week 4 Flashcards
in middle childhood what stages do children move to
preoperational to concrete operational stage
what age does this change happen
7-11
what is seen when a child moves from preoperational to concrete operational
non-conserving to transitional to conserving
demonstrate the ability to perform operations
what is operations
mental actions on concrete situations/objects
if you train children on the tasks of conservation do they get better
not really, they may get better at that specific tasks but wont improve overall with all types of conservation tasks
what characteristics are seen changing in the concrete operations stage
centration turns to decentration
irrereversibility of thought turns to reversibility of thought
transformational thought
what is decentration
can focus on 2 or more dimensions of a problem at once
what is reversibility of thought
can mentally reverse or undo an action
what is transformational thought
can understand the process of change from one state to another
what scenario do we utilise the cognitive limitations of preschool age children in order to help us
santa claus
in the concrete operations stage we see a shift in:
from understanding being driven by perceptual salience to logical reasoning
eg. seriation and transitivity
what is seriation
the ability to arrange items mentally along a quantifiable dimension such as weight or height
what is transitivity
is the understanding of relationships among elements in a series
what happens to egocentrism in the concrete operational stage
less egocentrism
what happens to classification in the concrete operational stage
abilities improve: can classify objects by mutliple dimensions and can grasp class inclusion
what is the formal operations stage
in adolescence, individuals move from the concrete operational stage to the formal operational stage
how does the formal operations stage happen
gradually over many years
what are formal operations
mental actions on ideas: they permit systemic and scientific thinking about problems, hypothetical ideas, and abstract concepts
how is the formal operations stage tested
piagets penulum task
what positive aspects of adolescent development does the formal operations contribute
sense of identity, complex thinking, appreciation of humour
what negative aspects does formal operations contribute to teens lives
confusion, adolescent idealism and rebellion against ideas that are not logical
formal operational thought can also lead to adolescent egocentrism
is the NS static
no it is changeable
it continuously changes in response to its genetic programs and its interactions with the environment
what are neurons
the basic functional units of the NS
what do neurons do
they take info from other neurons (reception), integrate those signals (conduction), and pass signals to other neurons (transmission)
what do glial cells do
they nourish, protect, and physically support neurons
what are glial cells important for
brain development
what is an oligodendrocyte
a type of glial cell that covers the axons of neurons with myelin
what is myelin
a substance critical to the effective functioning of the brain
what are the 2 primary cells of the NS
neurons and glial cells
what is synaptogenesis
the growth of new synapses
speed of propagation of the action potential is determined by:
diameter of axon (bigger=faster)
presence or absence of a myelin sheath
in the CNS how is myelin provided
by the oligodendocytes
in the PNS myelin is provided by what
schwann cells (a type of glial cell)
what is different for schwann cell myelin
they only provide one segment of myelin
what happens when one oligodendrocyte dies in the cns
it can impact the functioning of multiple neurons
what happens if one schwann cell dies in the pns
it will only partially impact the functioning of one neuron
what type of cortical changes is seen in children
infancy and early childhood is characterised by a dramatic period of synaptogenesis, following by an adaptive process of cell death and pruning.
when is a notable surge of synapse growth
just before puberty
the strength or elimination of snypases is dependent on:
environmental demands or experience
- those that are more often used are strengthened and those that are rarely used are eliminated
what is neurogenesis
the growth of new neurons
what is less common in growth: neurogenesis or synaptogenesis
neurogenesis
what is apoptosis
programmed cell death
types of grey matter
neuronal cell bodies
dendrites
glial cells
what matter experiences pruning
grey matter
what happens to white matter during childhood changes
white matter increases in a roughly linear pattern throughout childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood
what are the myelogenetic cycles
that different brain structures myeinate at different times
types of myelinate cycles
sensory/motor pathways myelinate early
regions mediating higer order functions myelinate late eg. prefrontal cortex
when does white matter myelination complete
early 20s
grey matter volume routine
inverted U: early increases followed by gradual decreases starting in late childhood and continuing into adulthood
what does the prefrontal cortex does
executive function: working memory cognitive flexibility inhibitory control reasoning problem solving planning executive attention
what part of the brain reaches maturation lastest
prefrontal cortex
what are the 2 types of executuve functing
hot and cold
what is hot EF
emotions are involved eg. real world
what are cold ef
purely cognitive info processing eg. lab study
