C99CL-2425-WK3 Neuro Cognitive Changes PDF

C99CL – Cognition across the Lifespan Adolescence: Neuro/cognitive changes​ C99CL - Week 03 – Lecture 05  So Far… How sensory memory, WM, and LTM encode and process (younger years)​ WM shows developmental trends in primary school years = active/can be trained​ Reading difficul...

C99CL – Cognition across the Lifespan Adolescence: Neuro/cognitive changes​ C99CL - Week 03 – Lecture 05  So Far… How sensory memory, WM, and LTM encode and process (younger years)​ WM shows developmental trends in primary school years = active/can be trained​ Reading difficulties/interventions in the classroom​ Sound categorisation (Bradley & Bryant)​ Working memory (Gathercole & Baddeley)​ Comprehension (Oakhill et al.)​ inference​ grasping structure of text/threads of story​ monitoring understanding (metacognition)​ Comprehension also linked to developmental changes in​ memory automisation (practice sends info to LTM and frees cog resources)​ memory organisation (warehouse analogy)​ memory retrieval strategies; selective attention (amenable to training)​ Adolescence Week 03 (Today) - Neuro/Cognitive changes (Cognitive Development Pt. 1)​ - Theories of Adolescent Change (Self-identity Pt. 1)​ Week 04 Adolescent risk-taking (Cognitive Development Pt. 2)​ Moral decision-making (Self-identity Pt. 2)​ Week 05 Interpersonal relationships (Self-identity Pt. 3)​ Families and conflict​ Impact of social media, migration, and new family formats​ What do we think about when we hear or read the words ‘adolescents’ or ‘adolescence’? Adolescence - Age Not specified From puberty through to adulthood​ Uncertainty from the fact that:​ – onset of puberty varies​ – age of reaching adulthood varies​ Also begs the question of what constitutes adulthood​  Adolescence - Characteristics What characterises adolescence?​ – biological changes (identifies puberty)​ – changes in cognitive performance​ – changes in familial relationships​ Preparation for adult life?​ Preparation for what, exactly?​ Neurological & Cognitive Development​ ADOLESCENCE Q1. Easy to observe behavioural change - what about biological changes in the brain? Q2. Does the brain change? - if so, where & how? Q3. Can we attribute behavioural change to structural changes in the brain? Older brains are bigger brains – right? MRI data (Giedd et al. 2011) Total cerebral volume peaks just prior to adolescence (~ 10 yrs) in females and during Age (years) adolescence (~ 14 yrs) in males  So are boys brainier? M+F cc not corrected for body size (boys have larger bodies on average). Even once corrected, some differences remain e.g., neuronal connectivity, receptor density. Girls typically ahead of boys developmentally until teenage years (with girls better at language and verbal skills, and boys visuospatial skills). But girls and boys will develop skills (and white matter) according to the activities they are socialised towards and practice the most. Boys and girls can catch up with each other (learning) via practice (automisation). These brain measurements are the average. The variation within each gender is much larger than the difference between the ‘average’ boy and girl. MAIN POINT ABOUT CHANGE WITH AGE: As far as brain size is concerned, it would be naïve to think that size matters (within the normal range).  White Matter and Learning Matters! Dendrites Axon Terminal Button Node of Ranvier Soma (Cell Body) Axon Myelin Sheath Nucleus 11 What does White Matter do? Axons allow neurons (brain cells) to communicate with each other. Axons covered in myelin sheath; white fatty substance, string of elongated beads Myelin lubricates axons, helps propagate impulses from cell to cell, insulates axons from one another White matter increases when we learn Learning not about assimilating information in ‘empty space’, it has physiological component When we learn new connections are made between neurons, changing microstructure of brain 12 Why White Matter Matters White matter is made up of http://docjana.com/saltatory-conduction/ ‘bundles’ of myelinated axons in brain More white matter = more efficient signal transmission Faster communication between parts of the brain Communication is key to meaning - making sense (of the world) demands the making of links (in the brain) hence importance of ‘myelination’ process Why White Matter Matters (Lenroot et al. 2007) White matter increases especially during adolescence White Matter: Adult Brain 15 Why White Matter Matters Corpus Callosum - Made up of white matter - Approx. 200 million axons - Connects hemispheres Marked development in childhood and adolescence (form age 4 to 24) Possibly accounts for improved cognitive functioning? - memory (storage & retrieval) - attention - language Why White Matter Matters Corpus Callosum (Lenroot et al. 2007) Marked development during childhood and throughout adolescence - evident over a 20-year span from 4 to 24 Measuring White Matter MRI looks at gross structural changes Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) - more recent variation of MRI that for first time image fibrous microstructures of brain - does so by using magnetic fields to track water molecules in brain DTI Detail Why White Matter Matters Look even more closely.... Advances in MR technology allow for closer examination - DTI examines diffusion of water at cellular and microstructural level DTI can detect anisotropy of axons: - in fibrous tissues like white matter, water diffusion is relatively unimpeded in the direction parallel to fiber orientation - Conversely, water diffusion is highly restricted and hindered in directions perpendicular to the fibers, i.e., the diffusion is anisotropic High anisotropy indicates directionality (coherently bundled myelinated axons) and axonal pruning characteristic of greater efficiency of neuronal processing  Brain & Behaviour Can we correlate structural change with behavioural change? Evidence to date is often from non-human species Existing ‘people data’ are cross-sectional, not longitudinal What can we accept? During adolescence: White matter increases White matter enhances functionality of brain More anisotropic white matter correlates with memory, language, higher IQ (Nagy et al., 2004; Schmithorst et al., 2005) More cognitive resources – why do we need them?  What benefits arise from this increased functioning? Who might provide an answer? Piaget As per his theory....​... adolescents actively construct their understanding of themselves and the world around them​ Remember Piaget’s stages of human development:​ Sensorimotor (infancy)​ Preoperational (2-7)​ Concrete operational (7 - 11)​ Formal operations (11+)​  Piaget’s stages of cognitive development​ Sensorimotor (birth to 18–24 m.o): Motor activity without use of symbols. All things learned are based on experiences, or trial and error. Goal: Object permanence.​ Preoperational (2-7 y.o): Development of language, memory, imagination. Intelligence is both egocentric and intuitive. Goal: Symbolic thought.​ Concrete operational (7 -11 y.o). More logical and methodical manipulation of symbols. Less egocentric, more aware of outside world and events. Goal: Operational thought.​ Formal operational (adolescence to adulthood): Use of symbols to relate to abstract concepts. Able to make hypotheses and grasp abstract concepts and relationships. Goal: Abstract concepts.​ Piaget on Adolescence​ Adolescence = shift from concrete operations to formal operations.​ In Formal Operations, thought becomes oriented towards the possible (i.e., the possibility of something happening, something that isn’t happening yet), as distinct from current reality.​ Thinking becomes more abstract.​ Opportunity for ‘hypothetical thinking’ emerges.​ Piaget on Adolescence​ Hypothetical thinking?​ Allows individuals to imagine:​ How the world could be​ How this might be achieved​ This type of thinking impacts on our perception of the degree of difference between the world as it is (to us) and the world as we’d like it to be....(ideal world v actual world)​....even imagine the person we want to be (ideal self v actual self)​ Piaget on Adolescence​ Hypothetical thinking = ‘transformative’ From child-like, random testing of (e.g.,) physical objects ​to formal – strategic – examination founded on logic​ Possible to anticipate all possible outcomes due to outcomes being hypothetical (i.e., mentally represented)​ Link between imagination and logic system transforms world view​ Q. Does hypothetical thinking emerge/increase during adolescence?​ Does hypothetical thinking emerge/increase during adolescence?​ Evidence that it emerges before adolescence?:​ Young children engage in make-believe play​ Q. Is this what others mean by hypothetical thinking?​ Does hypothetical thinking emerge/increase during adolescence?​ Young children engage in make- believe play which looks like hypothetical thinking​ Make a ‘cup of tea’​ Imagine pouring ‘tea’ into cup; place cup on saucer​ Carry it, taking care not to spill​ If cup falls, go back and ‘fill it up again’​ Transient; cup quickly reverts to just being a plastic cup with no tea in it​ Is imaginary play hypothetical thinking?​ Use imagination to create counter-reality scenario?​ Infer consequences of being in the scenario?​ Grasp distinction between imagined and real-world? Mental ‘creation’ of tea – satisfies ​ Adjustment of motor behaviour due to inference that tea will spill, etc. – satisfies ​ Recognition of transience of imagined state – satisfies ​  Is it possible to conclude that hypothetical thinking is reflected in pretend play? Q. Does 1. First important point = concrete hypothetical materials needed thinking emerge/increase Adolescence brings a mental ‘work space’ – during no need for concrete materials (as formal operations will suffice) adolescence? 2. Second important point = multiplicity of scenarios Adolescence brings the capacity to imagine and compare multiple possible scenarios  Is it possible to conclude that hypothetical thinking is reflected in pretend play?​ Q. Does 3. Third important point = uni-directionality hypothetical between two worlds​ thinking emerge/increase Children use real world knowledge to inform during imagined scenario but not vice versa​ adolescence? However HT can be informed by the real world, AND may also inspire ideas in the real world​ Thus pretend play does not have all the features of HT, and true HT only emerges in adolescence​ Evidence of developmental differences? ​ Guttentag and Ferrell (2008)​ Participants: children; teenagers; adults​ Told story: Person will get a gift from whichever of two boxes they choose. Person picks Box A and gets a good gift but – the story goes – there was a great gift in Box B. Actually, the person went and looked in Box B later.​ All three groups inferred regret on the part of the person.​ Only teenagers and adults said they hoped Box B had been empty. Why?​ A. Only older participants able to imagine the hypothetical condition whereby they could avoid the regret to begin with.​ Adolescence sees emergence of hypothetical thinking​ Where might this be useful?​ What’s the relevance of hypothetical thinking to the change(s) experienced as we move from childhood to adulthood?​ Self-identity​ Revision and Reading Week 01 Learning Outcomes Check your learning What is white matter? How is it involved in learning?​ It is white matter or overall brain volume which increases markedly during adolescence?​ White matter connects brain hemispheres. How does the corpus callosum change over childhood and adolescence?​ To what extent does high anisotropy account for improved cognitive functioning in memory and language?​ To what extent do the neuro-findings support Piaget’s theory of adolescent cognitive development?​ What use is more sophisticated cognition, particularly hypothetical thinking, during adolescence?​ Reading Steinberg (2022). Adolescence. 13th Edition: Chapter 2 E. Amsel and J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Adolescent Vulnerabilities and Opportunities (Ch2), p 23-35. Cambridge: CUP.​ Next Lecture Next lecture for week 3 (lecture 6) introduces theories of adolescence change, particularly self identity.​ Check Canvas afterwards for reading and activities​