Psyc 100 - Cognitive Development

Quantitative Changes

Changes in amount/growth

Ex. height, weight, brain maturation, connections between synapses

Qualitative Changes

Changes in how we behave, perceive the world, think about the world

Continuous Development

Theories that talk about change

Ex. Vygotsky

Discontinuous Development

Theories that contain stages

Ex. Piaget

When does ASD usually emerge?

First three years

Phenotypic Heterogeneity

High variability in genes

The Social Brain

Connected regions in the brain that process social information. Allow us to recognize people and evaluate their mental state

Amygdala

Recognizes emotional states and regulates our own emotions

Orbital Frontal Cortex

Rewarding feelings around other people

Fusiform Gyrus

Helps with face recognition

Superior Temporal Sulcus

Detects motion in others

Functional MRI (fMRI)

Measures oxygen within the brain

Ex. measuring blood flow during a task to show transport of o2 to an active area of brain

Event Related Potentials (ERPs)

Electrodes to measure current during a task

What is cognition?

Thoughts and reasoning to solve problems

Prefrontal Cortex

Governs high level processing like planning and problem-solving. Develops throughout the lifespan

Typicality

Some items are more typical than others

Ex. Oranges are more thought of as a fruit compared to squash

Prototypes

The most typical member in a category

Knowledge Approach

When we learn new things, we relate them to new concepts

Exemplar Theory

New objects are compared to ones you have already seen in that category

Piaget

Created the stage theory

Sensorimotor

Birth - 2 years

Basic traits and events of the world

Develop object permanence at the end of this stage

Object Permenance

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can’t be seen, heard, or touched

Preoperational

2 - 7 years

Children are able to express their knowledge verbally and begin to understand more complex sensorimotor stimuli (ex. stove is sometimes hot)

Concrete-operational

7-12 years

the child is now able to understand cause and effect relationships and “how” things happen. children begin to understand the conservation of objects at this stage.

Conservation of Objects

You know that liquid in different containers can have the exact same volume

Formal-operational Schemas

12+ years

Child is now able to think theoretically and apply specific knowledge to general rules and vice versa. Ex. Algebra

Criticisms of Piaget’s Theories

1. Ages suggested by Piaget can be different

2. Underestimate younger children and overestimate older children and their abilities

3. Underestimation of social learning

4. Development is not always continuous

5. Piaget did most of the research on his own children

Vygotsky

Created the continous model

Sociocultural Theories

Beliefs and values of culture can impact children’s development

Zone of Proximal Development

Outside - unattainable learning

Middle - Zone of proximal development (Can do with help)

Inside - Actual development level (What they can do)

David Klar’s Information Processing Theories

Describe the cognitive processes that underlie changes in thinking and cognition during development

Inputs - Processing - Outputs

Behaviourists (ex. BF Skinner)

Believed that child development of environmental rewards and punishments shaping their behaviour.

Social Learning Theory (SLT)

Suggests people learn behaviors through observation of others, especially through models (like parents, peers, or media).

Phonemic Awareness

Ability to identtify sounds in words