psych 130 ucla second midterm

cognition

knowing and the process of acquiring knowledge

what are the 5 things involved in cognition?

attention, perception, learning, thinking, memory

cognitive development

changes in knowledge that are age related

piaget saw children as:

active

intrinsically motivated to learn

learning lessons on their own

piaget believed infants have..

building blocks

intelligence

a basic life function that enables an organism to adapt to its environment. it comes in the form of schemas

schemas

organized patterns of thought

how to schemas change with age?

action based (motor patterns) at first

later move to a mental (thinking) level

behavioral schema

pattern of behavior used to represent an experience

symbolic schema

internal mental symbols used to represent an experience

operational schema

internal mental activity performed on objects of thought

cognitive equillibrium

a match between thought processes and one's environment

piaget believed cognitive development was propelled forward by 2 NATURAL TENDENCIES

adaptation and organization

adaptation

the tendency to respond to the demands of the environment to meet one's goals

organization

the tendency to integrate particular observations into coherent knowledge

3 PROCESSES that propel development forward according to piaget

assimilation, accommodation, equilibration

assimilation

the process by which people translate incoming info into a form they can understand (integrating reality into your own existing view; fitting things into categories you already have)

accommodation

the process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences (changing your view to better match reality; create new categories/schemas)

equilibration

the process by which people balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding

what does piaget mean when he says that a child is a "constructivist"

they gain knowledge by acting on objects to understand its properties

invariant developmental sequence

must occur in the same order because each step is a prerequisite for the following step

what are piaget's 4 stages of development

sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational

what age is the sensorimotor stage?

0-2

what age is the pre-operational stage

2-7

what age is the concrete operational stage

7-11

what age is the formal operational stage

12 and up

sensorimotor stage

circular reaction; reactive creatures

internalizing external behavioral schemas

intentional behaviors

problem solving

introduced to the idea of object permanence

A not B error

pre-operational stage

symbolic thought available

not able to perform operations

loss of magical thinking

language: ability to use words to represent objects and things

imaginary play

concrete operational stage

become logical, flexible, organized (with concrete info)

operations are only applicable to objects or phenomenon that are real or imaginable

formal operational stage

switch from operations on reality to operations on operations

abstract thinking; things outside reality

object permanence

understanding that objects still exist even if you cant see them

piagetian explanation for object permanence in infants

infant cannot hold image of object in mind

does not understand that the object has permanence beyond her experience

ex. maternal separation

renee baillergeon explanation for object permanence in infants

young infants know more than we give them credit for

used "impossible events" in experiment with the minnie mouse doll

why do we get A not B errors

difficulty inhabiting a response + shallow representation

what is an impressive cognitive acquisition in the pre operational stage

symbolic representation: the use of one object to stand for another

what are major limitations in the pre-operational stage

egocentrism and centration

centration

the tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event

ex. focusing only on the height of the glass, rather than the fact that the amount of water did not just spontaneously increase

limitation of the pre-operational stage

egocentrism

the tendency to perceive the world solely from ones own point of view

conservation concept

idea that merely changing the appearance of objects does not change their key properties

lack of understanding of this in the pre-operational phase

3 things that the formal operational stage can possibly explain

increase in self-consciousness and self focusing in adolescence

increase in idealism, justice

invisible audience(abstract thinking)

explain the pendulum task, and which of piaget's stages it refers to

formal operational stage;

teens can come up with a logical plan and systematically test each one, while younger kids tend to centrate on one aspect of the pendulum

according to piaget, is the attainment of the formal operations stage, in contrast to other stages universal?

no

ex. if abstract or critical thinking is not needed, you do not acquire it (think indigenous tribes)

what are some critiques of piagets theory

the stage model depicts children's thinking as being more consistent than it is.

infants and young children are more cognitively competent than piaget gave them credit to be.

understates the contribution of the social world to cognitive development.

core domains of thought

permit a ready grasp of new related info.

each domain has evolutionary roots

domain specific knowledge:

physical (objects/effects)

numerosity

language

face processing

psychological knowledge (morality)

numerosity

a core number set. do we see a core number sense before verbal counting?

approximate numerosity

infants can discriminate between 1 vs 2 and 2 vs 3

what is speckle's argument of approximate numerosity

it is actually infants keeping track of objects; tested 6 mo infants on larger quantities, and found that there is no limit to the amount of objects infants can compare, as long as the ration is large (can do 8:16 but not 8:12)

describe the 2 number systems

1) a nonverbal system capable of representing approximate numerosity, present from infancy through adulthood and shared with many nonhuman animals

2) a viral system capable of representing exact numerosity, unique to humans and acquired around the age of 3 in the form of counting

sociocultural approaches

focus on the contribution of other people and the surrounding culture to children's development

guided partcipation

more knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to engage in them at a higher level than they could manage on their own

ex. professor/teacher

cultural tools

the innumerable products of human ingenuity that enhance thinking

ex. powerpoint, internet, computers

Lev Vygotsky

parent of the sociocultural approach to child development

How does vygotsky's theory present children?

children as social beings, intertwined with other people who are eager to help them gain skills and understanding

why does cognitive development vary widely by culture

knowledge is socially transmitted

is vygotsky's theory of development continuous or discontinuous

continuous, with change as quantitative rather than qualitative

cognitive development:

vygotsky vs piaget

vygotsky - cog development stems from social interactions (guided learning through zone of proximal development)

piaget: cognitive development stems from child's exploration of the environment in which child constructs knowledge

in the sociocultural approach, what is the same in all societies, and what varies from culture to culture?

many of the processes that produce development, such as guided participation, are the same in all societies.

the content that children learn varies greatly from culture to culture.

what are the basic functions infants have

attention, sensation, perception, and memory

how do children become ore complex?

need culture to transform them into higher mental funcitons

how does culture affect cognition

using a base-10 system(chinese) versus not(american) might result in better development in math skills.

how do we learn from more knowledgeable others?

we learn within the the zone of proximal development

zone of proximal development

range of tasks we can accomplish with guidance form a more skilled other. (not too easy or too hard)

scaffolding:

when a more skilled other provides a temporary framework that supports children's thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own; sensitive to child's developmental level

stretching

children can perform one step above their assessed competence when under the guiding hand of the more experienced partner

scaffolding's 3 requirements

1. nature of the interaction between the learner and the expert; collaborative, shared understanding

2. learning should take place in the zone of proximal development

3. scaffolding is gradually removed as the learner becomes more proficient

internalization:

all psychological processes are originally social processes and changes through the process of internalization

private speech: vygotsky vs piaget

vygotsky: saw it as private speech. speech to self increased during tough tasks, a tool used by young children to plan and regulate their problem solving activities. language drives cognitive development

piaget: saw it as egocentric speech. nonsocial speech that reflected children's egocentric perspective. cognitive development drives language

why is cooperative learning ideal?

motivation, requires explanation and working through conflicts, more likely to use higher level processing when working as a group, tend to care more.

tools of the mind classes:

have preschoolers work in pairs, and wont let them move onto the next part of the day until both kids understand what they've learned; encourage private speech.

information processing theories

mind as a computer

hardware = nervous system

software = rules, strategies, mental programs

what does it mean to process

something comes in, we do something to it, and it is converted to output

what underlies many information processing theories

the metaphor of the child as a computation system

cognitive development arises from children gradually surmounting their processing limitations by:

1. increasing efficient execution of basic processes.

2. expanding content knowledge

3. acquiring new strategies

are children's brains qualitatively different from adults?

no; but they do differ in execution, knowledge stored and strategies used

to information processing theorists, in what sense is cognitive change continuous

1. important changes are viewed as constantly occurring, rather than being restricted to special transition periods between stages

2. cognitive growth is viewed as typically occurring in small increments rather than abruptly

memory system components

sensory memory, working memory (STM), and long term memory

sensory memory:

refers to sights, sounds and other sensations that are just entering the cognitive system and are briefly held in raw form until they are identified; very short and not a lot of info gathered from them

working memory (STM)

a workspace in which info from the environment and relevant knowledge are brought together, attended to, and actively processed.

long term memory

refers to info retained on an enduring basis

memory system components

these systems differ with regard to how much info they can store, the length of time for which they can retain info, the neural mechanisms through which they operate, and their course of development

how long can sensory memory hold info

a moderate amount of info for a fraction of a second. its capacity is relatively constant over much of development

what is working memory's capacity and duration

quite limited in both capacity and duration. its capacity and speed of operation increases greatly over childhood and into adolescence. (visual spatial and verbal)

what is the capacity and duration of long term memory

retain an unlimited amount of info indefinitely, and the contents of LTM increase enormous over development.

sensory memory experiment

the findings indicate that people redly maintain info in visual sensory memory but the info is rapidly lost

atkinson and shiffrin

executive control:

1. regulate attention

2. select strategies

3. monitor quality of output

processing speed

the speed with which children execute basic processes increases greatly over the course of childhood

what 2 biological processes that contribute to faster processing

myelination and increased connectivity among brain regions

mental strategies

changes in strategies are another major source of learning and memory development

what mental strategies emerge between ages 5-8

rehearsal, selective attention

rehearsal

the process of repeating info over and over to aid memory

selective attention

the process of intentionally focusing on information that is most relevant to the current goal

utilization deficiency

initial attempts at using strategies do not improve memory as much as more experienced use

strategy: chunking

ex. chunking numbers together in a long string of numbers

overlapping waves theory

children use a variety of approaches to solve problems. children benefit from this strategic variability

what is a repeating theme in development based on darwinian principles

overproduce then select best

content knowledge:

memory span affected by prior knowledge

ex. 2nd or 3rd language learning

configure processing

processing all parts at once

parts processing

processing each part individually

give 2 examples of how language is flexible

generative, and inventive