

Impaired - Spatial and numerical skills, overall lower IQ ranging from 40-90
Intact - Language, face recognition, social interaction

89
Q

What does “double dissociation” refer to with regards to developmental disorder?

A

This is when there are impairments in TWO cognitive areas such as language and spatial cognition.
EG: William’s Syndrome and Autism would be double dissociation

90
Q

How is spatial ability compared with language in someone with William’s Syndrome?

A

Individuals tend to have expressive language, with greater strength of grammar and vocab than those with Down’s Syndrome. However, they struggle with understanding space, such as copying a drawing.

91
Q

What would the cognitive genetics perspective say with regards to language processing in WS?

A

Genes coding for language skills are intact, so when you see double dissociation with disorders where language is impaired you can infer which genes are linked to language.

92
Q

What would the neuroconstructivism perspective say with regards to language processing in WS?

A

The absence of certain genes may be associated with impaired/intact language, but we don’t know why. The environment may cause genes to be expressed that play a different role in our language development.

93
Q

How is social interaction in those with WS?

A

The richness of language appears to be social language - there are more references to affective states and evaluations of others’ behaviour.
During free play those with WS will initiate dyadic (engaging with others) interactions.

94
Q

How is facial recognition in those with WS?

A

Overall processing is relatively intact. Adults with WS can detect difference sin facial features bit struggled with facial configuration.

95
Q

How is social cognition in those with WS?

A

Although they show a strong interest in people, those with WS still perform poorly on theory of mind tests.
They also have trouble distinguishing irony and lies.

96
Q

What would the cognitive genetics perspective say with regards to social cognition in WS?

A

Genes coding for motivating social interest and interaction are intact, so when you see double dissociation with disorders where social interest is impaired you can infer which genes are linked to social cognition.

Development and Language (2 decks)

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