Cognitive Development: Information Processing

Cognitive Development: Information Processing

Chapter Overview

  • The focus of this chapter is on information processing and how individuals process information through a series of cognitive functions.

Information Processing Framework

  • Information processing involves the following key functions:

    • Registering information: The initial step where information enters the cognitive system.

    • Encoding information: The transformation of this information into a form that can be stored.

    • Storing information: Maintaining the encoded information over time.

    • Retrieving information: Accessing stored information when needed.

    • Operating on information: Utilizing stored information to perform tasks or solve problems.

The Computer Analogy

  • This analogy likens the human brain to a computer, where:

    • Hardware corresponds to the nervous system, encompassing the brain and neural pathways.

    • Software represents the rules, strategies, and mental programs that govern cognitive functioning.

Information Processing Limits

  • The functioning of the information processing system is subject to:

    • Capacity limits: There is a finite amount of information that can be processed at any given time.

    • Speed limits: The rate of processing information also has inherent constraints.

Developing Information Processing: Focused Attention

  • Focused attention evolves from toddlerhood to preschool age:

    • Toddlers exhibit scattered attention and often shift focus rapidly, spending little time engaged with any single task.

    • Preschoolers, in contrast, can remain focused on one activity (e.g., watching TV for up to half an hour).

Influences on Attention in Preschool Children

  • Attention in preschoolers is heavily influenced by the salience of task features, such as engaging visuals (e.g., a flashy clown).

  • After age six or seven, children tend to focus more on relevant task information rather than distractors.

Learning and Memory in Infants

  • Key mechanisms of memory in infancy include:

    • Habituation: The decrease in response to repeated stimuli, indicative of memory capacity.

    • Classical Conditioning: Associating a neutral stimulus with a response (e.g., a tone with salivation).

    • Operant Conditioning: Learning through consequences (reinforcement or punishment).

    • Imitation: The ability to replicate observed behaviors.

Habituation

  • Habituation refers to the gradual decline of responses upon repeated presentation of the same stimulus:

    • Infants can demonstrate habituation, indicating a form of memory retention.

    • Individual differences exist, categorizing infants as:

    • Rapid habituators (60%)

    • Slow habituators (10%)

    • Idiosyncratic habituators (30%)

    • These patterns are linked to later cognitive abilities.

Classical Conditioning

  • The components of classical conditioning include:

    • Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Naturally elicits a response (e.g., meat powder).

    • Unconditioned Response (UR): Natural response to the US (e.g., salivation).

    • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Previously neutral stimulus that becomes associated with the US (e.g., tone).

    • Conditioned Response (CR): Learned response to the CS (e.g., salivation in response to the tone).

    • Example: In research by Blass, Ganchrow, & Steiner (1984), newborns showed head-orienting in response to a CS (head-stroking) associated with a US (sugar).

Operant Conditioning

  • Rovee-Collier et al. (1987; 1999) demonstrated that infants can learn to kick their feet when exposed to a mobile, indicating memory of motor patterns.

Imitation

  • Delayed Imitation: Meltzoff (1988) found that 9-month-olds can imitate actions observed 24 hours earlier, suggesting memory and representation capabilities.

Focus on Memory Development

  • Memory development is fundamental to cognitive growth, as it enables individuals to use past experiences to make wiser decisions in the future.

Memory Capacity

  • Memory is categorized into:

    • Sensory Memory: Immediate and brief retention of sensory information.

    • Short-Term Memory: Holds a limited amount of information temporarily.

    • Long-Term Memory: Stores information more permanently.

  • While capacities for sensory and long-term memory do not change significantly after early months, short-term memory capacity and strategies continue developing through childhood.

Short-Term Memory: Capacity

  • Measured through Digit Span tasks, where individuals repeat back a sequence of digits:

    • Example spans include:

    • 813

    • 2436

    • 26578

    • 968453

    • 25879476

Factors Improving Short-Term Memory

  • Improvements are attributed to:

    • Changes in Processing Speed

    • Development of Strategies

    • Development of Metacognition

    • Increases in Knowledge

    • Physiological Developments

Changes in Processing Speed

  • An example of processing speed improvement can be calculated as: \text{Processing Speed} = \frac{(321 - 21) + 33}{11}

    • Older children perform faster than younger children across various problem types.

"Software" Development: Cognitive Strategies

  • Cognitive strategies are defined as deliberately implemented goal-directed operations used to improve task performance.

Strategy Development

  • The development of cognitive strategies involves:

    • Production: The ability to utilize strategies effectively.

    • Utilization: The recognition of strategy importance and their application in practice.

Memory Strategy Development Across Ages

  • Younger children demonstrate little use of memory strategies, while older children show heavy use, representing a developmental continuum.

Metacognition

  • Metacognition refers to knowledge and regulation of one's own cognitive processes.

  • Metamemory: By ages 3 or 4, children start to understand that smaller sets of information can be remembered more easily than larger sets, although they may not grasp that efficient memory performance requires effort or recognize the benefits of relatedness in memory.

Study on Metacognition (Yussen & Levy, 1975)

  • Participants of different age groups exhibited varying levels of recall and estimation:

    • Preschoolers estimated their memory span significantly higher than their actual performance, contrasting with older students' more accurate estimations of their capacities.

Theory of Mind

  • Metacognition evolves into a Theory of Mind, which is awareness of one’s and others' mental processes, impacting social cognition and interactions.

Data Development: Increases in Knowledge

  • An increase in knowledge enhances the capacity for extensive and effective processing of information.

Knowledge and Short-Term Memory Study (Chi, 1978)

  • A comparative study revealed:

    • Graduate students performed better in a Digit Span Task, while 10-year-old chess players outperformed them in a chess task, demonstrating the influence of domain-specific knowledge on memory performance.

Developmental Changes in Hardware: Physical Changes

  • Myelination: Occurs first in sensory/motor areas, with frontal areas completing development during adolescence.

  • Synaptic pruning: Eliminates redundant pathways, refining neural networks.

Task Demands: Memory Types

  • Types of memory include:

    • Recognition Memory: The ability to recognize previously encountered information.

    • Recall Memory: The ability to retrieve information without cues.

    • Source Memory: Identifying where and how information was acquired.

    • Eyewitness Memory: The reliability of recalling witnessed events.

    • Autobiographical Memory: Recollection of events pertaining to oneself.

Recognition vs. Recall in Children (Myers & Perlmutter, 1978)

  • In a study involving recognition and recall:

    • 2-year-old participants recognized 80% of items while recalling only 20%.

    • 4-year-olds recognized 90% and recalled about 40% of items.

Source Memory

  • Source memory involves acknowledging where information comes from, which preschoolers tend to struggle with but improves with age.

Eyewitness Memory

  • Research indicates:

    • Younger children may recall the event itself but lack detail, being highly susceptible to suggestion, often recalling incorrect details when prompted.

    • Children aged 5 and under infrequently testify in legal settings due to unreliable memory.

Brain Development Parallels

  • Developmental aspects of memory correlate with physical brain maturation:

    • Frontal Lobe: Associated with source memory.

    • Cortical Areas: Including the hippocampus, link to recall and strategic memory.

    • Subcortical Areas: Linked with habituation and recognition.

Autobiographical Memory

  • Autobiographical memory refers to recollections about oneself, which become more detailed and reliable with age.

Early Memories – The First Memory

  • Individuals are invited to reflect on their earliest memory, considering their age at the time and whether their recollections are genuine memories or stories heard from others.

Infantile Amnesia

  • Describes the phenomenon where early childhood memories are not retained, typically ceasing around age 3 or 4.

    • Graph illustrating the proportion of memories per year shows a decline in recall ability during these early years.

Early Memory for Significant Events

  • A graph representing recall scores of significant life events (e.g., hospital birth, family move) across ages illustrates the decline of re-call scores up to age 5, suggesting that significant events are not always remembered.

Explaining Infantile Amnesia

  • Two major problems impacting memory retrieval in infants:

    • Retrieval Problem: The individual has the memory, but accessing it is difficult.

    • Encoding Problem: The information may not have been properly encoded into memory in the first place, highlighting challenges during early developmental stages.

Retrieving Memories: Issues Related to Infantile Amnesia

  • Freud proposed that repressed memories might surface as a defense mechanism. Additionally, early childhood memories might be coded in a non-verbal manner, complicating later retrieval as linguistic skills develop.

Encoding Problems

  • Factors contributing to encoding issues include:

    • Absence of a developed sense of self: Children develop awareness of their own identity gradually.

    • Immaturity of the memory system: As the brain continues to develop, particularly affecting short-term memory capabilities.

Information Processing and Decision Making

  • The maturity of the frontal lobe is critical in decision-making processes, reflecting developmental influences on cognitive functions.

Current News: Canada's Supreme Court on Youth Sentencing

  • A recent case reviewed by Canada's Supreme Court addresses the criteria for treating young offenders as adults in sentencing, potentially influencing legal frameworks in Canada and beyond. The decisions hinge on considerations of the moral culpability of young offenders due to their developmental immaturity, as highlighted by the cases of two young men convicted of serious crimes during their teenage years.