unit 2:

infant learning might involve: (6)

• habituation

• perceptual learning

• statistical learning

• classical conditioning

• instrumental conditioning

• observational learning

habituation:

infants tend to respond less to a stimulus they have already experienced

• ex: looking time measures (novelty)

perceptual learning:

• involves differentiation & affordances

• by 3.5 months old, infants learn that their mother’s face goes with her voice

differentiation:

extracting from an environment what is stable and what is variant

affordances:

what do objects/things offer us the ability to do?

• ex: babies learn you can pick up certain items & don’t pick up others

statistical learning: (4)

• infants learn the statistical regularity of events - even better at this than adults are

• 8 month olds can learn a novel language in 2 minutes, just from word transition probability (bidaku padoti golabu - Saffran et al. 1996)

• 2-8 month olds look longer at shape sequences that appear in a different order than they were originally shown

• can be observed profoundly in EEG via oddball responses - automatic process observed by 2 months of age

classical conditioning:

associating an unlearned stimulus with one that yields a response; consistency is key in developmental learning and conditioning

• ex: US - bottle of milk; UR - sucking reflex; CS - seeing bottle before getting fed; CR - mmm, bottle, its feeding time!

instrumental conditioning: (4)

• learning basic consequences of behaviour

• positive reinforcement and contingency; positive reinforcement is adding a stimulus to increase behaviour in future instances - behaviour change in children is especially motivated by reinforcement much more than punishment (due to dopamine release)

• learnable by 2 months old

• the younger the infant the closer together the response and reinforcement need to be for learning to occur

contingency:

the if, then statements; if i do this behaviour then i will have this happen/reward

negative consequences of instrumental conditioning? (3)

infants may learn lack of control over their own environment

• children of parents with mental health conditions; how are they’re contingencies different/how are emotions being scaffolded

• ex of punishment; not teaching what to do only saying don’t do that

observational learning: (2)

• newborns imitate tongue-sticking out (MNS - mammals learn by imitation!)

• by 6 months, imitate specific behaviours (ex: clapping hands)

Jean Piaget 1896-1980: 4 stages of development

1. sensorimotor

2. preoperational

3. concrete operational

4. formal operational

caution…

be skeptical of over generalizations from know it all theories,,, but know that these theories can and do inspire good science

assimilation:

new experiences incorporated into a child’s existing schema; piagets stages of dev. heavily informed by assimilation

accomodation:

child’s theories are modified based on experience/accommodating their schema

• ex: getting swatted by a cat - oh dogs and cats are different; there is a difference between soft/furry animals

equilibriation: (3)

• assimilation/accomodation

• piaget argued children go thru a process of equilibriation - where they alter and modify their schemas via assimilation and accommodation but this is not enough for children’s development

• the way that we view the world fundamentally changes; across age so he proposed the 4 stages of development - breaking out of one stage and into the other is the process of equilibriation

sensorimotor stage: (4)

• birth - 2 years old; sensation/motor machines

• huge variety of new sensory experiences

• piaget claims children in this stage lack object permanence (aka A not B error)

• core facets of intelligence expressed through experimentation with developing motor faculties

ex: tracking objects visually; grasping objects near hands; placing things in mouth; turning head towards sounds

object permanence:

aka the A not B error: objects continue to exist regardless of whether we continue to see them or not - children in the sensorimotor stage of development do not yet have object permanence

preoperational stage: (3)

• 2-7 years old

• interaction with world not limited to physical movements; development of symbolic representations, think more abstractly or hypothetically

• centration & egocentrism; difficulty with conservation of liquids task (skinny jar vs fat jar - same amount of liquid) & cannot perceptualize another’s persons pov

centration:

focusing on a single feature among many when making decisions

• ex: in preoperational stage - difficulty with conservation of liquids task; tall skinny jar vs small fat jar, kids will judge tall jar as having more despite it being the same amount of liquid

centration:

focusing on a single feature among many when making decisions

• ex: in preoperational stage - difficulty with conservation of liquids task; tall skinny jar vs small fat jar, kids will judge tall jar as having more despite it being the same amount of liquid

concrete operational stage: (4)

• 7-12 years old

• more likely to consider multiple dimensions or pov

• difficulty with abstract reasoning and hypotheticals

ex: if you hit a glass with a hammer the glass will break; don hit a glass w a hammer what happened? it broke; if you hit a glass with a feather it will break, don hit a glass w a feather what happened? nothing (older children in formal operational stage will say that it broke)

formal operational stage: (2)

• 12 years and up

• able to think abstractly and reason hypothetically

4 caveats to Piaget:

1. children’s mental strategies do not generalize across problem types within a given stage

2. infant struggles with object permanence may be overstated by measurement technique

3. underestimates impact of social world

4. doesnt explain the underlying cognitive processes or mechanisms of change

what is the good thing about Piaget?

he did describe what cognitive function is like: good examples of how cognition changes, a little sterile and generic but all the less worthwhile

beyond the Piagetian - 4 main models for learning and cognitive function:

1. information processing

2. core knowledge

3. sociocultural

4. dynamic systems

information processing: (5)

• child as a limited capacity processing system

• multiple memory systems subserved by multiple disparate regions of the brain; WM involved

• working memory - when you hold information active in the mind and you manipulate it in some kind of way (ex: keeping a number running in your mind, 8-2)

• severe capacity limit of WM - 3-4 items at any one time; little parietal brain activity in children but does not increase predictably like adults

• to use working memory you must have selective attention; ignoring and selecting things to get activated in WM

5 sources of variability in information processing:

1. encoding and retrieval

2. strategy of use

3. speed of processinng

4. selective attention

5. content knowledge

core knowledge: (3)

• vestigial domain of developmental science

• “children must have specialized language learning mechanisms to grasp the immense syntactic complexity of language” Noam Chomsky

• evolution of brains made for learning: natural selection for adaptable brains, hard wiring behaviour = no variability, based on human universals of experience, domain specificity?

sociocultural: (3)

• these perspectives come in: how are social/cultural environments affecting cognitive development

• experience dependent forms of development that might influence our cognitive function

• concept of joint attention & scaffolding

ex: playing a ton of 1st person action video games, doing a WM task - you will be far better than most individuals on WM task

concept of joint attention:

share attention with children; children look to caregivers to know whats important - a way that social and cultural environments can be scaffolded to avoid distractions

scaffolding:

supporting a child to achieve something that is just beyond their grasp or reach

• ex: social scaffolding - novel social environment like a hockey practice, scaffold interacting with new people (coaches, teammates) and new environments

dynamic factors: (4)

• factors interacting with each other ; family unit of organism

• development does not occur in a bubble

• each developmental change impacts the way a child interfaces with their environment

• crucial to consider with the acquisition of new skills in development

nativists vs. empiricists: (3)

• east coast - Stephen Pinker: nativist (born innately ready to do)

• west coast - Liz Bates: empiricist (our experiences are a massive influence)

• in short empiricists win - as it makes room for nativism

nativist view:

• nature: children are born w innate knowledge (grammar, objects, time and space, causality, number and human mind), children have specialized learning mechanisms to acquire this knowledge rapidly

• nurture: experiences shape knowledge beyond the initial level that all children are born with but initial knowledge is present at birth

empiricist view:

• nature: children are born with general learning mechanisms to acquire knowledge; ability to perceive, make associations between objects, generalize and remember

• nurture: exposure to different experiences results in knowledge about various topics (grammar, time and space, causality, numbers, human mind)

perceptual categorization: (4)

• grouping objects with similar appearance

• by 3-4 months infants categorize along numerous dimensions like colour, shape, size, movement

• may also categorize based on the prominent feature or function such as the presence or absence of legs

• infants viewing sequence of 3 pics featuring different types of cats; habituation to cat image suggests infants perceived 3 pics preceding as cats

categorical hierarchies move from:

1. basic

2. superordinate

3. subordinate

or most general —> general —> basic —> specific

categorical hierarchies order of acquisition:

superordinate (general) —> basic —> specific (subordinate)

categorical hierarchies: (4)

• social environment critical for refining categories

• an infant might not think these are all the same thing (3 pictures of dogs) but if they lived with these animals they would see common features amongst them (barking, tail wagging)

• children use cause and effect to make categories

• 4-5 year olds told about features of wugs and gillies - better able to ID them if also told why they have those features (ex: cuz they like to fight) (krascum & andrews 1998)

naïve psychology: (4)

an understanding of other people and oneself

• major developments in infancy; joint attention, intentionality and understanding others’ emotions

• nativists: children born with intrinsic understanding of human psychology

• empiricists: experiences with other people and processing capacities influence how we understand others’ actions

theory of mind: (5)

• your model or your theory on what another mind is doing/working

• basic understanding of how the mind works and it influences behaviour (from basic to complex: desires, emotions, beliefs)

• by 12 months, connections between desires and actions

• by 2 years old cant yet connect beliefs with actions

• by 3 years can connect beliefs with actions yet still struggle with false belief problems (performance improves up to 5 years old)

theory of mind: nativist view (2)

• ToM module develops in 1st 5 years

• amygdala and brainstem atypical in autism

theory of mind: empiricist view (3)

• more interaction and experience with others

• children with siblings develop theory of mind earlier particularly if older siblings of opposite sex

• increased general processing skills; improved complex reasoning and ability to inhibit one’s own reactions

imaginary friends:

63% of children report imaginary friends at 3-4 years, 7-8 years or both (30% of children 3-7 years)

characteristics of children with imaginary friends: (4)

• more likely to be first born or only children

• watch relatively little TV

• verbally skillful

• advanced theory of mind

egocentric representations: (3)

• coding of object location relative to self without regard to surroundings

• self locomotion improves understanding of space beyond one’s self

• use of landmarks helping navigating through space; development of spatial skills depends on cultural importance

by what age can infants replicate the order of events shown in a series of two pictures?

12 months old

by what age can toddlers replicate the order of events shown in a series of three pictures?

by 20 months old (or 1 year and 8 months)

• can order first, middle, last

by what age can infants sense duration?

sense of duration by 4 months old

• habituated to 5 seconds of light, 5 seconds of darkness

• heart rate changes observed .5 seconds before light went off

preschoolers can discriminate…

longer intervals of time like weeks or months - precision with time discrimination continues to develop into middle childhood

by what age do children develop past/future concepts?

by 6 years of age - likely related to class experiences

passage of time illusions?

children experience passage of time illusions like adults - attending closer to time passing seems longer whereas being very busy feels shorter

children rely on ___ to understand why physical and psychological events occur:

causality - ex: taking apart toys; flipping lights

children & adults have a better understanding of psychological than…

physical causality; we can tell you how someone decides to change the channel better than we can describe how the TV remote works

do children habituate to the clip that violates their sense of causality?

more time spent looking at clips that violate sense of causality - increases attention because of novel presentation

causality is king: (5)

• children have higher recall for events with causal relationship

• by 9-11 months will only reproduce actions with causal relationship

• by 20-22 months, will replicate unrelated sequences

• preschoolers expect consistency in cause effect relationships: if petting dog, tail should wag, if dog growls, not because of petting

• magic tricks start to become interesting by 5 years old

understanding of numeracy…

varies by culture and language

by what age do infants understand numerical equality?

5-6 months old; recognize smaller quantities, at least for small numbers such as 1-3, working memory capacity severely limited (1-3)

young infants can discriminate between sets of numbers with…

6 months, numbers with 2:1 ratio

• if numbers are large (16 & 8 NOT 4 & 2); but not 1:5:1 ratio… more precise with age

numeracy for ____ numbers develops earlier than for…

large numbers develops earlier than for small numbers (xu et al.)

counting: (2)

• by age 3 most children can count to 10

• preschoolers understand counting principles (5 principles)

5 principles of counting examined:

1. 1-1 correspondence; each object can only have a single number label

2. stable order; recited in same order

3. cardinality; number = last of set

4. order irrelevance; when counting

5. abstraction; anything can be counted

culture and numeracy: (2)

• differences in number systems across culture impacts the rate at which children learn

• also differences in emphasis on number skills

ex: by age 5 in china, children can count to 100 whereas USA 5 year olds can count up to 50

general intelligence (g): (3)

• aspect of intelligence that is tapped into whenever intelligence is measured (i.e. intelligence tests)

• influences ability to think and learn

• correlated with: academic performance, speed of processing, speed of brain functions, & brain volume

fluid intelligence (gf): (3)

• ability to think and problem solve in the moment

• correlated with: ability to learn, speed of processing, WM capacity, attentional control, size of cortex, prefrontal & parietal functions during attention and problem solving tasks

• if studying or investigating fluid (gf) intelligence we want to control for crystallized intelligence (gc)

crystallized intelligence (gc): (4)

• factual knowledge about the world - jeopardy knowledge

• reflects long term memory; vocabulary, math facts and periodic table

• closely related to language ability

• hippocampus crucial to crystallized intelligence

three stratum theory: (3)

• g —> moderately general abilities —> specific processes

• hierarchical model developed by Carroll; g influences all moderately general abilities, g and moderately general abilities influence specific processes

• conclusion: intelligence involves all 3 levels - intelligence is likely one, a few and many factors all together

intelligence controversies: pros vs. cons (6)

pros:

• better than alternatives at predicting outcomes in academic context

• valuable for deviding about special education needs - ID children who need additional supports

• relatively bias free

cons:

• doesnt capture the complexity of intelligence

• tests are culturally biased

• reducing one’s intelligence to a single number is over simplified snd ethically questionable

intelligence tests: (4)

• tasks change over time

• tasks adequately assessing intelligence at one age may not be appropriate for other ages

• language questions not utilized until children typically have language skills

• most reliably measured by 5-6 years of age

WISC-V: (4)

• weschler intelligence scale for children 5th edition

• reflects carrolls 3 stratum theory

• provides an overall score and separate scores for moderately general abilities

• “make the blocks on the right look like the picture on the left”

intelligence quotient (IQ): (4)

• overall measure relative to same aged children

• based on a normative distribution; normed on a 100 base with 15 representing 1 SD away from mean

• 95% of scores fall between 70-130 IQ

• highly stable over time; scores across time highly correlated

changes in IQ occur due to: (6)

randomness:

• alertness of testing days

• knowledge of specific terms

environmental factors:

• change in household make up

• change in neighbourhood

as a predictive factor, IQ is shown to predict: (3)

• academic outcomes; school success and long term achievement

• achievement test scores

• occupational success

IQ: there are still other relevant factors… (3)

• self-discipline: ability to inhibit actions, follow rules, avoid impulsive reactions

• practical intelligence: ability to read others emotions, intentions etc

• childhood environment

genetic influences on IQ: (5)

• correlations between genes and IQ increase with age

• fraternal twins differ more in IQ in adulthood

• monozygotic twins more similar in IQ in adulthood

• likely because of aspects of genetic influence realized in adolescence (with brain development)

• with age, children interact more with their own interests

3 kinds of gene x environment interactions:

1. passive effects of genotype

2. evocative effects of genotype

3. active effects of genotype

passive effects of genotype:

effects due to overlap between parent and child genotypes

evocative effects of genotype:

effects due to children’s influence on other’s behaviours

active effects of genotype:

effects due to a child choosing an environment that they enjoy

family influence on IQ: (2)

• household environment correlates highly with IQ but… parents & children also share genes

• environment accounts for higher degree of variability in IQ than genetics in children from lower SES households; opposite pattern seen in higher SES children

school influence on IQ: (2)

• IQ increases with greater academic experience; children interact higher grades have higher IQ scores even if they are the same age

• IQ scores are higher during the school year than they are during the summer; especially in lower SES children, comparable intellectual stimulation during the school year but reduces with SES in summer

SES influences on IQ: (2)

• potential factors include: nutrition, health care, parenting, intellectual stimulation, emotional support and stress levels

• greater social inequality = greater difference between lower and higher SES outcomes in IQ

societal influences on IQ: (3)

• flynn effect; essentially as we raise the floor on healthcare and education, lowest performing rung has increased (reduction in disparity = raising of IQ)

• average IQ has risen over past 75 years (~10 pts in usa; ~20 pts in netherlands)

• largest change in lowest IQ scores: better health care, nutrition & education reduces disparities; countries with high equality have fewest changes in IQ scores

flynn effect:

demonstrates how IQ scores have increased over the past 75 years; driven by increasing scores for people in the lowest quartiles of the IQ test

risk factors & IQ: (7)

ACEs scale - adverse childhood events: more than 2 risk factors result in notable drop in IQ

• unemployed parents

• mother didnt finish highschool

• 4+ children in home

• no father/stepfather

• maternal anxiety or mental health

• negative mother-child interactions

what is language? (3)

• the use of sights, sounds, signs and symbols with the intention of communication and or self expression

• human language is symbolic, grammatical and generative

• involves comprehension and production

comprehension:

understanding what others say, sign or write

production:

speaking, signing or writing to others

generativity:

use of a finite set of words to create/generate an infinite array of sentences or express an infinite array of ideas; however, makes language highly complex to learn

language localization: (3)

• language processing highly localized in the brain

• hemispheric: in most right handers - left hemisphere; in 10-15% of left handers - right hemisphere

• specific aspects localized within left hemisphere

specific aspects localized within left hemisphere:

• broca’s area: speech production (fluency); damage = tan

• wernicke’s area: language comprehension; damage = word salad

why do children know how to understand language before they can produce it?

because wernicke’s area (comprehension) develops earlier than broca’s area (frontal lobe; production)

sensitive periods: (2)

• after certain periods in development, it is very difficult to achieve native-like language processing

• different aspects have different sensitive periods; phonology, grammar, semantics

phonology: sensitive period (2)

• 1st sensitive period of language

• within the first 9 months (conception) (werker & co)

grammar: sensitive period (2)

• within first 3 years

• 2nd sensitive period of language (neville & co)

semantics: sensitive period (2)

• learnable throughout life (neville & co)

• 3rd sensitive period of language

infant directed speech: (8)

aka motherese/parentese

• occurs in almost all cultures

• emotional tone (sweet/loving)

• exaggerated vocal pitch

• exaggerated prosody

• slower rate of speech & longer pause times

• often exaggerated facial expressions

• speech segmentation helps infants understand divisions in words

4 aspects of language:

1. phonology

2. morphology

3. semantics

4. syntax

phonology: (4)

• phonemes: small units of sound with meaning

• english has ~34 distinct sounds (<45)

• different sounds made by moving lips, jaw, tongue, vocal folds and larynx

• combine phonemes to create morphemes (aka words)