PSYC318- Developmental Psychology

what senses are well developed at birth?

hearing, taste, and smell

what senses are not well developed at birth

visual acuity, colour perception and depth perception. As well as physical ability.

what is IBI?

inter-burst interval; Can be measured through a pacifier which is hooked up to an electronic thermomotor. Children suck in bursts, thus they are able to accurately measure the intervals between the bursts.

Can children alter their IBI in response to hearing familiar stories?

experimental study looking at if babies come equipped for prenatal learning and the ability to hear. using IBI intervals. They found those who heard a story in the womb would increase or decrease their IBI more to hear the familiar story. Thus, they recognise components from the story during in the womb.

Why did the baby change IBI?

A potential explanation is babies are picking up on something from the story, like certain sounds or patterns. They cannot understand the content/words. However, there are a lot of competing sounds like the mother heart beat and embolic fluid.

Can newborns distinguish their mothers voice?

mother vs non-mother reading Dr.Seuss, babies changed IBI when they heard mothers voice. used an electronic pacifier to measure if babies would alter their IBI (rewarded to increase or decrease IBI) to hear their mothers voice.

can babies pick up foreign languages in the womb?

during last trimester of pregnancy, expose English infants to Swedish words and vice versa. children in the experimental group remember non-native sounds.

what is visual acuity like in newborns?

focus is best when objects are 30cm away, poor acuity, not well developed.

comparison between left and right hemisphere

left hemisphere of the brain grows dramatically between 3-6 months, typically involving language skills. the right hemisphere continues to grow throughout early childhood involved in tasks that require spatial skills.

Why might badly developed vision inhibit development?

Due to many stimulants in their environment being missed, due to poor vision. It reduces their ability to learn and experience new things.

at what age is visual acuity adult-like in infants?

at 6-8 months

why might infants not have well developed vision?

infants do not have good colour perception and depth perception.

1 month- red and green cones in place

2 months- colour discrimination

4 months- categorical colour perception

perception (distinguishing between close shades of colours, e.g., blue and green).

what is the impact of sensory impairments on child development?

sight impairment, hearing loss and other senses can impact a child’s ability to explore and engage with the world around them.

do human or chimps brains develop faster?

Chimps are much faster to develop; At birth: 40% weight of adult brain, Reach 70% after 1 year.
Where humans are much slower to develop; At birth: 28% of adult weight, Reach 70% after 3 years, Reach 90% at age 6, illustrating how slow humans are to develop.

Why do humans brain development so slow?

- The complexity of the brain; Humans have much bigger cortexes, including parts like the frontal lobe. Our brains are very big in portion to our body.
- Birthing; Big brains = big heads, thus difficult to birth through the birthing canal. So if our brains were full size when born it would make birth significantly harder.

what developments take place over the first 2 years?

the nervous system are developed (spinal cord and brain stem) whereas cerebral cortex is not. neurons grow longer and stronger allowing them to make more connections and synapses. the number and density of the synapses increase rapidly during the first years of life.

what is synaptogenesis?

growth of axonal and dendritic fibers, forming of synapses.

how can the curvilinear trend be explained?

in synaptic density, synapses start small, grow stronger with age then pruning occurs as you get older making less but more salient connections

interactions vs brain development

more synaptic connections are created as more experiences are made, as it is more sensitive during the first years of life it plays a significant role in establishing neurological pathways.

stumped growth may be a result of neglect or abuse, failure to experience certain things at specific times.

how do experiences affect brain development?

early experiences influence the architecture of the brain and the nature and extent pf adult capacities.

example 1- correction for strabismus (cross eyes) must occur before 6 years

example 2- phoneme perception, baby sounds are the same for 6 months old but afterwards takes on a different form given the language the baby is learning ‘perceptual narrowing’

example 3- emotional closeness, stress elevates cortisol levels, which in turn interferes with neural development. (Romanian Orphans).

synaptic development at different ages

• by 2 years, no. of synapses reaches adult levels

• by 3 years, child’s brain has twice as many synapses as an adult

is making connections during infancy important?

Yes. Connections elaborate themselves through interactions with the world. Thus, infant who have lots of stimulation during infancy and childhood have well wired brains.

What effect to infants brains does low stimulation have?

if there are not lots of connections formed during infancy and childhood it is hard to rewire their connections, meaning they may not evolve to their optimal self.

What does experience and social development at 3 months look like?

Lots of random movements, which strengthens their muscular processes. It is also providing feedback to their limbs in order to strength limb coordination. Babies do not do much, but will engage with people and hold some forms of eye contact. Plus some vocalizations.

What does experience and social development at 8 months look like?

Babies with babble now, and hold more focus on people (less random movements).
Babies with respond more to more engaged parents as they are rewarded with engagement.

how are children primed for learning?

there is great synaptic density allowing for rapid learning. needs early experiences to wire the neural circuits in the brain the facilitate learning.

• glucose is the fuel for the brain.

• at 5 weeks of age glucose utilisation is highest in the sensorimotor cortex, thalamus, brainstem and cerebellum.

what are glial cells?

cells surround and hold neurons in place, supply nutrients and oxygen to neurons. remove dead neurons and are involved in synaptic pruning.

what is synaptic pruning?

elimination of synapses not conducive to processing

is it important to consider critical time windows?

You need to catch these time windows in order for optimal development. possibility for rewiring is not impossible but it is not the same.

e.g., correct for strabismus (cross eye/squint) must occur before 6 yrs

How does perceptual narrowing work, phoneme perception?

Baby sounds are the same for all 6 month old’s regardless of language. However, afterwards it takes in form in relation to their language due to hearing those around them produce certain sounds.

what effects does stress have on brain development?

elevates cortisol levels which interferes with neural development

How does emotional closeness affect babies brain development?

babies with detached mothers, or those who are not emotionally close to their children results in elevated cortisol levels, which affects neural development. Children who receive sensitive and nurturing care in their first year are less likely to respond to minor stresses by producing cortisol (thus provides a protection)

Is brain development a linear process?

No. brain development is non-linear; there are prime times for acquiring different kinds of knowledge and skills.
e.g., language, learning language at a young age is easier as you brain is primed to learn it young. However, it is not impossible.

which brain areas develop first in infants?

motor cortex, visual cortex and hippocampus develop majorly in the first year. later on the prefrontal cortex develops.

what is myelination and where does it occur?

myelination allows electrical impulses to transmit quickly along the nerve cells. it occurs sensory first, motor later and frontal cortex later. myelination is not complete until late adolescence.

what is multiple sclerosis?

the breakdown of myelin; which can result in blindness, paralysis, loss of sensation, memory and speech impairments.

Ways to care for young children’s brains?

nourishment, care and safety, responding to cues, surroundings (stimulation).

malnutrition effects

causes delays in development of motor skills, delayed physical growth, intellectual development. nutrition is said to play a role in puberty.

what do developments in the adolescent brain look like?

continues to develop till 22-25 yrs; fewer but faster neural connections. adolescents = fewer but faster neural connections.

why might adolescence partake in risk taking?

prediction error, social reward, lower dopamine, learning from experiences has not occurred.

Why might failure of cognition appear in older individuals?

It could be due to the inability to complete something, due to loss of memory (like change a filter on a zoom call), or they might have not be taught how to do it leaving a gap in their knowledge.
We do not know exactly, but it highlights the possibilities: could be there memory, working memory, remembering how to do it, their attention or inhibitory ability.

what did Piaget believe?

children develop in stages from infancy to adulthood

Piaget vs. Information Processing Theory

• Piaget’s theory suggests stages, discontinuous with discrete development

• information processing theory suggests continuous development

what is the information processing theory?

is seen as continuous theory of development.

what are some kinds of cognitive functioning?

processing speed, memory, inhibitory ability, attention

sensory memory

has rapid decay

What are the three types of sensory memory?

iconic- visual

echoic- auditory

haptic- tactile

short term memory

15 to 30 secs but rehearsing can increase this, rapid retrieval. improves with age

long term memory

there is no limit on how much info can be stored for how long. unlimited in capacity.

Does short term memory improve with age?

Yes, it is really hard for children, due to problems with their cognitive abilities. A digit span test would be much hard as the numbers are not as familiar with them, thus, it is much harder to remember them.

How might neurodivergent thinkers struggle with processing speed?

Those children might struggle to process some areas quickly, taking them a lot longer than their peers. E.g., visual motor skills, like copying things from the board quickly.

How does processing speed contribute to the information processing system?

information processing changes with age, it gets stronger.
- More efficient strategies: using rehearsal, elaborate visual imagery.

Can practice alter the difference of processing time between adults and children?

practice trials (3000+) on a mental rotation task and it eliminated the difference between 11-year-olds and adults response time. children might be restrained by the maturity of their brain at their age, but it seems that enough practice will eliminate the difference.

Why does processing speed increase with age?

it is due to the amount of neurotransmitters, the number of connections, strength of those connections and the myelination. However, once we get to age 40 it starts to slow decrease as we age.

Kails take on information processing speed

the time required to execute mental operations declines steadily during childhood and adolescence.

• what underlies age difference is the strategies used and more elaborated knowledge in with age so stronger neural connections.

what is encoding?

knowing what features of a task are important, or knowing what part of experimental instructions are crucial when completing a task.

what is strategy formation?

using the encoded information and relevant previous knowledge to construct a strategy for dealing with the problem.

what is generalisation?

ability to generalise solution to other problems when applicable.

what is automisation?

practice makes the strategy automatic and thus more effective. additional information can be processes, improves experience and practice.

what do children have limitations with when it comes to cognitive functioning?

• encoding limitations: fail to encode appropriate information

• lack appropriate strategies

• retrieval problems

• storage limitations

• rehearsal and elaboration (making associations between items)

how does knowledge improve over time?

• assumption that changes in knowledge reflected changes in capacities or strategies

• now recognise that changes in knowledge are driving forces of development

  • e.g., Chi (1978) chess players vs. non-experienced chess player (knowledge allows items to be grouped together lowering storage needs)

what is Robbie Case theory of cognitive development?

if a child is presented with the same type of information on a frequent occasion, attention required to process it is gradually reduced until minimum operating space is needed and processing becomes automised. more

operating space vs storage space;

• familiar material = less operating space, more storage space

• unfamiliar material= more operating space, less storage space

How does a children reduce their operating space?

if a child is presented with the same type of information on frequent occasions, attention required to process it is gradually reduced until minimal operating space is needed and processing becomes automatised.

- total processing space may be constant from birth or an early age
- Increasing automaticity frees working memory space for other operations

What evidence supports Case's theory?

-short term memory of adults with unfamiliar material is similar to children's
-familiar material means less operating space needed → more storage space available
- Unfamiliar material means more operating space needed → less storage available.

what are executive functions?

EF’s refer to those general abilities which underlie performance on all cognitive tasks, including abilities which develop with age, such as planning, monitoring one's progress, working memory and speed of processing, the ability to delay (inhibit) responding and to initiate behaviour and shift between activities flexibly.

what is the Wisconsin card sorting task?

sorting task that requires subjects to sort cards into piles according to a rule that is unspecified, the rule is changed intermittently but participants are not told that it is changed rather if their choice of placement of cards is right or wrong.

measures- ability to shift thinking in response to changing environment

what is the stroop task and how does it change with age?

name the colour rather than the word, by suppressing automatic tendency to read the word. examining errors and response times.

• before learning to read less errors are made as they only understand the colour

• when they know the word errors increase

• by 10 errors start to decline with age.

How does the marshmallow test change with age?

Ask children get older they are able to suppress the inhibitory effect and wait to get a better success.

They relate it to occupational success, wealth, success. That you can put off immediate gratification that you will do better in the end.

what areas are in the frontal lobes?

anterior (prefrontal cortex), is important for higher cognitive functions and determinant of personality.

posterior (back) of the frontal lobe

consists of premotor and motor areas.

how does damage to frontal lobes impact someone?

1) cognitive inflexibility (how many animals can you name beginning with F?)

2) self-regulation (poor monitoring of self, goal setting, planning)

3) working memory

4) social inappropriateness

what can damage to the amygdala and orbitofrontal lobe cause?

it can cause personality shifts.

e.g., Phineas Gage. His language, memory, physical abilities were unaffected but become unreliable, disrespectful, lack social skill, rude, foul mouthed -> no longer gage.

how does the brain develop similar to architecture?

• requires sturdy foundation

• responsive and nurturing adult, proper stimulation

• serve and return i.e., interaction in tennis match but regarding parent and child

• language and communication skills are heavily dependent upon interactions with adults.

• what happens early has influences on skills and cognition later on

what is project headstart?

interventions with disadvantaged kids in America.

what is the sleeper effect?

effects are not shown for a long time but gradually are developed

When are nurseries not good?

quality of nurseries is determined by group size, caregiver to child ratio. poor quality means children’s cortisol levels are elevated. a marker of stress.

• poor are at most risk of poor nonmaternal care but need it the most

when are nurseries good?

high quality secure relationships act as a buffer from negative effects of stress or poverty. makes children more competent with peers.

what is toxic stress and results?

when someone experiences a lot of stress it can relate to increase cortisol levels, negatively impacting the development.

• can provoke a physical response (fight or flight).

• chronic stress can impact on the body and the brain

• creates a unique chemical structure in the brain, disrupting circuits (learning, memory, problem solving etc.)

what are some different types of aggression?

1- instrumental; child wants object, privilege or space; declines as emotional regulation betters.

2- hostile; overt aggression is harming someone through physical injury or threatening to harm someone. (verbal or physical)

4- relational; intent to harm others through deliberate manipulation i.e., social exclusion, rumor spreading.

what are the reasons for high aggression?

• individual differences (temperament)

• family processes when dealing with conflict or discipline

• social cognitive disorder, interpreting the world through a negative lens, assumption that others have hostile intentions.

• commitment to a peer group i.e., gangs

can aggression at 8 years old indicate crime later on?

Boys: Those will low or medium aggression when 8 years old, were unlikely to go onto criminal convictions. Where high amounts of aggression correlate to a strong chance of criminal convictions.

Female: Not as much aggression or crime, but for those who have low and medium aggression are not likely to commit crimes. Where high amounts of aggression correlate to higher amounts of crime.

what are issues with advertisements and influence on children?

• children do not understand persuasive intent below 8 yrs

• below 4 to 5 children can’t discriminate ads from TV

• reinforces social stereotypes

  minorities are not supported in cast leads

what does aggression on TV replicate?

• most violent acts on TV go unpunished

• rarely show any physical harm

• violence is often portrayed as humorous

Do kids get desensitised to violence through violent tv?

Desensitisation results in reduced arousal and emotion disturbance while witnessing violence. Watching tv violence might take children more willing to tolerate it in others and to behaviour aggressively. Watching violent tv might reduce guilt associated with behaving aggressively

can violent TV increase hostile feelings?

Conclusions:

(a) violent, hostile people are more attracted to media violence

(b) watching media violence increases violence and hostility

name some theories of effects of media violence on children?

• imitation

• desensitization (reduced arousal and disturbance while witnessing violence)

• increase in hostile feelings

• seeing the world as a violent place

what is corporal punishment and the impact?

a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person.

• has an effect of emotional regulation and brain development

• teaches children to use violence

• doesn’t show/tell them what to do

why do parents use physical punishment?

to reduce unwanted behaviour and it is easy to use.

What is the parallel between treatment of women and children?

Husband used to be thought of as having a legitimate right over their wives. They were allowed by law to use reasonable physical punishment as a means of asserting their authority maintaining appropriate behaviour.

what are the united nations views on the rights of the child?

children should be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation. illegal to smack children.

what are four types of parenting?

authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, uninvolved

what is authoritative parenting?

understand the importance of boundaries, clear expectations. Encouraging values opinions and open communication. Provides structure, support and guidance whilst nurturing independence and individuality.

what is authoritarian parenting?

obedience and discipline is important, sense of control and adherence to rules with little flexibility. doesn’t allow for autonomy and individuality

what is permissive parenting?

hardly any rules or boundaries but love is shown. little structure and guidance. ability for freedom and flexibility but can also lead to challenges with respecting others and having self-discipline

what is uninvolved parenting?

no love, structure, neglecting needs and emotions results in low self-esteem and challenges with building connections with others.

Can parenting style be predicted before a child is born?

Yes. People tend to adopt how our parents parented us.
- Accounts for 40-45% of the variance
- Predicted by how parents feel about themselves
- Predicted by the quality of relationship with own parents
- Predicted by parents' roles in their families of origin

Can maternal sensitivity predict future attachment?

Yes. maternal sensitivity at 4 months predicted secure attachment at 1 year. but infant regulation at 4 months (poor affect regulation = crying)

what are the difference between US vs Norwegian prisons?

Norwegian prisons are more expensive but allow for more autonomy. less people in prison = better outcomes and less cost to society overall. less recidivism. rehabilitation rather than punishment.

US prisons focus more on control and punishment with restrictions to rights and rewards.

what is the 2D:4D ratio and what does it determine?

the different hand ratios which males and females tend to have. finger length as a rough marker of testosterone exposure. length of index finger relative to the ring finger

what are the effects of fetal testosterone?

compromises development of left hemisphere (e.g., language), facilitates the right hemisphere functions (e.g., music, mathematics, spatial ability).

• fetal testosterone produce large amounts from week 8 in utero

• male fetuses typically produce 2.5 times the level of the hormone compared to females.