PSYCH2040 Chapter 7 Review -School-Age + Adolescence – continued synaptic formation and pruning; energetic
Information Processing Approach to Cognitive Development period of development
-not a unified theory, studies mechanisms of change for specific aspects of cognition Developmental Theories of Information Processing
(ex. detect, transform, store, access, modify) Case’s Neo-Piagetian Theory: accepts Piagetian stages
-views the mind as a complex symbol-manipulating system; info from environment -Each stage has distinct cognitive structures
flows through – encoded, recoded, decoded -Infancy – sensory input & physical actions
The Store Model of Information Processing – 3 parts of mental system -Early Childhood – internal representations
1) Sensory Register: large capacity for info but short time span, attention -Middle Childhood – simple transformations of representations
helps guide info to short-term or working memory (central executive -Adolescence – complex transformations
regulates attention) -Attributes the cognitive changes to 3 factors:
2) Short-Term Memory: retain attended-to info briefly to “work” on it - Brain Development – biological limits of processing speed
Basic Capacity – how many pieces of info can be held at once for - Practice with Schemes/Automatization – schemes become automatic
a few seconds (passive) within each stage, frees space in WM for new schemes/combining existing
Verbatim Digit Span – longest sequence of item that can be ones
repeated in exact order (7 +/- 2 for adults) - Formation of Central Conceptual Structures (express-ways) – schemes
3) Working Memory: items briefly held in mind while also engaging in effort consolidated into improved representational forms; processing efficiency
to monitor/manipulate them; “mental workspace” expands, more advanced ways of thinking
2 less items can be held here (5); info can come from sensory o move on to next stage after forming new structures
register or long-term memory -Continuum of Acquisition – understandings appear in specific situations at
Verbal Memory-Span Task; Visual/Spatial-Span Task different times vs. being mastered all at once
4) Long-Term Memory: info stored permanently, can be retrieved into working -Explains unevenness in cognitive development, different experiences, can be trained
memory; unlimited; categorize info to allow for retrieval to attain conceptual structures; more integrated theory
-Central Executive: manages cognitive system activity, directs info flow and Siegler’s Model of Strategy Choice: “natural selection” for cognitive change
coordinates incoming info with existing info -Children generate strategies to solve problems – some “survive” if useful, others
-conscious part of mind, selects/applies/monitors strategy less useful “die off”; selected based on accuracy and speed
effectiveness; controls attention -Used Microgenic research (watch children solve problem over extended period);
-Automatic Processes: well-learned info, no space required in working found that strategy use follows overlapping waves pattern (single incorrect approach,
memory, allows us to focus on other info while performing these processes highly variable state, advanced procedure)
Development of Working Memory -Children do not always immediately adopt the more effective strategy (new ones
-capacity for short-term and working memory increases with age (2 at 2.5, 4-5 at 7, require energy from WM, small gains in speed at first)
6-7 in adolescence); individual differences; predicts intelligence scores and academic -Explains that no child thinks in just one way – different approaches to same problem
achievement (strategy variability); accounts for diversity and continuous change
-poor working memory = unable to follow complex instructions, lose place in tasks -needed for making new more adaptive strategies
with multiple steps, frequently abandon work before finishing it ATTENTION
-common for children in poverty or chronic stress -Sustained Attention: maintain focus of attention on complex stimuli
Development of Speed of Processing -Selective Attention: focus on aspects of situation that are relevant to goals
-increases with age (8-12 years); d/t changes in brain rather than culture (myelination -Adaptable Attention: adapting attention to task requirements
or synaptic pruning) -each require inhibition (control internal/external distracting stimuli)
Development of Executive Function -planning (thinking out sequence of acts and allocating attention
-Executive Function: cognitive operations/strategies for self-initiated and purposeful accordingly to reach a goal)
behaviour in novel and challenging situations Development of Sustained Attention
-controls attention, suppresses impulses to allow for adaptive -attention to novelty in infancy = slow HR/BR
responses, coordinates info in working memory -increase in attention b/w 2-3.5 for more goal-directed action; develops due to
-planning, organizing, monitoring, flexible redirection of prefrontal cortex growth, more complex play goals, adult scaffolding
thought/behaviour (CENTRAL EXECUTIVE DOES THIS) Attentional Strategies: the most efficient attentional strategies emerge and refine in
-Preschool – focus attention, inhibition, flexible thinking sequence; similar sequence for memory strategies
, 1) Production Deficiency: preschoolers fail to produce helpful strategies -children become more conscious of their own cognitive capacities,
2) Control Deficiency: school-age children sometimes produce them but strategies for processing info, and task variables that aid/impede
no consistent; difficulty controlling/executing them -process of thinking, sources of knowledge, mental
3) Utilization Deficiency: execute consistently, but performance doesn’t inferences, certainty of knowledge
improve/improves less than older children Theory of Mind: understanding people as mental beings, revised if new info; “mind
4) Effective Strategy Use: mid-elementary, use strategies consistently reading” – detect own and other’s perceptions, feelings, etc.
and performance improves Cognitive Self-Regulation: monitor and control progress towards a goal – planning,
-strategies may not work at first b/c too little space in WM, requires effort and checking outcomes, redirecting unsuccessful efforts
attention, children not good at monitoring performance Applications of Information Processing for Academic Learning
-ADHD: inattention, impulsivity, excessive motor activity; issues with executive READING:
function -Early Childhood – emergent literacy (informal experiences), phonological
TYPES OF MEMORY awareness (sound structure of spoken language), interactive reading
-Semantic Memory: vast, taxonomically organized, hierarchically structured; -Middle Childhood – conventional reading
concepts, language meanings, facts, rules = develops first -Whole Language Approach: exposed to text in its complete form
-Episodic Memory: memory of personally experienced events from specific time and (stories, poems, lists, etc.); reading kept meaningful, appreciate
place = develops around 3-4 years communicative function of language
-Scripts: general descriptions of what occurs in particular situations -Phonics Approach: children first learn phonics (rules for translating
-allow for organization and interpretation of everyday written symbols into sounds); learn sound-letter correspondence
experiences; scripts acted out in make-believe play -OPTIMAL APPROACH IS A BALANCE OF THESE, but different
-Autobiographical Memory: one-time events, long-lasting b/c combinations for each child – neither work for dyslexia
personal meaning (ex. birthday) – need sufficient sense of self and MATHEMATICS:
ability to make memory into life story -Ordinality: order relationships; Cardinality: last word in sequence is the #
-Parents can use elaborative style or repetitive style to elicit a SCIENTIFIC REASONING:
child’s autobiographical narratives -coordinate theory with evidence d/t: greater WM resources, simultaneous
-Infantile Amnesia (cannot retrieve events before age 3) comparison of theory and effects of variables, exposure to complex problems and
-Eyewitness Memory: young children prone to memory errors instruction that highlights scientific reason
-language competence, poor source-monitoring, difficulty Evaluation of the Information-Processing Approach
reporting temporal info, less skilled at inhibition, desire to -STRENGTHS: breaks down cognition into parts, contributes to effective teaching
please, bias to verbatim (forget easily b/c less gist memory), may techniques
omit info b/c less competent at using narratives -WEAKNESSES: computer models don’t represent real life learning, no info on
-the more distinct and personally relevant the event, the more cognition’s relation to other development, overlooks non-linear aspects of cognition
accurate children recall it over time (ex. imagination)
Memory Strategies (info from WM into LTM; based on culture) PSYCH2040 Chapter 9 (Part 1) Review
1. Rehearsal COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE
2. Organization Phonology: rules on structure and sequence of speech sounds
3. Elaboration (creating meaning b/w info that do not belong in same category) Semantics: vocabulary to express concepts
4. Recognition (noticing a stimulus is identical/similar to previous one; easier Pragmatics: rules for communicating; based on culture/sociolinguistic knowledge
than recall, retrieval cue. Ex. multiple choice tests) Grammar: 2 components
5. Recall (mental representation of absent stimulus. Ex. long answer) -Morphology – use of markers to indicate number, tense, gender,
6. Reconstruction (recoding info while in system or being retrieved) active/passive (ex. prefixes or suffixes)
Fuzzy Trace Theory – reconstruct info automatically when -Syntax – rules for structuring words into sentences
encoding; create “gist” that preserves essential meaning without THEORIES OF LANGUAGE
details, useful for reasoning – can also make a literal verbatim Nativist Theory (Noam Chomsky):
version but requires more space in WM -Language Acquisition Device (LAD) – innate system in all humans that allows us
Gists heighten the risk of false reporting (ex. eye-witness) to combine words and understand meanings of sentences (once children acquire
Metacognition: awareness and understanding of various aspects of thought; “thinking enough vocabulary)
about thinking”
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