Child Development: Cognition and Intelligence

How did Jean Piaget examine child intelligence?

he investigated HOW children think rather than what they know

What are Jean Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development?

1) sensorimotor

2) pre-operational

3) concrete operational

4) formal operation

From what years does the sensorimotor phase of cognitive development take place?

birth-2 years

From what years does the pre-operational phase of cognitive development take place?

2-7 years

From what years does the concrete operational phase of cognitive development take place?

7-11

From what years does the formal operational phase of cognitive development take place?

11+

What is the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development?

knowing the physical environment by seeing and touching it so that thinking is achieved only by doing

When does object permanence develop?

8 months

What is object permanence?

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

How long can a baby remember something when 2 months old?

1 day

How long can a baby remember something when 3 months old?

1 week

How long can a baby remember something when 6 months old?

2+ weeks

Give 5 cognitive functions that have developed by 18 months:

1) obeying simple requests

2) pointing to objects they are told to point at

3) can follow the gesture of an adult

4) demonstrates affection

5) can recognise themselves in mirrors and photos

What is the name given to the point at which infants begin to recognise themselves in mirrors and photos?

the self-identity milestone

What is a schema?

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

What is assimilation?

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas and fully understanding it

What is accomodation?

modifying an old schema to fit a new object or problem

What is centration?

a period of cognitive development where young children focus their attention on one salient aspect of an object, situation or problem at a time to the exclusion of other potentially relevant aspects

What is the name of the cognitive phase where children can only focus on a single aspect?

centration

When does centration occur?

2-7 years

What is theory of mind?

the ability to sense how another's mind works

What experiment demonstrated how theory of mind develops in children?

the 3 mountain 3 policeman test

What is an operation?

a logical thought

What is conservation?

understanding that one feature such as mass or volume can stay the same even though the appearance changes

Fill in the gaps: children under _ have little sense of conservation as show by the ___ test.

5, clay

What is a concrete operation?

thinking in relation to real things

What is a formal operation?

the ability to apply logic in an abstract (non-physical) way to solve problems such as formulating hypotheses and systematically testing them

What is metacognition?

thinking about thoughts in order to reflect

True or false: not even all adults use formal operations

true

Give the old IQ equation:

mental age/ chronological age x100

How is IQ calculated now?

using tables of standardised age scores

Give 4 cognitive skills tested by The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test:

1) verbal comprehension

2) perceptual reasoning

3) working memory

4) processing speed

What is the name of the IQ test used most widely by institutions?

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test

Give 4 uses of IQ tests:

1) identifying educational needs

2) predicting school performances

3) assessing cognition after neurological trauma

4) diagnosing learning disabilities

What two groups of skills do IQ not test for?

world skills and social skills

What does asymmetry of function mean?

the left and right brain hemispheres do different things

What type of experiments helped to understand asymmetry of function?

split brain experiments on epileptic patients

What brain hemisphere connects to the left visual field?

right hemisphere

Give 3 functions of the left hemisphere:

1) complex language functions

2) complex logical functions

3) mathematical computations

Give 3 functions of the right hemisphere:

1) simple language function

2) spatial and pattern abilities

3) emotional recognition