PSYC-225: Ch 6 Early Childhood Physical and Cognitive Development

Early childhood

The period between about 2 and a half to 6.

Prefrontal cortex

An area at the front of the brain beneath the forehead that is critical to logical thinking and controlling behavior.

Preoperational thought

The second stage in children's thinking and spans from ages 2 to 7.

Animism

Describing non-living things as if they were alive and have human feelings or motives.

Conservation tasks

A classic series of methods that involve asking children what has happened to an object or set of objects that is rearranged or manipulated to look different right in front of them.

Three mountains task

Tests how well children can imagine how someone would see the world

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's term that describes the range of what students learn with help.

Private speech

The language children use when they talk to themselves.

Episodic memory

Long-term memory for specific events.

Working memory

Short-term memory that does not last long but is essential to learning and to controlling behavior.

Executive function

A group of thinking skills that allow you to suppress impulsive actions and implement long-term plans.

Attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD)

Consistent inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsity that prevents children from fully functioning at school and at home.

Theory of mind

The ability to understand that other people have different beliefs, ideas, and desire.

Intristic movement

The drive to do something because of its own reward

Extrinsic movement

Doing something for a tangible reward