Chapter 4: Theories of Cognitive Development (Part 2)
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117 Terms
Q: What do Information Processing Theories say about even the simplest activity?
A: Even the simplest activity involves a chain of mini cognitive tasks that build on each other.
Q: In the challenging child task, what is the first step the child must do?
A: Sort through pile, find your pair.
Q: After finding the pair, what must the child coordinate?
A: Coordinate putting shoes onto the right feet.
Q: What is the next step after putting shoes on the right feet?
A: Tie the laces (oh boy...).
Q: When tying laces, what instructions must the child recall?
A: Recall the instructions Mom taught you.
Q: What must the child plan while tying laces?
A: Plan out your actions to reach end goal.
Q: What coordination is needed while keeping the big picture goal in mind?
A: Coordinate fine motor control while keeping your big picture goal in mind.
Q: According to Information Processing Theories, what do we need to focus on to understand children's cognitive development?
A: We need to focus on the underlying cognitive skills that allow kids to manage and manipulate information.
Q: In Information Processing Theories, what key question is asked about cognitive skills?
A: Specifically, how do they develop over time?
Q: What do researchers try to do when viewing children as "Little Computers"?
A: Try to break down children's thinking and behaviour into a series of structures and operations organized in a hierarchy.
Q: When viewing children as “Little Computers,” what questions are asked about children’s thinking?
A: What are these component processes? How do they all fit together?
Q: As kids age, what happens to make them more efficient?
A: They get “hardware/software updates” that make them more efficient.
Q: What changes as kids get “hardware/software updates”?
A: How much info they can juggle at once.
Q: What else becomes more efficient with these “updates”?
A: How quickly they can complete operations.
Q: What strategies change as kids get older?
A: What strategies they use to organize info.
Q: What is memory?
A: Ability to acquire, store, maintain, and later retrieve information when you need it.
Q: What is attention?
A: Focusing your awareness onto a particular range of stimuli or events you experience.
Q: What is encoding?
A: Taking in information from the world and putting it in a form that can be stored in memory.
Q: What does encoding require?
A: Requires some level of attention.
Q: Why can’t you focus on everything at once during encoding?
A: Can't focus on everything at once; you selectively attend to certain stimuli you sense.
Q: What question reflects the idea of selective attention during encoding?
A: “Where is your mental spotlight pointing?”
Q: Once information is encoded, what basic processes can you engage in?
A: Association, recognition, recall.
Q: What is working memory?
A: System that involves actively attending to, maintaining, and processing information.
Q: What is true about the capacity of working memory?
A: It has a limited capacity.
Q: What is one question related to WM capacity?
A: How many things you can keep in mind at once?
Q: What is another question related to WM capacity?
A: How effectively can you manipulate this info without forgetting pieces or getting confused?
Q: How does working memory change across childhood?
A: It improves dramatically across childhood.
Q: What contributes to improvements in working memory?
A: Brain development.
Q: What else contributes to improvements in working memory?
A: Better strategies for holding info in mind.
Q: What is rehearsal?
A: Repeating info to maintain it in working memory.
Q: What is selective attention?
A: Focus on specific aspect of stimuli (size on screen) to organize info.
Q: What does working memory involve?
A: Actively attending to, maintaining, and processing information.
Q: What might happen once you're done with info in working memory?
A: You might just discard it entirely.
Q: Does all information that enters working memory get stored in long-term memory?
A: Not all information that enters working memory gets stored in long-term memory.
Q: What is long-term memory?
A: System that can store information for retrieval long after it initially left your working memory.
Q: What kinds of information can be stored in long-term memory?
A: Facts, opinions, ideas, procedures, etc.
Q: What is an example demonstrating long-term memory?
A: You don't need to keep repeating your address in your head all day, but when you need it, you can pull it from LTM now.
Q: How long could long-term memories last?
A: Theoretically, could last your whole lifetime.
Q: What is an issue related to long-term memories?
A: Whether all your long-term memories can be accurately retrieved is another issue.
Q: What are executive functions?
A: Set of cognitive processes associated with the intentional regulation of one's behaviour.
Q: What does it mean to use executive functions?
A: Consciously taking charge of your attention and actions in pursuit of your goals.
Q: What brain area plays a huge role in executive functions?
A: Prefrontal cortex plays a huge role.
Q: How long does the prefrontal cortex continue to improve with age?
A: Continues to improve with age until the early 20s.
Q: What outcomes are executive functions predictive of?
A: School grades, run ins with law, relationship quality.
Q: What is inhibition?
A: Ability to override reactive or tempting behaviours in order to facilitate more deliberate actions.
Q: How is inhibition examined?
A: Through a variety of tasks.
Q: What is an example of a task used to examine inhibition?
A: Eriksen Flanker task.
Q: What is cognitive flexibility?
A: Ability to adjust your thinking, consider multiple perspectives, reinterpret events or stimuli.
Q: How is cognitive flexibility examined?
A: Examined through a variety of tasks.
Q: What is an example of a task used to examine cognitive flexibility?
A: Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS).
Q: What is selective attention?
A: Ability to intentionally focus on the information that is most relevant to the current goal.
Q: In addition to focusing on relevant information, what else is important in selective attention?
A: Ignoring irrelevant info.
Q: Who struggles greatly with ignoring irrelevant information?
A: Younger children struggle greatly with this.
Q: How do 7–8 year olds perform on selective attention tasks?
A: 7–8 year olds perform much better.
Q: How are children depicted in the development of problem solving?
A: Children are depicted as active problem solvers.
Q: What allows children to overcome limitations of knowledge and processing capacity?
A: Adaptive use of new strategies and faster execution.
Q: When is problem-solving more successful?
A: Problem-solving is more successful if people plan before acting.
Q: Are children good at planning?
A: Children are not good at planning; planning improves as prefrontal cortex matures.
Q: What is the overlapping waves theory?
A: Information processing approach that emphasizes the variability of children's thinking.
Q: What do Core Knowledge Theories propose that children have?
A: 1) Innate knowledge in certain domains of special evolutionary importance.
Q: What are examples of domains of special evolutionary importance?
A: Physical laws, social processes, biological categories.
Q: What is the second thing Core Knowledge Theories propose children have?
A: 2) Domain-specific learning mechanisms for rapidly and effortlessly acquiring information in those domains.
Q: What is domain-specific information and learning?
A: Information and learning that is specific to a particular domain (area) of cognition.
Q: How is the mind described in terms of domains?
A: The mind (like the brain) is highly compartmentalized.
Q: What does it mean that there are lots of domains?
A: Lots of domains with their own unique processes.
Q: What does domain specificity allow for?
A: Allows for rapid and often effortless learning in important areas humans need to survive/thrive.
Q: What type of process is this rapid, effortless learning?
A: Experience-expectant process.
Q: What does nativism propose about infants?
A: Infants have substantial innate knowledge in domains of special evolutionary significance.
Q: According to nativism, does this knowledge need to be taught or learned from experience?
A: It doesn't need to be taught or learned from experience.
Q: How many core knowledge systems did Elizabeth Spelke (2004) propose children are born with?
A: Four core knowledge systems.
Q: What is the first core knowledge system?
A: Properties of inanimate objects and their interactions.
Q: What is the second core knowledge system?
A: Minds and intentional behaviour.
Q: What is the third core knowledge system?
A: Numbers and counting.
Q: What is the fourth core knowledge system?
A: Geometry and spatial knowledge.
Q: What view does nativism contrast with?
A: The "constructivist" view.
Q: What did Noam Chomsky note about human cultures and language?
A: All human cultures have language.
Q: How do languages vary, and what do they share?
A: Languages vary in their surface features, but all follow grammatical rules re: how nouns, verbs, etc., are organized.
Q: How do children master basic grammatical rules?
A: Children master these basic rules early and effortlessly.
Q: Do children need direct instruction or conscious knowledge to master grammar?
A: Even without direct instruction, conscious knowledge.
Q: What is the Language Acquisition Device?
A: Specialized learning mechanism for mastering grammar.
Q: Is the Language Acquisition Device general or specific?
A: Unique to language; doesn't generalize to other complex rule systems (e.g., algebra, formal logic, etc.).
Q: How do children build increasingly complex understandings of the world according to Constructivism?
A: By combining innate knowledge with subsequent experiences.
Q: Do children have any innate knowledge according to Constructivism?
A: Yes! But initially it's rudimentary/very basic.
Q: From their initial knowledge, how do children develop more complex knowledge structures?
A: Children begin to construct more complex knowledge structures about the world as they learn through their lived experiences (exploration, social learning, etc.).
Q: What kinds of 'naive theories' do children form?
A: Naive theories of physics, psychology, biology.
Q: What can children understand about preferences and beliefs at certain ages?
A:
Age 2: understand preferences.
Age 7: understand people can have false beliefs.
Q: According to Lev Vygotsky, what guides children's cognitive development?
A: Communication and interaction with others.
Q: Who are some examples of “others” that influence children’s cognitive development?
A: Parents, teachers, siblings, peers, neighbours, relatives.
Q: What kinds of things do children learn from their social interactions?
A: Skills, activities, habits, values, ideas, histories, beliefs — in other words: their culture.
Q: What is the importance of guided participation?
A: Knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to learn.
Q: How does guided participation help learners?
A: With assistance, learners can think, solve problems, develop skills at a higher level than they could alone.
Q: What does social learning rely on?
A: Intersubjectivity.
Q: What is intersubjectivity?
A: Cognitive perspectives of the teacher and learner align to build a shared understanding — a meeting of the minds; everyone on the same page.
Q: What is joint attention?
A: Social partners intentionally focus on a common referent in the external environment.
Q: How is joint attention established?
A: Through pointing, vocalizations, gaze following, exchanging looks.
Q: What is social referencing?
A: Using another person's reactions and expressions to guide one's learning/behaviour.
Q: What is social scaffolding?
A: Providing children with a temporary framework that allows them to think and achieve at a higher level than they could normally manage on their own.
Q: How does the level of support change as a child's competency grows?
A: Support decreases as competency grows.
Q: How should scaffolding push a child?
A: Push child beyond their current level, but not so far that they can't succeed.
Q: What is the Vygotskian term related to social scaffolding?
A: Zone of proximal development.