Learning objectives Unit Three Chapter 7 Cognitive Development Information Processing Perspective 1 What is store theory Define and describe the three main components working short term memory the central executive and long term memory a Focuses on general units of cognitive functioning assuming that we hold or store information in three parts of the mental system for processing i Short term memory we retain attended to info briefly so that we can actively work on it to reach our goals like remembering a phone number ii Working memory the number of items that can be briefly held in mind while also engaging in some effort to manipulate those items iii Central executive the area that directs the flow of info implementing the basic procedures and also engaging in more sophisticated activities that enable complex flexible thinking Conscious reflective part of our mental system iv Long term memory permanent knowledge base we store so much here that retrieval can be problematic 2 What are mental strategies a Ways of operating on and transforming information to increase the chance that we will retain it use it efficiently and think flexibly 3 The store model says what two broad aspects of the cognitive system increase with age a Working memory capacity increases with individual differences can predicting intelligence scores and academic achievement b Gain in processing speed c Executive functions gaining attention suppressing impulse flexible thinking and eventually integration of cognitive operations and strategies that enable increasingly difficult tasks 4 Define memory span How does it change with development a In psychology and neuroscience memory span is the longest list of items that a person can repeat back in correct order immediately after presentation on 50 of all trials Items may include words numbers or letters The task is known as digit span when numbers are used Memory span is a common measure of short term memory It is also a component of cognitive ability tests such as the WAIS Backward memory span is a more challenging variation which involves recalling items in reverse order b There is a positive correlation between age and performance on the tests 5 What is a connectionist model What does is achieve a The central connectionist principle is that mental phenomena can be described by interconnected networks of simple and often uniform units The form of the connections and the units can vary from model to model For example units in the network could represent neurons and the connections could represent synapses 6 What is Case s Neo Piagetian Theory Describe the three factors that contribute to cognitive change a Accepts Piaget s stages but Attributes changes and shifts to increases in efficient working memory capacity Each stage has distinct cognitive structure i Infant senses and physical actions ii Early childhood internal representation iii Late childhood simple transformations of representations iv Adolescence complex transformations of representations b Brain development myelination synaptic growth synaptic pruning Practice with schemes and automization Practicing schemes assimilation leads to automization which releases the working memory for other activities Formation of central conceptual structures Schemes become automatic and brain development increases processing speed enough space is available to consolidate schemes into central conceptual structures or networks of concepts and relations that allow for more advanced thinking 7 What is Siegler s Model of Strategy Choice a Evolutionary perspective i Given a problem generate many strategies to solve ii With experience strategies are selected become more frequent and survive iii We adapt our strategy choice like natural selection b Uses microgenetic method i strategy change occurs in short periods of time other methods min minimizing the path to a solution 8 What are speech gesture mismatches box on p 285 a SG mismatch indicate that a child may be in a transitional state this is where they are considering two contradictory strategies at once This is a sign that they are ready to learn and they tend to learn faster than children who produce SG match 9 What is attention Describe the development of attention a Ability to determine what information will be considered in any task i Sustained ii Selective iii Adaptable 1 Goal directed attention 1 Focusing on one aspect 1 Depends on their own learning b Increases sharply between 2 and 3 years i Frontal lobe growth ii More complex play goals iii Adult scaffolding 10 Define and describe cognitive inhibition a The ability to control internal and external distracting stimuli b By controlling irrelevant stimuli inhibition frees working memory resources for the task at hand and supports info processing skills c Ability to control distracting stimuli i Internal thoughts ii External distractions d Improves from infancy on i Gains on complex tasks from middle childhood to adolescence 11 Development of attentional strategies occurs in four phases Name and describe the four phases helpful effectlively a Production deficiency Failing to produce strategies when they could be b Control deficiency difficulty controlling or executing strategies c Utilization deficiency execute strategies consistently but little to no improvement in performance d Effective strategy use use and perform strategies well 12 What is planning a Thinking out a sequence of acts ahead of time and allocating attention accordingly to reach a goal 13 What are rehearsal and organization of memory What is elaboration and when does it develop a Rehearsal repeating information to yourself b Organization Grouping related items c Elaboration creating a meaning or connection between pieces of information that don t belong in the same category i Often occurs during media multitasking 14 Describe the development of three approaches to memory retrieval recognition i Noticing that a stimulus is identical or similar to one previously recall and reconstruction a Recognition experienced ii Easier than recall b Recall i Generating a mental representation of an absent stimulus ii More difficult than recognition c Reconstruction i We select and interpret information as it is encoded stored or ii Can happen deliberately or due to fuzzy trace retrieved 1 gists 15 What is the fuzzy trace theory What is a gist a When we first encode information we reconstruct it automatically creating a vague fuzzy version called a gist which
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