Week 13: Cognitive Development Flashcards
What is the purpose of mental concepts of categories?
To permit appropriate responses to new objects encountered.
What is a basic-level category?
The most salient category at an intermediate level of specificity (e.g., chairs rather than furniture).
What are the two main theories of how people learn concepts?
- Summary description of a whole category
- Learning exemplars of the category
What is the relationship between concepts and knowledge?
People can more easily learn concepts that are consistent with their knowledge.
What are concepts in psychology?
Mental representations of categories.
What is an example of a category that may not have a clear definition?
Planets, as evidenced by the debate over Pluto’s classification.
True or False: Categories are traditionally assumed to be well-defined.
True.
What are fuzzy categories?
Categories with unclear boundaries that can shift over time.
What did Hampton (1979) find about category membership?
Items are not clear members or nonmembers, but form a continuum.
What is typicality in the context of categories?
The degree to which an item is considered a good example of a category.
How does typicality influence cognition?
- Judged category members more often
- Faster categorization
- Learned before atypical items
- Easier language comprehension
- Typical items produced first in language.
What does the family resemblance theory propose?
Items are typical if they have features frequent in the category and not frequent in other categories.
What is an example of a category hierarchy?
brown bear > bear > mammal > vertebrate > animal > entity.
Fill in the blank: The most typical category member is often called the _______.
[category prototype]
What did Rosch and Mervis (1975) demonstrate about typical items?
Subjects learned items with common features before those with less common features.
What influence does frequency have on typicality?
Frequency has some effect, but it’s not the most important variable.
What is the significance of borderline items in categories?
They illustrate that category membership can be ambiguous and subjective.
What did McCloskey and Glucksberg (1978) find about people’s judgments of category membership?
People often change their judgments about borderline items.
How do children typically label categories according to Brown (1958)?
They tend to use the names that adults prefer to use.
What is the core function of concepts in intelligent behavior?
To allow individuals to know what to do in new situations.
Fill in the blank: Concepts allow you to extend what you have learned about a limited number of objects to a _______ set of entities.
[potentially infinite]
What is an example of a borderline category item?
An olive being considered a fruit.
What is the preference for the basic level of categorization?
It refers to the tendency to label categories at a level that is neither too specific nor too general.
This concept was first studied in detail by Eleanor Rosch and her students.
Who first studied the basic level of categorization?
Eleanor Rosch and her students.
Reference: Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, & Boyes-Braem, 1976.
What is the Goldilocks effect in categorization?
The idea that the basic level of categorization is just right—not too specific and not too general.
Example: ‘bear’ is a basic level label compared to ‘northern brown bear’ (subordinate) and ‘animal’ (superordinate).
What did Rosch et al. (1976) find about basic-level categories?
They found that basic-level labels are much more frequent than subordinate or superordinate labels in printed text.
They also found that people were faster at identifying objects as members of basic-level categories.
True or False: Basic-level categories are harder to learn than subordinate categories.
False. Basic-level categories are usually easier to learn than subordinate categories.
What influences the preferred level of categorization?
People’s knowledge and interest in the categories.
For instance, experts may prefer more specific categories than novices.
What is prototype theory in concept representation?
It suggests that people have a summary representation of a category, typically based on weighted features.
Reference: Smith & Medin, 1981.
What is exemplar theory in concept representation?
It posits that concepts are represented by remembered examples (exemplars) rather than a summary representation.
Reference: Medin & Schaffer, 1978.
Fill in the blank: According to prototype theory, the features of a category are _______.
[weighted by their frequency in the category]
What do people do when they want to classify an object according to exemplar theory?
They compare it to exemplars in their memory and judge similarity.
This involves calculating similarity scores for different categories.
What is psychological essentialism?
The belief that some categories have an underlying property that is unique to that category and causes other features.
This is often observed in natural kinds like animals and plants.
How do people’s existing knowledge affect learning new concepts?
People try to connect new concepts to what they already know about the world, which influences how quickly and effectively they learn.
For example, learning about new technology often draws on prior knowledge of related devices.
What did Keil’s (1989) experiment reveal about essentialism?
Subjects believed that a raccoon altered to look like a skunk was still a raccoon, demonstrating the belief in an underlying essence.
In contrast, they accepted that a modified coffeepot could become a bird feeder.
List three signs of essentialism.
- Belief in strict category membership (in or out)
- Resistance to change in category membership
- For living things, belief in an unchangeable essence.
What is the belief that members of a category have an unseen property that causes them to be in the category?
Psychological essentialism
Psychological essentialism suggests that certain attributes are intrinsic to members of specific categories.
What are the signs of essentialism?
- Objects are believed to be either in or out of the category, with no in-between
- Resistance to change of category membership or of properties connected to the essence
- For living things, the essence is passed on to progeny
These signs help identify essentialist thinking in categorization.
True or False: Essentialism applies only to person categories.
False
Essentialism can apply to various categories, not just those involving people.
How do concepts of different kinds of people develop in childhood?
They are learned through various processes, but the exact mechanisms are still under investigation
Research is ongoing to understand how these concepts may change in adulthood.
What is a basic-level category?
The neutral, preferred category for a given object, at an intermediate level of specificity
Basic-level categories are often the most informative and commonly used.
Define ‘category’ in the context of concepts.
A set of entities that are equivalent in some way, usually similar to one another
Categories help organize knowledge and facilitate understanding.
What is an exemplar?
An example in memory that is labeled as being in a particular category
Exemplars are used to compare new instances against known categories.
What does typicality refer to in categorization?
The difference in ‘goodness’ of category members, ranging from the most typical (the prototype) to borderline members
Typicality affects how easily a member is recognized as part of a category.
What influences the differences in concepts across cultures?
Different interests and interactions with the world
Cultural context plays a significant role in how concepts are formed and understood.
What conclusion can be drawn about the relationship between concepts and everyday thought?
Concepts are central to our everyday thought and influence our expectations and behaviors
Understanding categories helps in planning and interacting with the world.
Fill in the blank: Essentialism may emphasize the difference between groups and even justify _______.
discrimination
This is particularly evident in the context of gender, racial, and ethnic groups.
What challenges does essentialism present when applied to humans?
It may reinforce stereotypes and justify discrimination
Essentialist beliefs can lead to harmful societal perceptions.
What is the role of neural structures in understanding concepts?
Different aspects of concepts are likely accomplished by different neural structures
Research indicates that concept formation is a complex cognitive process.
True or False: All cultures share the same categories without any differences.
False
While there are common categories, the interpretation and importance of those categories can vary significantly across cultures.
What historical belief about group differences is associated with essentialism?
The belief in inheriting ‘bad blood’ and negative properties from one’s family or group
This belief perpetuates stereotypes and biases.
What is the significance of understanding how concepts differ across cultures?
It helps in recognizing the interplay between culture, environment, and cognitive processes in concept formation
This understanding is crucial for cross-cultural communication and psychology.
What is cognitive development?
Cognitive development refers to the development of thinking across the lifespan.
It involves higher mental processes like problem solving, reasoning, and understanding language, as well as basic mental processes like perceiving objects.
What are the main areas of cognitive development?
- Problem solving
- Reasoning
- Creating
- Conceptualizing
- Categorizing
- Remembering
- Planning
These areas encompass both higher-order thinking and basic mental processes.
What distinguishes stage theories from sociocultural theories of cognitive development?
Stage theories focus on qualitatively different stages of development, while sociocultural theories emphasize the influence of culture and social interactions on development.
Examples include Piaget’s stage theory and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory.
How do nature and nurture interact in cognitive development?
Nature refers to biological endowment, while nurture encompasses environmental influences. Both interact to produce cognitive development.
This interaction shapes all aspects of development.
What is the nature-nurture issue?
The nature-nurture issue questions whether traits like intelligence are due to genetics or environmental influences.
In reality, cognitive development is shaped by the interaction of both.
What is an example of nature and nurture interaction in visual development?
Depth perception development depends on seeing patterned light and normal brain activity in response to it.
Lack of visual experiences can hinder normal development.
True or False: Children actively shape their own cognitive development.
True.
Children choose what to attend to, affecting their cognitive growth.
What are the four stages proposed by Piaget?
- Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years)
- Preoperational reasoning stage (2 to 6 or 7 years)
- Concrete operational reasoning stage (6 or 7 to 11 or 12 years)
- Formal operational reasoning stage (11 or 12 years and beyond)
Each stage represents different ways of reasoning and understanding the world.
What is object permanence, according to Piaget?
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible.
Infants younger than 9 months do not demonstrate this understanding.
What cognitive limitation do children exhibit during the preoperational stage?
Children tend to focus on a single dimension when solving problems, ignoring other relevant dimensions.
This is evident in Piaget’s conservation tasks.
What cognitive abilities are developed during the concrete operations stage?
Children think logically in most situations but struggle with systematic scientific reasoning.
They may perform biased experiments leading to incorrect conclusions.
What does the formal operations stage allow children to do?
Children attain the reasoning power of mature adults, enabling them to solve complex problems.
This stage often requires exposure to formal education.
What evidence suggests that cognitive development may be more continuous than Piaget believed?
Research shows that infants can demonstrate earlier knowledge of object permanence under shorter waiting periods.
Findings indicate that developmental changes can occur gradually.
Fill in the blank: Cognitive development can be viewed as _______ changes or _______ changes.
continuous; discontinuous
This reflects the debate on whether cognitive development occurs gradually or in distinct stages.
How has cognitive development research been applied to education?
It has improved understanding of reading skills, particularly the importance of phonemic awareness.
Measurement of phonemic awareness includes various tasks related to sound recognition in words.
What is phonemic awareness?
Awareness of the component sounds within words
It is crucial for learning to read.
What is the strongest predictor of reading achievement in third and fourth grade?
Kindergartners’ performance on phonemic awareness tasks
This is even stronger than IQ or social class background.
What effect does teaching phonemic awareness to 4- and 5-year-olds have?
Results in better reading skills years later
Supported by research from the National Reading Panel (2000).
How can playing numerical board games benefit young children?
Gives a developmental advantage in mathematics
Games like Chutes and Ladders help children understand numbers.
What is the relationship between income level and children’s mathematical knowledge before kindergarten?
Children from low-income backgrounds lag behind those from affluent families
This difference is attributed to less frequent engagement in numerical activities.
What types of cues do games like Chutes and Ladders provide for learning numerical magnitudes?
Spatial, kinesthetic, verbal, and time-based cues
These cues help in understanding the sizes of numbers.
What improvements were observed in low-income children after playing numerical games for approximately 1 hour over 2 weeks?
Knowledge of numerical magnitudes, ability to read printed numbers, skill at learning arithmetic problems
Gains lasted for months after the game-playing experience.
What part of the brain continues to develop throughout adolescence?
Prefrontal cortex
Involved with planning and flexible problem solving.
What is the significance of understanding cognitive development in education?
It informs methods to enhance children’s learning in language and mathematics
Emphasizes that brains are adaptable organs.
What does Piaget’s theory suggest about development?
Development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages
Stages include sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
What is the concrete operations stage in Piaget’s theory?
Stage between ages 7 and 12 when children can think logically about concrete situations
They cannot engage in systematic scientific reasoning.
What are conservation problems?
Problems involving physical transformation of objects that change a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity
Pioneered by Piaget.
What characterizes continuous development?
Development occurs in a gradual incremental manner
Opposite of discontinuous development.
What is depth perception?
The ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself of objects in the environment
Important for spatial awareness.
What is the formal operations stage?
Piagetian stage starting at age 12, where adolescents gain reasoning powers of educated adults
Continues for the rest of life.
What do information processing theories focus on?
Describing cognitive processes that underlie thinking at any one age
Also examines cognitive growth over time.
Define nature in the context of child development.
The genes that children bring with them to life
Influences all aspects of their development.
What are numerical magnitudes?
The sizes of numbers
Important for understanding mathematical concepts.
Define nurture in the context of child development.
The environments that influence all aspects of children’s development
Begins from the womb.
What is the object permanence task?
A Piagetian task where infants below about 9 months fail to search for an object removed from sight
Demonstrates understanding of the enduring reality of objects.
What is phonemic awareness crucial for?
Learning to read
It involves awareness of the sounds that make up words.
What are qualitative changes in development?
Large, fundamental changes, such as a caterpillar changing into a butterfly
Reflects stage theories like Piaget’s.
What are quantitative changes in development?
Gradual, incremental changes, like the growth of a pine tree’s girth
Opposite of qualitative changes.
What is the preoperational reasoning stage?
Period from age 2 to 7 years where children can represent objects through drawing and language
They cannot solve logical reasoning problems.
What do sociocultural theories emphasize?
The influence of other people and cultural attitudes, values, and beliefs on children’s development
Founded in large part by Lev Vygotsky.
What is autism often referred to as?
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC)
Autism is a developmental condition that usually emerges in the first three years and persists throughout an individual’s life.
What are the three general categories of symptoms associated with autism?
- Difficulties in social interactions
- Communication challenges
- Repetitive or restricted interests, cognitions, and behaviors
What is social neuroscience?
The study of the parts of the brain that support social interactions or the ‘social brain’
Understanding social brain systems can help identify genes associated with autism.
What is the significance of the social brain in autism?
Social brain systems emerge in infancy and remain malleable well into adulthood, allowing for creative interventions.
What is the diagnostic process for autism?
A combination of parental report and clinical observation
Children with significant impairments in social/communication domains who exhibit repetitive behaviors can qualify for a diagnosis.
Who first described autism and when?
Kanner in 1943
What does the social brain consist of?
- Amygdala
- Orbital frontal cortex (OFC)
- Fusiform gyrus (FG)
- Posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS)
Each structure serves a distinct role in processing social information.
How does the amygdala function within the social brain?
It helps recognize the emotional states of others and regulates our own emotions.
What is the role of the fusiform gyrus (FG)?
Detects faces and supports face recognition.
What is the primary focus of fMRI in studying social perception?
Measures levels of oxygen in the brain to identify active regions during social stimuli processing.
What does ERP measure in the context of brain activity?
Firing of groups of neurons in the cortex
ERP records electrical currents created by neuronal activity.
True or False: There is currently a biological test for autism.
False
What do neurotypical children show regarding face recognition in their early development?
Preferential attention to faces and the ability to recognize individual faces emerge in the first days of life.
What is observed in autistic children regarding their attention to faces?
Decreased attention to human faces by six to 12 months.
What is the significance of studying the social brain in autism diagnosis?
It may reveal diagnostically meaningful subgroups of Autistic children.
What do differences in processing stages during social tasks indicate?
- Problems with low-level visual perception
- Problems with higher-order processes, such as emotion recognition
What is a goal of integrating imaging methods in autism research?
To improve the ability to tailor supports to the individual based on brain-behavior performance.
Fill in the blank: The social brain is hypothesized to consist of the _______.
[key learning term: amygdala, OFC, fusiform gyrus, STS]
What do clinicians gain from neuroimaging studies of autistic individuals?
A better understanding of brain disorders and individual differences
Neuroimaging provides insights into the brain’s functioning, which can inform treatment and support strategies.
What is the significance of identifying distinct subgroups within autism?
Allows for a more accurate understanding of individual differences and aids in genetic research
Identifying subgroups could lead to targeted investigations into the genetic causes specific to each group.
What are endophenotypes?
Characteristics reflecting an underlying genetic potential that are stable across the lifespan
They reveal basic components of complex psychiatric conditions and are less malleable than observable behavior.
Why is early detection of autism important?
It allows for timely intervention that can ameliorate social and communicative difficulties
Early differences in attention can hinder social development, making early support crucial.
What is a challenge in diagnosing autism in infants?
Many social features do not emerge until after 12 months of age
Behavioral observation is currently the primary method for detecting autism, which can be unreliable in early infancy.
How can brain imaging help in autism detection?
It can identify differences in brain activity associated with social perception earlier than behavioral symptoms emerge
Techniques like ERP can predict autism development in infants as young as six months.
What does ERP measure?
The firing of groups of neurons in the cortex in response to specific types of information
ERP provides insights into the timing of brain processing at a millisecond pace.
What is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)?
A technique that measures oxygen levels in the brain related to neural activity
fMRI provides spatial information about brain regions involved in social processes.
What is the ‘social brain’?
The set of neuroanatomical structures that allows understanding of the actions and intentions of others
This concept is crucial for studying social cognition and interactions in autism.
True or False: The symptoms of autism are the primary factors that interfere with a person’s wellbeing.
False
Research shows that bullying, stigma, and concealment of symptoms can have a greater impact on wellbeing.
Fill in the blank: The brain shows significant _______ in response to social experiences.
plasticity
This implies that timely interventions can positively affect social brain functions.
What do many Autistic individuals express concern about regarding treatment?
That it may erase their unique personalities and strengths
There is a call for society to adapt and create inclusive environments instead of focusing solely on treatment.
What is the goal of prospective longitudinal studies in autism research?
To gather developmental trajectories and clinical diagnoses for infants at risk for autism
These studies compare infant siblings of Autistic children with those without familial risks.
