W3L1 - Core Knowledge Theories

Question 1

What is the difference between eye gazes of 1 mo vs 3 mo and what does it mean

Answer 1

1 mo: Look everywhere

3 mo: Focus on eyes (Convey emotions)

Question 2

What is the sound for fetus and newborns

Answer 2

Fetuses:

• Hear/Learn sounds during the last two months of pregnancy
• Recognise mother’s voice at birth

Newborns:

• Cannot hear soft sounds as well as adults
• Fairly good at determining the location of a sound

Question 3

What are the 4 piaget stages and brief description

Answer 3

Sensorimotor (0-2): Senses and Actions
Pre-Operational (2-7): Symbols and Mental Images
Concrete Operation (7-12): Logical thinking and categories
Formal Operational (>12): Hypothetical thinking and Scientific Reasoning

Question 4

What are the 3 tasks/properties in Pre-Operational Stage

Answer 4

Three Mountain Task
Egocentric-ism
Conservatism

Question 5

What is the three mountain task

Answer 5

> Ask to choose picture of doll sitting across the table would see
Most children below age 6 choose the picture showing how the scene looks to them,
Difficult to separate own perspective from others

(ToM)

Question 6

What is egocentricism

Answer 6

Focusing on own perspective

Question 7

What is conservatism

Answer 7

Below age 7:

• Taller liquid column has more liquid
• Longer sausage has more clay
• Longer row has more objects

Question 8

How many sub-stages are there in sensorimotor stage and give a time

Answer 8

6 sub-stages
Substage 1: 0-1 mo
Substage 2: 1-4mo
Substage 3: 4-8mo
Substage 4: 8-12mo
Substage 5: 12-18mo
Substage 6: 18-24mo

Question 9

Substage 1

Answer 9

0-1mo:

Modify reflexes
Centered on own body

Question 10

Substage 2

Answer 10

1-4mo

Organize reflexes
Integrate actions

Question 11

Substage 3

Answer 11

4-8mo

Repetition of actions resulting in pleasurable or interesting results
Object Permanence

Question 12

Substage 4

Answer 12

8-12mo

Begin searching for hidden objects (memory representation)
Fragile mental representations
A-Not-B Error

Question 13

Substage 5

Answer 13

12-18mo

Active exploration of potential use of objects

Question 14

Substage 6

Answer 14

18-24mo

Enduring mental representations

Question 15

What is object permanency, What is it indexed by. When is it mastered.

Answer 15

Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched.

Indexed by infant search behaviours (SIMPLE HIDING PROBLEM)

0-5 months:

• Toy placed under a towel as the baby watches
• Infants no active search (Object no longer exist)

Mastered between 6 and 9 months

Question 16

What is A-not-B error. What is it indexed by. When is it mastered.

Answer 16

Changed Hiding Place

8-12 months:

• Toy placed under tower A and baby retrieves it
• Toy hidden under towel B, next to the first, in plain view of the child
• Despite having watched the object disappear under the new napkin, the baby reaches under the original napkin

Mastered between 10 and 12 months

Question 17

What is invisible displacement.

Answer 17

12-18 months:

• Infant watch hand close around toy and hide from view
• Closed hands move under napkin to deposit toy
• Hand brought to view, Infant look under hand, not napkin.

Mastered by 18 months

Question 18

What does Object Permanence, A-not-B, and invisible displacement suggest

Answer 18

All suggest development of mental representation

Question 19

What are pros of Piaget

Answer 19

1. ) Good overview of children’s thinking at different points
2. ) Broad spectrum of development and ages
3. ) Fascinating observations

Question 20

What are cons of Piaget

Answer 20

1. ) Stage model depicts children’s thinking as more consistent than it is
2. ) Infants and young children are more cognitively competent than Piaget recognised
3. ) Vague about the cognitive processes that results to thinking / mechanism that produce cognitive growth&raquo_space;> no light on information processing accounts of developmental change.

Question 21

What are core knowledge theories

Answer 21

Children are born with many specialized (not only general) learning abilities (v.s. Piaget’s general model)

Question 22

What is possible vs impossible events

Answer 22

Tests of object permanence (3.5 months)

1. ) Habituated young infants to the sight of a screen rotating through 180 degrees.
   2a. ) POSSIBLE: the screen rotated up, occluding the box, and stopped when it reached the top of the box
   2b. ) IMPOSSIBLE: the screen rotated up, occluding the box, but then continued on through 180 degrees

> Infants looked longer at the impossible event, showing they mentally represented the presence of the invisible box.

Question 23

What is observational learning in the possible vs impossible events

Answer 23

Knowing the number of things
Objects in case + 1 more = 2

Possible: 2
Impossible: 1

Question 24

What are core knowledge theory systems

Answer 24

1. ) Domain Specific (each system represent only a small subset of the things)
2. ) Task specific (each system functions to solve a limited set of problems)
3. ) Encapsulated (each system operates with a fair degree of independence from other cognitive systems; e.g. 1 for object, space number)

Question 25

What are six suggestions of initial knowledge in core knowledge theory

Answer 25

1. ) Domain Specific
2. ) Constrained
3. ) Innate
4. ) Emerges early in development
5. ) Constitute core of mature knowledge
6. ) Task Specific

Question 26

What about the brain in infancy (0-2)

Answer 26

Brain continues developing past infancy

• EEGs show regular spurts in the brain’s electrical activity (may coincide with important changes in cognitive development)

Brain Birth: 25% of its adult weight;
Brain 2 y.o: 75% of its adult weight