2. Cognition copy.docx

CRITICAL READING: CORNELL NOTES Cognition Name: Date: 1 August 2023 Section: Lecture 2 Period: Questions/Main Ideas/Vocabulary Notes/Answers/Definitions/Examples/Sentences Object Permanence 4) The child is now able to retrieve an object when its concealment is observed. Baillargeo...

CRITICAL READING: CORNELL NOTES Cognition Name: Date: 1 August 2023 Section: Lecture 2 Period: Questions/Main Ideas/Vocabulary Notes/Answers/Definitions/Examples/Sentences Object Permanence 4) The child is now able to retrieve an object when its concealment is observed. Baillargeon & DeVos (1991) – Giraffe Study 3-month old’s don’t dishabituate. 4-month old’s do. Showed that what Piaget said would be exhibited at 8 to 12 months actually happened at 4 to 8 months. Meltzoff (2008) Tasks only assess infants’ perceptual expectations about where the objects are when they are out of sight. Not their knowledge about where the objects are. Issue is infants don’t act on their perceptions. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Stage 1 (sensorimotor period): Coordination of sensory input and motor responses; development of object permanence. Birth – 2 years. Stage 2 (preoperational period): Development of symbolic thought marked by irreversibility, centration and egocentrism. 2-7 years. Stage 3 (concrete operational period): Mental operations applied to concrete events; mastery of conservation; hierarchical classification. 7 – 11 years. Stage 4 (formal operational period): Mental operations applied to abstract ideas, logical systematic thinking. 11 years through adulthood. The Symbolic Function Substage ~2 – 4 years. Draw representations of things; use language and pretend. Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) Their looking behaviour suggests that infants thought the person should behave in line with their beliefs (whether true or false), suggesting they have a developed theory of mind. But, children still don’t pass classic ToM tasks until 3.5 – 4 years. Centration A centering of attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others. What is Concrete Operational Thought? Concrete operational thought allows logical operations with concrete objects and events, as long as only two dimensions of a problem are to be considered. Key Characteristics of Formal Operational Thought Can be about abstract objects and events. Future-oriented thinking. Systematic consideration of logical relations within a problem, reasoning about more than two dimensions. But even by adulthood, formal operational thought isn’t necessarily demonstrated in all areas. Varies across people Deductive Reasoning A form of reasoning that moves from general premises to a specific instance of that premise, followed by a conclusion. If the premises are true, the conclusion must logically follow. Logical Syllogism In the far north, where there is always snow, all bears are white. Novaya Zemlya is in the far north and there is always snow there. What colour are the bears there? Luria (1930/1976) Farmer: I don’t know. I have seen a black bear. I have never seen any others. Each locality has its own animals; if its white, they’ll be white, if its yellow they’ll be yellow. Experimenter: But what kinds of bears are there in Novaya Zemlya? F: We always speak of what we see; we don’t talk about what we haven’t seen. E: But on the basis of my words – in the North where there is always snow, the bears are white – can you gather what kinds of bears there are in Novaya Zemlya? F: If a man was 60 or 80 and had seen a white bear and had told about it, he could be believed, but I’ve never seen one and hence I can’t say. That’s my last word. Those who saw can tell, and those who didn’t can’t say anything. Inductive Reasoning Reasoning from a specific observation to a general rule. Ability to understand novel concepts and logical relationships. Piaget suggested this begins to emerge in the concrete operations period (it becomes established in the formal operations period). Scientific Thinking & Inductive Reasoning Discovering explanations for a set of facts by weighing evidence in favour of a hypothesis that asserts something about the entire sets of facts. Creates a “structured whole” that takes account of all evidence. Combination of Chemicals Problem Young children take an unsystematic approach and characterised by repetition. Adolescents are more systematic and try out 2, 3 and 4 chemical combinations. Fluid & Crystallised Intelligence The Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystalised intelligence: General intelligence is actually a collection of perhaps 100 abilities working together to bring out different intelligences. Varies across people. Gf – Gc theory separates these abilities broadly into two different sets of abilities that have different trajectories over the course of development from childhood through adulthood. Fluid Intelligence Fluid abilities (Gf) drive the individual’s ability to: Think and act quickly. Solve novel problems. Encode short-term memories. Described as the source of intelligence that an individual uses when he/she doesn’t already know what to do. Often what we think of when describing intelligence. Gf is grounded in physiological efficiency and is thus relatively independent of education and acculturation. Measured via reasoning, abstract thinking, problem solving about novel concepts and relationships. E.g.: inductive reasoning specific to general Letter series test Crystallised Intelligence Gc stem from learning and acculturation, is reflected in: Tests of knowledge and general information. Use of language (vocabulary). A wide variety of acquired skills. Personality factors, motivation, educational and cultural opportunity are central to its development. Only indirectly dependent on the physiological influences that mainly affect fluid abilities. Age Changes in Intelligence Cornelius & Caspi (1987): Cross-sectional study US community sample Groups equivalent in formal education Younger adults (mean age 29), middle aged adults (mean age 44), older adults (mean age 65). Tests: Crystallised intelligence (verbal comprehension) Fluid intelligence (letter series tests) Everyday problem solving Training Cognitive Skills in the Elderly Why is this important? Tests alternative theories of decline in cognitive performance with age. Irreversible decrement model of ageing (decline directly reflects underlying effects of physical ageing). Decline at least partly reflects patterns of disuse. Practical applications: Personal and societal benefits of remediation of at least part of age – related cognitive decline. Do Trained Skills Transfer? Participants: Adults 63+ (in 1983) who had been in this longitudinal study since 1970 (tested every 7 years). Based on their 1970-1984 performance on two tests of Gf (which typically show decline in the early 60s), people were categorised as stable or decline. Inductive reasoning: Letter, number and word-series tests Spatial orientation: Mental manipulation of 2D spatial configurations Training (1984): Five one-hour sessions focusing on strategies and practiced on tests with different content. Half trained on inductive reasoning. Half trained on spatial orientation. Results: Transfer effects are limited to tests of the skills that were specifically trained. Training effects didn’t reflect the effects of additional attention or the novelty of study. For those who had shown decline over the preceding 14 years, training returned performance to original levels. For those who were stable, training improved performance. Beyond General Intelligence – Expertise & Encapsulation Gf generally declines with age. But mature adults become increasingly competent in solving complex problems in their chosen fields. With increasing experience, information processing and fluid thinking become dedicated to specific knowledge systems – encapsulation. Existing knowledge is refined and can be applied in flexible ways to multi-faceted, real-life situations. This type of expert knowledge often seems automatic, intuitive. Wisdom & Age Wisdom is one cognitive domain in adulthood that tends to increase with age but isn’t automatically acquired. Reflects individual and specific life experience. More life experience = more chances to acquire wisdom. Wisdom is complex and can be defined as being skilled in social decision making, emotional regulation, prosocial behaviours such as empathy and compassion, self-reflection, acceptance of uncertainty, decisiveness and spirituality. Associated with better health and wellbeing, less loneliness in older age, and greater life satisfaction and resilience. Ageing & Wisdom Older Americans make greater use of wise-reasoning schemas in response to social conflicts than do younger or middle-aged Americans. These schemas emphasise the need for multiple perspectives, compromise and the recognition of the limits of one’s own knowledge. However, it isn’t clear whether other cultures share this developmental trajectory. Japanese vs. American Use of Wise-Reasoning Schemas Interdependent social expectations may prompt Japanese to use wise-reasoning skills earlier. But lack of conflict may lead to poor conflict resolution skills. Independent expectations may prompt Americans to use wise-reasoning skills later. But experiencing conflict may lead to increases in conflict resolution skills. If this is so, younger Japanese would think more wisely about social conflicts than younger Americans, but greater gains would be seen over the lifespan among Americans. Three age groups: Younger adults: 25-40 years Middle aged adults: 41-59 years Older adults: 60-75 years Participants read three newspaper articles describing an intergroup conflict with two strong groups opposing each other (the topics of the articles were ethnic tensions, natural resources and politics). After each story, participants were asked the following questions: “What do you think will happen after that?” and “Why do you think it will happen this way?” And reasoning about interpersonal conflicts among siblings, friends and spouses’ actual letters to an advice columnist. DVs Trained coders scored transcripts of each response on six aspects of wise reasoning: Considering the perspective of the parties involved. Recognising the likelihood of change. Recognising multiple possibilities regarding how a conflict might unfold. Recognising the limits of one’s own knowledge and acknowledging uncertainty. Searching for compromise. Predicting conflict resolution. Results: Japanese have greater intergroup conflict skills than American participants, but Americans exhibited a steeper relationship. As Americans experience more conflict, they gain more intergroup conflict skills. In contrast, the Japanese participants have greater interpersonal skills and remain flat across development whereas Americans remain flat while also slightly increasing. Conclusions: Japanese participants, who culture encourages interpersonal harmony, gain wisdom about social conflict and its avoidance earlier than Americans do. American participants experience more conflicts and continue to learn about conflict resolution over the lifespan. Neither way is ‘correct’, rather, the ways we learn about and use wisdom vary with culture and experience.