031:014 Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I. The Nervous SystemII. Brain BasicsIII. Six Stages of Nervous System developmentIV. Cell Migration: 3 MethodsV. Cell DifferentiationVI. Synapse formation (synaptogenesis)VII. Cell death (… to synaptic pruning)… why?VIII. Synapse rearrangement (through pruning)IX. Brain Basics pt. 2X. How does the pattern of neural development relate to changes in behavior?XI. Developmental changes in gray matterXII. Changes in how brain regions are functionally connectedXIII. Experience and the BrainXIV. Experience-Expectant PlasticityXV. Sensitive PeriodsOutline of Current Lecture I. Where we’ve beenII. Where we’re going…III. Jean Piaget (1896-1980)IV. When in disequilibrium…V. Piaget: the dis-continuous viewVI. Stage-wise DevelopmentVII. Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 years)VIII. Preoperational Stage (2-6 years)Current LectureThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.I. Where we’ve been1. Topics:i. Prenatal Developmentii. Geneticsiii. Neural Development2. Themes:i. Nature & Nurtureii. Active developmentiii. Mechanisms of changeII. Where we’re going…1. Topic:i. Cognitive Developmentii. Section 1: Infancyiii. Section 2: Childhood2. Theories:i. Section 1: Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory, Dynamic Systems theory, Core-knowledge theoriesii. Section 2: Information Processing, Connectionism, Socio-cultural theoriesIII. Jean Piaget (1896-1980)1. Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theoryi. Critical questions the theory addresses…1. How do humans come to know things about the world?2. Is knowledge acquired? Innate? “Given by the world”?ii. Piaget’s overarching view: development is constructive1. Child’s own activity helps construct knowledge2. Piaget: the continuous view1. What gets “constructed”?a. Mental structures/schemes:i. Organized mental representationii. Used to make sense of experience2. Child (person) is continuously…a. Interacting with worldb. Using schemes to make sense of the world3. As child interacts with world…a. If good match between schemes and world, then child inIV. When in disequilibrium…1. Adaptation: change in mental structuresi. Assimilation: incorporate the information into an existing mental structureii. Accommodation: adjust mental scheme or create new one to incorporate informationiii. Changes lead back to state of equilibrium2. (re)organization of mental structuresi. Linking existing structures together into an interconnected networkii. Knowledge is now better organized, so able to make new inferences (new predictions about how the world works)V. Piaget: the dis-continuous view1. The equilibrium/disequilibrium cycle is continuous; however, Piaget went further to propose that development also has a discontinuous side…i. Change happens in stages2. What are the characteristics of the stage view?i. Stages are qualitatively different…1. Qualitative changes in mental structuresii. Universal1. Same for ALL childreniii. Order Invariant1. Same stages in same order2. Note: timing determined by experiences- not just age!VI. Stage-wise development1. Stages or Periods: (each with substages)i. Sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years)ii. Preoperational stage (2-7 years)iii. Concrete Operational stage (7-11 years)iv. Formal Operational Stage (11+ years)VII. Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 years)1. Start: basic reflexive behaviors (spontaneous)i. Build on these behaviors to construct something more complexii. Basic reflex of sucking gets turned into very specific things (i.e. gets adapted to nursing, chewing on objects)2. Repetition & circular reactions help with constructioni. Through repetition and circularly reacting with the world, new stuff comes up/they discover new thingsii. Primary circular reaction (repeating an action.. focus on own body – wavearm)iii. Secondary circular reaction (repetition focused on external objects/adding an object – wave arm + stick = banging)iv. Tertiary circular reaction (repetition with novel variation /exploring whatthe object can do– bang block = cool sound; bang oatmeal = mess)3. Big Achievement: creating a mental image (representation) of the world around youi. Mental image: a very simple image of what you just sawii. Object Permanence1. When a child “has” object permanence, they have acquired a flexible mental image of the world. Initially, this mental image is inflexible2. A not B taska. Basic Task:i. Hide toy at A location, infant findsii. Hide toy at B, infant searches back at Ab. Errors reliably occur between 8-10 months (although depends on delay)i. Piaget says their mental image is not flexible because they don’t get the location changec. Around 10-12 months infants find object even with delay (but not always…)d. Piagetian Idea: error goes away when infants acquire flexible mental image of object (mental image of object even when the object is out of sight)VIII. Preoperational Stage (2-6 years)1. Major accomplishment: symbolic thought (one object can stand for another)i. Qualitatively different from a mental image2. As a result, see representational playi. Sociodramatic play1. I.E.: kids playing tea partya. In order to play tea party, you have to be able to imagine “imaginary tea” and you have to know that you drink the tea  symbolic thinkingii. drawings3. But, preschoolers not capable of concrete operationsi. Operations: mental actions that obey logical rules (i.e. mental transformation)4. As a consequence, their thought is…i. Rigid (inflexible)ii. Perception-boundiii. Centratediv. Irreversiblev. Linked to one level of though (i.e. one type of