HS 1111 things to focus on

Bradford Hill criteria

A set of criteria used to judge whether an observed association may be causal.

1. strength

2. Consistency (reproducibility)

3. Specificity

4. Temporality - most important

5. Biological gradient

6. plausibility

7. coherence

8. experiment

9. analogy

They are guidelines not a checklist, Not every criterion needs to be satisfied to support causation, but temporality is essential.

Empirical Evidence

Information collected through direct observation, measurement, or experimentation rather than personal opinions or beliefs.

Dunning-Kruger effect

A cognitive bias where individuals with limited knowledge or skills tend to overestimate their abilities because they lack the expertise needed to accurately assess their own competence.

As we engage in new topics:

1. Peak of Mount Ignorance: Beginners know very little but are overly confident in their abilities.

2. Valley of Despair: As they learn more, they realize how much they don't know, causing their confidence to drop.

3. Slope of Enlightenment: As knowledge and skills improve, confidence gradually increases.

4. Plateau of Sustainability: With greater expertise, confidence becomes more stable and better reflects actual ability.

Epigenetics

Involves changes in how genes are expressed (turned on or off) without changing the DNA sequence itself. Environmental factors, such as stress or nurturing, can influence these changes.

What are the three characteristics of epigenetic patterns?

• Flexibility: Allow gene expression to change while DNA sequence stays the same.

• Environmental sensitivity: Gene expression can be influenced by changing environmental conditions, like stress or nutrition. Some epigenetic information can also be passed to offspring.

• Reversibility: epigenetic changes can be reversed

Developmental Window

A period during development when certain experiences or environmental influences have an especially important effect on how the brain or body develops.

• THERE ARE 2 TYPES: CRITICAL AND SENSITIVE.

Sensitive Developmental Window

A period when an individual is especially responsive to certain experiences, making learning or development easier. Development can still occur later, but it may be more difficult.

• more flexibile than criticzl

What important skills develop during early childhood (2–6 years)?

• Emotional regulation: Learning how to recognize and manage emotions.

• Social skills: Learning how to interact and communicate with others.

• Coping strategies: Learning ways to deal with stress, frustration, and challenges.

What are the four main ways early life stressors can affect psychological and behavioural well-being?\

1. Mental health issues: Increased risk of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts or behaviours.

2. High-risk behaviours: Increased likelihood of substance misuse, impulsive behaviour, risky sexual behaviours, and teen pregnancy.

3. Cognitive impairment: Difficulties with memory, learning, attention, and decision-making.

4. Attachment issues: Difficulty forming trusting, secure relationships with others.

What kinds of experiences can contribute to toxic stress during childhood?

Both biological and psychosocial experiences can contribute.

1. Biological factors: Malnutrition, infectious diseases, injury or disability, premature or traumatic birth, and prenatal substance exposure.

2. Psychosocial factors: Witnessing violence, abuse or maltreatment, extreme poverty, parental conflict, and stigmatization.

Genomic imprinting

an epigenetic process where only one copy of a gene (either from the mother or the father) is expressed, while the other copy is silenced depending on its parental origin.

Did placing children from orphanages into foster care improve their development?

• Bucharest earlyintervention project

Yes! Children placed in high-quality foster care generally showed improvements in cognitive development, language skills, social abilities, and emotional attachment compared with children who remained in institutional care.

However, some children continued to experience developmental difficulties compared with children raised in family homes from birth.

why did the age at which children entered foster care matter in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project?

Children placed in foster care earlier in life generally experienced greater developmental benefits than those placed later.

This supports the idea of sensitive developmental windows, when the brain is especially responsive to nurturing relationships and positive experiences.

• why ealry intervention is improtant

attribution theory

A psychological theory explaining how people interpret the causes of events, especially their successes and failures, and how these explanations influence motivation and behaviour.

Growth Mindset

The belief that intelligence and abilities can develop through learning, practice, effective strategies, and effort.

Can having a growth or fixed mindset affect how our brain responds to feedback?

Yes! Research suggests that people with a growth mindset pay more attention to feedback that helps them learn, while people with a fixed mindset focus more on whether their answer was right or wrong.

Yeager et al. (2011) study - people changing and bullying

• 202 Finnish students in Grades 9–10.

• Goal: To determine whether believing people can change reduces adolescents’ desire for revenge after bullying.

• Intervention group: Read an article about how people can change, using a former bully as an example.

• Control group: Read an article about someone being bullied.

Findings: The intervention group showed less desire for revenge, reduced feelings of hatred and shame, and were less likely to believe someone was permanently a "bad person."

Conclusion: Believing people can change can improve responses to social conflict and reduce the desire for revenge.

Mueller and Dweck (1998) investigation of the effects of different types of praise on students' responses to failure.

• 128 fifth-grade students using Raven's Progressive Matrices (IQ pattern-recognition tests).

Test	What students did	Feedback received
Test 1: Moderately difficult	All 128 fifth-grade students completed IQ problems.	Randomly assigned to 3 groups: Intelligence praise ("You're smart!"), Effort praise ("You worked hard!"), or Control ("Good score!").
Test 2: Very difficult	Everyone completed harder IQ problems.	All students received negative feedback, being told they performed much worse.
Test 3: Moderately difficult	Everyone completed problems similar to Test 1.	Researchers measured performance to see how students responded to failure.

Results:

Group	Performance after failure
Effort praise	Improved
Intelligence praise	Declined significantly
Control	Remained relatively stable

Conclusion: Praising effort rather than intelligence helps students respond more positively to failure, supporting the idea that process praise encourages a growth mindset and resilience, while intelligence praise can reinforce a fixed mindset.

10 principles of experience-dependent neuroplasticity - explained

Use it or lose it: Unused neural connections weaken.

1. Use it and improve it: Practising strengthens neural connections.

2. Specificity: The brain changes according to the activity practised.

3. Repetition: Repeated practice is needed for lasting changes.

4. Intensity: More intensive practice can promote stronger changes.

5. Time: Brain changes take time, and timing of intervention matters.

6. Salience: Meaningful activities promote greater brain changes.

7. Age matters: Younger brains generally have greater plasticity.

8. Transference: Learning one skill can improve related skills.

9. Interference: Learning one skill can interfere with learning another.

Hebbian Principle

Hebbian Principle: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

When neurons are repeatedly active at the same time, their connections become stronger, making it easier to learn and remember information.

Example: Repeatedly practising a skill strengthens the neural connections involved in that skill.

Factors influencing early brain development

1. genetics

2. learning environemnt

3. psychoactive drugs

4. early stress

5. parent and child relationships

6. peer relationships

7. intestinal flora

8. physical activity

9. sleep

10. nutrition

whatsthis called?

A stroke rehabilitation therapy that limits the use of the unaffected limb, forcing patients to practise using their weaker limb, encouraging neuroplasticity by strengthening neural connections and helping patients regain movement.

Constraint induced movement thrapy

Music and Neuroplacticity Study

Goal: Determine whether music therapy improves cognitive function and supports brain recovery after TBI.

Method: Randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 40 TBI patients experiencing amnesia and cognitive impairment.

• First 3 months: Group 1 received neurological music therapy + standard care; Group 2 received standard care only.

• Next 3 months: Groups switched, with Group 2 receiving music therapy + standard care and Group 1 receiving standard care.

• Measurements: Behavioural tests and MRIs at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months.

Findings:

• functioning improved during music therapy, with benefits lasting through follow-up.

• Set shifting (ability to switch between tasks or ways of thinking) improved during therapy, but the improvement did not last through follow-up.

Conclusion: Music therapy may support cognitive recovery and neuroplasticity following traumatic brain injury, although some improvements may not be maintained long-term.