Week 13 Flashcards
Problems with defining categories?
Objects in categories are surprisingly diverse
Psychological assumptions of well-defined categories are not correct (typicality)
There are borderline, fuzzy items
Typicality
Some things are better members to categories than others are
Figure this out by asking people
Fuzzy category boundaries
Borderline items, some things are not clearly in or out of categories
Theories of concept representation
Prototype theory-people have a mental description of what belongs in a category (weighted features)
Exemplar theory (you think of an object and unconsciously compare it to the other object)
How might knowledge influence concept learning?
When learning knew concepts, we try and connect them to knowledge we already know about the world
What is a category
A set of entities that are equivalent in some way
What is a concept
The mental representation of a category
Identify the main areas of cognitive development
Cognitive development is about change
Refers to the development of thinking over a lifetime
problem solving, reasoning, creating, conceptualizing, categorizing, remembering, planning, perceiving objects and events, obtaining goals and producing language
Describe the major theories of cognitive development
Piaget’s stage theory-development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages-sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational
Sociocultural theories-others attitudes, values and beliefs influence the child’s development
Information processing cognitive processes that underlie thinking at and one age and cognitive growth over time.
How does nature and nurture work together to produce cognitive development?
Children’s genes elicit different treatment from others, which influences their cognitive development
Parents determine children’s experience, altering their cognitive development
Why is cognitive development discontinuous or continuous?
It depends on how you look at it
And how often you look
Ex. facilitative object permanence is learnt over time (continuous)
Ex. Piaget’s object permanence was fast (discrete)
How is cognitive development being used to expand education?
Understanding cognitive development is important for education
An example is phonemic awareness (sounds within words to learn to read)
Numerical games will help with math skills later in life
What are the basic symptoms of ASD?
Impaired social functioning (eye contact, navigating group conversations)
Difficulties processing in visual and auditory social information
Distinguish components of the social brain
It is the set or neuroanatomical structures that allow us to understand the actions and intentions of other people
Consists of the amygdala, orbital frontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and posterior superior temporal sulcus
Social brain differences in those with ASD
Those with ASD have reduced activity in the superior temporal sulcus (biological motion perception)
How might neuroscience facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of ASD?
Biomarkers allow for early identification of ASD
Shows developmental trajectories across the first 3 years of life (not reliable as infancy is already highly unreliable)
ERP measures brain response (great promise of brain imaging for earlier recognition)
Only important to treat early so that they can be given the supports needed to accommodate for their differences
Piaget’s stage theory
focuses on whether children progress through qualitatively different stages of development
Identify the order of Piaget’s stage theory
Sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years)
Peoperational reasoning stage (2-7 years)
Concrete operational reasoning stage (7-12)
Formal operational reasoning stage (12-life)
Concrete operations stage
2-12
children can think logically about concrete solutions but not engage in systematic scientific reasoning
Formal operations stage
12-life
reasoning powers of educated adults
Preoperational reasoning stage
2-7 years
children can represent objects through drawing and language but can’ solve logical reasoning problems
Sensorimotor stage
birth - 2
children come to represent the enduring reality of objects
