Chapter 4 Theories of Cognitive Development I Aspects of Cognitive Development A Working memory 1 Functional Definitions a Withholding information in one s mind b c Aka short term memory Involved in active processing 2 Capacity a 4 5 y o 4 items b 9 10 y o 6 items c Adults 7 2 items 3 Cross cultural studies a Chinese children recall more digits than American children i Digit names are shorter in Chinese than English b Bilingual digit span Welsh English i Capacity larger in language with faster speech rate 4 Expertise Effects a Adults vs 10 y o chess experts i Digit span test adults scored better ii Chess board configurations children scored better 5 Cultural Effects a Free recall task with recently viewed pictures i Mayan children in rural Guatemala scored worse than U S children b Free recall task with a diorama of a village i Mayan children scored better than U S children B Executive Function 1 Cognitive Control a Working memory formation of strategies b Cognitive flexibility i Ability to shift between mindsets ii 3 y o are not very cognitively flexible iii Cognitive flexibility increases by age 5 iv Bilingual advantage present in cognitive flexibility Inhibition of responses i Self control predicts future performance c More impulsive 4 y o scored worse on SATs than less impulsive 4 y o at age 18 40 years of age more impulsive 4 y o showed less responding in prefrontal cortex ii Learning impulsive behavior Children can learn that waiting pays off or doesn t depending on experimental condition iii If children find caregiver reliable they are more likely to wait longer for a reward Training self control Positive effects of experience Those with lowest executive function gain the most Promote school readiness Freeze Dance exercise C Theory of Mind 1 Functional Definitions a Understanding of how the mind works b Recognition that others can hold views that differ from one s own c Assessed via false belief tasks i Sally Anne Test ii 3 y o not yet developed theory of mind iii iv Cause of change 4 y o developed theory of mind Ability to represent the contents of others mind Other cognitive abilities required by false belief tasks Underlying brain structures Attention Working memory Language II Piaget s Theory A View of Children s Nature 1 Constructivism a Ideology that children construct knowledge for themselves in response to experiences 2 Assumptions others a Children are active mentally and physically from birth onward i Aka active child learning b Children learn many important lessons on their own not from instruction from 3 c Children are intrinsically motivated to learn and do not need external rewards Influences on Development a Biological maturation i Inescapable ii Important to have an optimal environment to develop properly b Social Experience i Exploration of environment depends on learning from others c Activity or Action on the Environment i active child B Central Developmental Issues 1 Axioms of Piaget s Theory a Organization of current knowledge into coherent systems i Schemas set of physical actions mental operations concepts or theories used to organize acquire info about the world b Development c Adaptation d Construction i Development is an adaptation to reality ii Internal learning as an adaptation i Occurs through scientific problem solving i Active construction of reality e Cognitive development i Organismic ii Dependent on biological maturation 2 Mechanisms of Change a Maturation b Learning assimilation accommodation 3 Nature and Nurture a Adaptation b Organization 4 Sources of Continuity a Assimilation b Accommodation entirely c Equilibration i Tendency to respond to the demands of the environment in pursuit of goals i Tendency to integrate observations into preexisting knowledge i Process of incorporating information into a pre existing schema i Process of adjusting schemas to fit new knowledge or creating a new schema i Process of balancing assimilation and accommodation 5 Sources of Discontinuity a Properties of stage theory i Qualitative change by cognitive development ii Broad applicability Qualitative difference in mental judgment and processing directly caused Categorizes children s thinking across diverse topics and contexts Maps out cognitive development from birth through adolescence iii Brief transitions Period of intermediary between two stages iv Invariant sequence Stages are never skipped b Summary of Stages of Cognitive Development i Thinking and behavior reflect a particular underlying structure ii Sensorimotor stage 0 2 years Focused on gathering information about their surrounding world in the iii present Preoperational stage 2 7 years Beginning of conceptual development iv Concrete operational stage 7 12 years Able to logically reason about concrete phenomena v Formal operational stage 12 years Development of abstract construct thinking C The Sensorimotor Stage 0 2 years 1 Learning through senses and actions 2 Object permanence a Knowledge that objects continue to exist even when not visible b Develops around 10 months 3 A not B error a Tendency to search for a hidden object where it was last hidden as opposed to where it currently is b Disappears around 12 months 4 Deferred imitation a Present in infants age 18 24 months 5 Sub stages a Primary b Secondary c Tertiary i Infant notes effect of actions on own body i Infant notes effect on own body or world ii Infant notes specific cause effect relation between action and outcome i Infant deliberately varies actions and targets D The Preoperational Stage 2 7 years 1 Development of Symbolic Representations a Use of one object to symbolize another b Children integrate more social representational norms into their ideas as development continues 2 Egocentrism b Spatial egocentrism c Caveats i Speech volume ii Language choice a Inability to perceive surroundings or situations from a viewpoint other than one s own i Egocentrism in terms of visual perception Young children can adjust volume of speech to allow others to hear them Bilingual children tend to speak correct language to corresponding parent 3 Centration 4 Conservation concept a Focus on a single point of interest and ignoring all other relevant features a Understanding that shape does not necessarily change quantity b Success at conservation task marks beginning of concrete operational stage c Among younger kids i Simplified conservation task on 3 year olds ii 3 year olds passed simple conservation task iii Demonstrates partial knowledge of