PSYCH 2AA3 Lecture Notes - Developmental Psychology PDF

5 September 2024 Lecture 1 Developmental Themes and Theories [Theme 1: Continuity] -- can we predict who a baby will become? Is development continuous or discontinuous? - - [Theme 2: Nature VS Nurture] -- genes vs environment - - - [Theme 3: Active Child] -- children themselves in...

5 September 2024 Lecture 1 Developmental Themes and Theories [Theme 1: Continuity] -- can we predict who a baby will become? Is development continuous or discontinuous? - - [Theme 2: Nature VS Nurture] -- genes vs environment - - - [Theme 3: Active Child] -- children themselves influence how they develop Lecture 2 9 September 2024 Genes and Evolution *Genes* Most cells have 46 chromosomes. Gametes have 23 chromosomes. - - - - *Race and biology* Recent technology allows us to compare genetic similarity between individuals - - Humans have 3 billion nucleotides base pairs-- on average, peop;le differ by only 2-3 million base pairs. - - When examining a specific base pair, sometimes individuals cluster according to geographic origins. - *Sickle-cell disease* Sickle-cell disease -- red blood cells are sickle shaped - - - Heterozygous phenotype -- sickle-cell trait - - **Down syndrome** -- extra 21st chromosome; distinct facial features, mental & motor delays *Evolutionary Theory* **Evolution** -- process of change in gene frequencies over many generations **Natural selection** -- environmental conditions allow some members of the species to survive and pass on their genes to future generations, while others do not. EX pepper moth; pre industrial revolution was mostly white, post industrial revolution was mostly black *Gene vs Environment* False dichotomy -- genes selected by evolutionary pressure depend on the environment in which our ancestors were living - - *Polygenic inheritance* Most psychological traits are manifested through the activities of many genes and their interactions with the environment - *Evolutionary Theory - development* Selected traits may be maximally adaptive at that stage of development - **Heritability:** the extent to which difference in a value can be attributed to inheritance - - - Chapter 1 Summary Intro to Child Development **Development**: pattern of change that begins at conception and continues throughout lifespan **Ethnicity**: A characteristic based on cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language. **Socioeconomic Status** (SES): Categorization based on a person's occupational, educational, economic characteristics and their access to community resources. **Gender**: The characteristics of people as males, females, or gender diverse. - **Resilience**:The capacity to overcome adverse experience and involves having access to resources and opportunities that allow the practice of coping skills in the presence of supportive relationships - **Social policy**: The capacity to overcome adverse experience and involves having access to resources and opportunities that allow the practice of coping skills in the presence of supportive relationships Child poverty in Canada is unevenly distributed - - *Developmental Processes* **Biological** **processes**: changes in an individual\'s body **Cognitive processes:** Changes in an individual's thinking, intelligence, and language skills. **Socioeconomic processes**: Changes in an individual's interpersonal relationships, emotions, and personality. Periods of Development: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. **Continuity**-**discontinuity** **issue**: Question about whether development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity). **Differential susceptibility**: model suggests that the effects of the environment on child outcomes can be moderated by temperament in both advantageous and maladaptive ways, - Vulnerability and resilience factors - - *Types of neuroscience* **Developmental neuroscience**: A field that provides research and understanding into both normal and abnormal nervous system development. - Early years are when neuroplasticity is at its peak; toxic stress during early years shapes social/emotional behavior and cognitive abilities - *Scientific Research* **Theory** -- An interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain and make predictions. **Hypothesis** -- Specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determine their accuracy. *Theories of development* **Psychoanalytic** -- Theories that describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily coloured by emotion. -  **Erikson\'s stages --** Description of eight stages of human development. Each stage consists of a unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis that must be resolved. **Piaget theory --** theory stating that children actively construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive development: 1. 2. 3. 4. **Vygotsky's** **theory** -- A sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development. - **Information-processing theory**: Emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking. **Behavioral approaches**: - - **Social cognitive theory:** The view of psychologists who emphasize behaviour, environment, and cognition as the key factors in development. - **Ethological theory:** Stresses that behaviour is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods. **Ecological theory:** emphasizes the importance of environmental factors Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory: - - - - - - **Eclectic theoretical orientation:** An orientation that does not follow any one theoretical approach but instead selects the best aspects from each theory. *Research methods for collecting data* Many types of research methods including: - - - - - Research designs include: - - - Research time spans: cross-sectional, longitudinal Conducting ethical research requires: - - - - Lecture 3 11 September 2024 Behavioral Genetics and Epigenetics **Developmental systems theory:** development occurs within a system of interacting levels. *Epigenesis* **Epigenetics:** Any functional change in the genome that does involve an alteration in the DNA sequence - Structure -- DNA sequence; function -- gene expression EX Skink lizards - - *How does experience work its effects on gene activity?* EX Rats -- good mothering and bad mothering - - - - - *What about humans?* Various studies looking at methylation in genes and receptors involved in the HPA axis - - *Genotype -\> Environment Theory* **Genotype to environment** theory first proposed by Sandra Scarr. This theory states that development is based on genotype effects, not the environment. 3 types of effects: 1. 2. - 3. The effects are not mutually exclusive. More passive early, more active later. *Genes X Environment* EX Breastfeeding and IQ -- babies who were breast-fed had higher IQs compared to those who were bottle fed. - - *Impact of environment depends on your genotype* **Conduct disorder** -- consistently break rules or violate the rights of others; can emerge by 8 years of age; early onset leads to more aggressive behavior and more risk in adulthood; difficulty with self-regulation combined with fear/anger leads to dysregulated behavior (more antisocial) - -  Childhood maltreat is associated with antisocial behaviors in adulthood -- but not all maltreated children become antisocial [MAOA gene] -- encodes MAOA enzyme - metabolizes neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine. In mice, deleting MAOA leads to increased aggression and maltreatment disrupts neurotransmitter systems. In humans, altered neurotransmitters are associated with aggression. MAOA activity mediates effects of childhood maltreatment on later antisocial behavior. Lecture 4 12 September 2024 Prenatal Development *Brain Development* \(1) [Formation of neural tube] - - \(2) [Neurogenesis] - - - \(3) [Migration] - - (4a) [Differentiation] - - (4b) [Differentiation: Myelination] - - - - \(5) [Cell and Synaptic Pruning] - - - *Teratogens* **Teratogens --** agent that can potentially cause a birth defect or harm to cognitive/behavioral outcomes - Teratogens examples: - - - - - - - - - *Prenatal Perception* [Prenatal hearing] -- at 16 weeks gestation, a developing fetus perceives sound outside the womb through fluid-filled ears. - - - - What about deaf parents - no evidence that hearing children of deaf parents experienced language delay - Newborns of deaf parents demonstrate same preferences as newborns of hearing parents (ex prefer infant directed speech over regular speech) Prenatal experience is not necessary!! [Prenatal hearing and familiarity study] -- mothers instructed to read Dr. Seuss book out loud while pregnant - - - [Prenatal taste] - do infants remember what they tasted prenatally? Menndella et al. 2001 - - - - - - Infants\' memories can last as long as 6 months! [Prenatal taste: direct observation --] facial movement of fetus studied in utero using 4D ultrasound scans - *Summary* Fetuses are learning! Rudimentary learning is sufficient for normal brain development. No evidence that parents can do something specific to enhance children's intelligence or temperament. Exposure drives perceptual learning. Chapter 2 Summary Biological Beginnings and Prenatal Development **Evolutionary psychology**: Branch of psychology that emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and "survival of the fittest" in shaping behaviour. Types of inheritance - - - Chromosomal abnormalities - - - - - Gene-linked abnormalities - - **Behavioral genetics**: The field that seeks to discover the influence of heredity and environment on individual differences in human traits and development. **Twin study**: A study in which the behavioural similarity of identical twins is compared with the behavioural similarity of fraternal twins. **Adoption study**: A study in which investigators seek to discover whether, in behavior and psychological characteristics, adopted children are more like their adoptive parents, who provided a home environment, or more like their biological parents, who contributed their heredity. - **Shared environmental experience:** Siblings' common environmental experiences, such as their parents' personalities and intellectual orientation, the family's socioeconomic status, and the neighborhood in which they live. **Nonshared environmental experiences**: The child's own unique experiences, both within the family and outside the family, that are not shared by another sibling. *Epigenetic View* **Epigenetic view**: Theory that development is the result of an ongoing, bidirectional interchange between heredity and environment. **Gene X environment**: The interaction of a specific, measured variation in the DNA and a specific, measured aspect of the environment. - - *Prenatal Development* \(1) **Germinal period** -- The period of prenatal development that takes place in the first two weeks after conception. It includes the creation of the zygote, continued cell division, and the attachment of the zygote to the uterine wall. \(2) **Embryonic Period** -- The period of prenatal development that occurs from two to eight weeks after conception. During the embryonic period, the rate of cell differentiation intensifies, support systems for the cells form, and organs appear. \(3) **Fetal period** -- The period from two months after conception until birth, lasting about seven months in typical pregnancies. *Teratogen* [Dose] -- the greater exposure to a teratogen, the greater the effect [Genetic susceptibility] -- the type of severity of abnormalities caused by a teratogen is linked to genes of both the mother and the embryo. [Time of exposure] -- teratogen exposure does more damage at some points of development more than others. Embryonic period is more vulnerable than the fetal period *Maternal diseases* [Syphilis] -- damaging later in prenatal development, Damage includes skin lesions and eye lesions which cause blindness. [Genital herpes] -- newborns can contract genital herpes when delivered through the canal of a mother who has the virus; can become brain damaged or even die [HIV / AIDS] -- can be infected through placenta, delivery or postpartum. [Diabetes] -- diabetic mothers deliver large infants, putting infants at risk for diabetes. Physical defects are also more common. Maternal risk factors can include: - - - - Paternal factors include: - - - - *Prenatal Tests* **Ultrasound sonography** -- fetal imaging and detection of structural abnormalities; no risks; at 7-11 weeks **Fetal MRI** -- imaging; diagnose fetal malformation; no risks during 2nd or 3rd trimester; after 20 weeks **Chorionic villus sampling** (**CVS**) -- test small sample of placenta; test genetics; small risk of limb deformity;10-14 weeks **Amniocentesis** -- amniotic fluid is tested; test for chromosomal or metabolic disorders; small risk of miscarriage. - 14-20 weeks **Maternal blood screening** -- identifies pregnancies at elevated risks for defects; no risk to mother or fetus; 16-18 weeks **\*Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD)** -- being explored as an alternative. Mainly focused on brain imaging, examining fetal cells in mothers blood, analysis of fetal DNA in mothers plasma. *Fertility technology* Study -- naturally conceived vs assisted conception children; no differences between rates of behavior problems and mental health disorders Surrogacy - - Lecture 5 16 September 2024 Newborn Assessments **Nicotine** -- constricts blood vessels, which decreases flow of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. - - **Fetal alcohol syndrome:** slow growth, heart problems, characteristic facial features. Leading cause of developmental disorders in North America - - - - *Apgar Test* **Apgar test** - common way to quickly test physical development of infants. A good score includes a fast heartbeat, good breath with normal crying, strong active motion, entire body pink, reflexes etc. - - - - [Apgar limitation]s --expression of physiologic condition at only one time point - - - *Infant Reflexes* Moro reflex -- baby throws hands up when startled Rooting reflex -- baby will always look for something to suck Grasping reflex -- putting something in an infant's hand will cause them to grasp it Babinski reflex -- infants toes will spread out when you touch their foot Stepping reflex -- legs move automatically when feet feel solid surface Reflexes will begin to disappear with age. Neonatal imitation -- are they actually imitating? - - - - *Crying* Typical newborns cry 2-3 hours per day. Types of cries include: - - - - Strategies for crying: - - - **Shaken baby syndrome (SBS)** -- abusive head trauma sustained by rough shaking. Often in an effort to stop baby from crying; impulsive, frustrated - - *Preterm and low birth weight infants* Low birth weight newborns: less than 2500g, very low weight is less than 1600g. - Preterm newborns: born after less than 37 weeks of gestation - - In Canada (6.5%) and US (8.1%), the low-birth-weight rate has been increasing in the last 2 decades. - - **Kangaroo care** -- method of care for preterm infants. - - Direct touch is very important for infants. Preterm infants show reduced stress behaviors and activities after 5 days of massage therapy. *Preterm babies and memory* Some suggestion that hippocampus development, and therefore memory, is affected in preterm children. - - - Prenatal care is important; perhaps more education about prenatal care may benefit adolescents. Tests of newborn reactions can reveal major physical and neurodevelopment problems. Newborns are sensitive to auditory, tactile, chemical signals. Lecture 6 18 September 2024 Physical Growth *Shaken Baby Syndrome* From hospital data from 1988 to 1998 in Canadian hospitals, median age was 4.6 months. - - - Of 80 babies followed from 2005-2013, 3 died in the ICU. - Differential susceptibility? -- It is possible that different areas are more susceptible, however the scope of possible head injuries make it difficult to suggest significant vulnerabilities. - - - *Physical growth patterns* Differences in height and weight as children grow depends on genetics. Impact of environment: urban, middle SES, first born children tend to be taller than rural, lower SES, later-born children. Strongest impact on height and weight is adequate nutrition. *Puberty* **Puberty:** rapid hormonal and physical changes in early adolescence as the body prepares for reproduction. Individual differences in onset and progression; changes over the decades (nutrition, exercise, body fat) - - Timing of puberty is governed by genetics and environmental factors (stress). Hypothalamus, pituitary gland and gonads control puberty. - - Findings are inconsistent regarding adolescent behavior and hormones. Social factors account for 2-4 times as much variance in girls\' depression and anger relative to hormonal factors. - - *Psychology of Puberty* Adolescents are preoccupied with body image. Girls are less happy with bodies than boys -- note that puberty triggers more fat storage for girls, and more muscle mass for boys. - Early maturing girls are more likely to smoke, drink, be depressed, develop eating disorders, engage in delinquent behavior -- evocative genetic effects! *Brain Plasticity* Neuronal activation patterns and synapses are plastic -- can adapt to new challenges, especially earlier in development. Michael Rehbein -- left hemisphere removed at age 7 to stop seizures. By age 14, brain had reorganized to reveal activation in right hemisphere in response to speech - Prosopagnosia -- inability to recognize faces. *Adolescent Brain Development* As the adolescent brain develops, corpus callosum thickens. Amygdala matures faster than the prefrontal cortex. - End result -- adolescents act based on emotions (amygdala) without full consideration of consequences (prefrontal cortex still immature0 Is more better? -- high-IQ brains undergo the most change from childhood to adolescence - - Why does cortical thickness change? - - - Myelination depends on good nutrition. Synaptic pruning allows children and adolescents to have diverse experiences and practice those skills you want to foster. *REM Sleep* More REM sleep occurs during infancy, more sleep needed earlier in development. REM -- rapid eye movement phase of sleep - - - *Co-sleeping and SIDS* **Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)** -- infants stop breathing suddenly, typically during the night while sleeping - - - *Adolescent sleep* Canadian Pediatric society recommends 8-10 hours of sleep per night for teenagers/ - - - Change in melatonin production -\> older teens sleep and wake up later. Chapter 3 Summary Birth, Physical Development and Health 3 stages of birth: 1. 2. 3. *Childbirth setting and attendants* Although most births in Canada happen within a hospital, some take place elsewhere, with different kinds of people assisting: - - *Methods of childbirth* There are 3 basic kinds of drugs that are used for labor: 1. 2. 3. **Natural childbirth --** This method attempts to reduce the mother's pain by decreasing her fear through education about childbirth and relaxation techniques during delivery. **Prepared childbirth** -- Developed by French obstetrician Ferdinand Lamaze, this childbirth strategy is similar to natural childbirth but includes a special breathing technique to control pushing in the final stages of labor and a more detailed anatomy and physiology course. Other methods of promoting relaxation during pregnancy: - **Cesarean delivery** -- Removal of the baby from the mother's uterus through an incision made in her abdomen. - *Assessing the newborn* **Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)** -- A measure that is used in the first month of life to assess the newborn's neurological development, reflexes, and reactions to people and objects. **Intensive Care Unit Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS)** -- Based on the NBAS, the NNNS provides an assessment of the "at-risk" newborn's behavior, neurological and stress responses, and regulatory capacities. *Infant weights* **Preterm** -- Those born before the completion of 37 weeks of gestation (the time between fertilization and birth). - - **Small-for**-**date** -- Those born before the completion of 37 weeks of gestation (the time between fertilization and birth). In countries with high rates of poverty and malnutrition, low birth weight babies are more common. Adolescents who give birth when their bodies are not fully matured are at risk for low birth weight babies. *Postpartum Period* **Postpartum period** -- The period after childbirth when the mother adjusts, both physically and psychologically, to the process of childbirth. - During the postpartum period, there is a significant loss of sleep. This contributes to stress and impaired decision making. After delivery, a mother's body goes through changes in hormone production. - **Postpartum blues** -- about 2-3 days after birth, mothers feel worried, anxious and upset. **Postpartum depression** - Characteristic of women who have such strong feelings of sadness, anxiety, or despair that they have trouble coping with daily tasks during the postpartum period. - - **Bonding** -- The formation of a close connection, especially a physical bond, between parents and their newborn in the period shortly after birth. *Growth and Change* **Cephalocaudal pattern (top down)**-- The sequence in which the fastest growth occurs at the top of the body---the head---with physical growth in size, weight, and feature differentiation gradually working from top to bottom. **Proximodistal pattern (center out)** -- The sequence in which growth starts at the center of the body and moves toward the extremities. Early growth: - - - **Puberty** - A period of rapid physical maturation involving hormonal and bodily changes that take place primarily in early adolescence Determinants of puberty: - **Precocious puberty** -- very early onset and rapid progression of puberty. - Environmental factors such as family influences and stress can also influence the onset and duration of puberty. Growth spurts -- occurs about 2 years earlier in girls (11.5) compared to boys (13.5) Sexual maturation in males occurs in this order: - Sexual maturation in girls: - Early maturing boys are better received by their peers compared to late-maturing boys. *The Brain and development* **Neuroconstructivist view** -- Theory of brain development emphasizing the following points: 1. 2. 3. **Lateralization** -- Specialization of function in one hemisphere of the cerebral cortex or the other. Children who grow up in deprived environments may have depressed brain activity. Majority of myelination occurs during adolescence Increases in dendrites and synapses are a large part of brain development during the first 2 years of life. During childhood, the brain and head grow more rapidly than any other part of the body During adolescence, neurons are pruned. *Sleep* Shared sleeping is a controversial issue, with some experts recommending it, and others warning against it. SIDS is more common when infants and parents share the same bed, if the infants sleep in soft bedding, if the infant has abnormal brain stem functioning, mothers smoke during pregnancy etc. - Shorter sleep duration in children is linked to more negative developmental outcomes. *Health* Earlychilhood -- the leading cause of death in Canada of children age 1-4 after cancer is unintentional injury. Middle and late childhood -- disease and death are less prevalent than in early childhood Conditions that can result from malnutrition - - Exercise in early childhood -- routine physical activity should be a daily occurrence for young children; about 3 hours per day - Exercise in middle and late childhood -- higher physical activity is linked to lower level of metabolic disease. Exercise in adolescence -- decline in physical activity is seen in American and Canadian teens. Higher exercise is linked to positive effects. Lecture 7 25 September 2024 Cognition Piaget's assumptions: - - - - **Discontinuous development** (qualitative development)**:** Cognition develops through a series of distinct stages - - - - **Domain general mechanism:** all abilities are linked - **Children as active agents**: children constantly seek out stimulation in their environment - **Constructivist approach**: children build their knowledge through their interactions with their environment - *Process of organization* **Assimilation**: new experience are incorporated into a child's existing theories - **Accommodation**: new experiences modify a child's theories Building through experience -- - - - - **Schemas:** units of information; allows for construction of knowledge - *Stages of development* 1\. **Sensorimotor** (0-2) -- intiallu, limited to reflexes. At 8-12 months we see evidence of: - - - - 2\. **Preoperational** (2-7) -- Defined by what children cannot do. Children cannot perform mental 'operations' and therefore must rely on operations conducted externally. Cannot: - - - - 3\. **Concrete operations** (7-11) -- defined by the ability to perform concrete mental operations to solve problems. - - 4\. **Formal operations** (11+) -- ability to reason abstractly - - Lecture 8 26 September 2024 Vygotsky's Theory *Vygotsky's theory* **Vygotsky's theory** -- Constructivist theory; emphasis on children as social beings - *Four interrelated levels* The four interrelated levels are: 1. 2. 3. 4. \*Similar to developmental systems theory *Sociohistorical influences* A culture's history shapes cognitive development Henry Plotkin (2001) -- our brains evolved to survive in our environment, which influenced how we ate, defended against predators, reared our children and interacted with other -\> creating culture. - \*Research mainly on WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) participants. *Role of language* Writing system has consequences for how children learn to read and write, but also how they think. In most cultures we can express, 0, negative numbers and some quantity In all languages, 1-10 must be remembered by rote memory, but beyond 10, some languages are more systematic than others - In German for example, 47 = seven and forty - - \*Likely not just the language, but also the culture in which these concepts are being taught (importance of age in some cultures) *Intersubjectivity* **Intersubjectivity** -- mutual, shared understanding among participants in an activity - *Guided participation* **Guided participation** -- cognitive growth results from children's involvement in structured activities with other who are more skilled than them (parent reading to a child) - Main contributions to education: - - - **Zone of proximal development --** range of tasks too difficult for child to solve on their own but can be accomplished with the help of adults or more skilled peers - **Scaffolding --** start with small steps and more guidance, than eventually provide bigger challenges and more independence - - - - - - - - **Language and thought --** - - - - - - - Lessons from Piaget: - - - - Lessons from Vygotsky - - - - - *Flipped classroom* Traditional learning (listening to lecture) should be done outside the classroom (watching a video of the lecture) During class time, students are engaged in activities (problem solving, group discussion, sharing ideas) Vygotsky: learning occurs as a result of interactions with individuals who are more advanced; in-class activities allow for these interactions Nearly ¼ children age 5-7 years have their own smartphone - - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience *Hippocampal volume and SES* SES composite score -- subjective rating income-to-needs ratio; 0 is the median - - - Adverse effects -- stress impairs hippocampus; prenatal stress results in smaller hippocampus Protective effects -- increased parental support, enriched environment Hippocampal volume was correlated with performance on a visual-auditory learning task, but not SES directly, after controlling for age (SES has a larger impact on brain/cognitive development in children compared to adults) - *Brain at rest* What do baseline brain activities mean? - - *Working Memory* Used EEG (can measure surface level activity) to measure brain activity and heart rate in infants at 5 and 10 months of age (longitudinal study) Compared baseline activation to looking of A-not-B task - - Brain is become more specialized with age; individual differences can be revealed through neral activity. What about other working memory tasks? -- toddler wears EEG cap - - - *Different brain wave activations* Prolonged cognitive engagement increases brain activation (theta waves) gradually Different tasks demands modulate brain activity In 4 year olds, left, front-temporal brain areas were most active and were modulated in response to task difficulty. Differences in brain activity predicts individual differences in performance. You can measure brain activation adaptation. - - *Lateral occipital Cortex* Specific areas of the brain (LOC) are more active when individual perceive whole objects, relative to similar visual stimulation By age 5, LOC responds similarly to the same object despite changes in size (some tasks are behaviorally and neural mature) LOC responds differentially when viewpoint changes, revealing behavioral immaturities. **Network approach:** assume that changes in 'resting rate' with age reveals important neural development What if while they are being told to 'stay still' children are [actively] trying to inhibit moving, talking, fidgeting, yawning etc.? - *Default mode network* **Default mode network --** regions of the association cortex that appear to be activated together when 'at rest' - - - *Developmental cognitive neuroscience* 'Resting baseline' is used as a reference point against which cognitive activity can be measured (ex areas that are active during a conservation task, after subtracting 'resting' activity, could be inferred to be the areas for mental reasoning) - - Despite limitations of comparisons across ages when using resting rate, better methods allow us to make comparisons between individuals! *Cognitive flexibility* Developed child-friendly Stroop Task - association between irritability and cognitive flexibility-related neural activation - - Measures of neural activity may reveal and explain individual differences. *Implications for education* Train children in executive function skills. Recognize the connection between stress, emotions and learning(cortisol levels can impair normal brain development) Provide evidence-based teaching strategies - Chapter 4 Summary Cognitive Developmental Approaches *Processes of cognitive development* **Organization:** Piaget's concept of grouping isolated behaviors into a higher-order, more smoothly functioning cognitive system; the grouping or arranging of items into categories. **Equilibrium**: A state of cognitive balance where new information is comfortably incorporated using existing schemes **Disequilibrium**: A state of cognitive discomfort that occurs when new information cannot be understood using existing schemas. **Equilibration**: The process of reorganizing schemas to resolve disequilibrium in trying to understand the world. Piaget proposed that this process explains the shift from one stage of thought to the next. *Piaget's stages* 1\. Sensorimotor -- ages 2 to 7; six substages - - - - - - [Primary circular reaction] -- repetitive action; attempt to reproduce an event that initially occurred by chance. [Secondary circular reactions] -- repetitive action centered on objects [Tertiary circular reaction] -- schemes that the infant purposely explores new possibilities with objects, continually doing new things to them and exploring the results. Object permanence study (Baillargeon and DeVoe, 1991): - - Understanding causality study (Kotovsky and Baillargeon, 1994): - - Principle of persistence (Baillargeon 2008 and 2012): - *Reevaluating Piaget's sensorimotor stage* Piaget's claim that certain processes are crucial for transition from one stage to the next has not always been supported by research! - - Recent research suggests that infants develop the ability to understanding how the world works much earlier than Piaget suggested. - - Nature may play more of a role in cognitive development than Piaget theorized - - *Preoperational stage* [Symbolic function substage] -- The first substage of preoperational thought, occurring roughly between the ages of 2 and 4. In this substage, the young child gains the ability to represent mentally an object that is not present. **Animism:** A facet of preoperational thought: the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action. [Intuitive thought substage] -- The second substage of preoperational thought, occurring between approximately 4 and 7 years of age, when children begin to use primitive reasoning. **Centration**: Focusing attention on one characteristic to the exclusion of all others. *Concrete operational stage* **Horizontal decalage** -- Piaget's concept that similar abilities do not appear at the same time within a stage of development. - Concrete operational children can understand: - - - *Formal operational stage* **Hypothetical -deductive reasoning** -- Piaget's formal operational concept that adolescents have the cognitive ability to develop hypotheses about ways to solve problems and can systematically deduce which is the best path to follow in solving the problem. **Adolescent egocentrism** -- The heightened self-consciousness of adolescents, which is reflected in adolescents' beliefs that others are as interested in them as they are in themselves, and in adolescents' sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability. - - Dimension of adolescence invulnerability - - *Piaget and Education* Conceptual framework for learning and education: - - - - - *Criticism of Piaget's Theories* [Estimates of children's competence] -- some cognitive abilities emerge earlier than Piaget thought - [Stages] -- Piaget thought that various aspects of a stage should emerge at the same time - [Effects of training] -- children at one cognitive stage can be trained to reason at a high cognitive stage. - [Culture and education] -- culture and education exert stronger influences on children's development than Piaget reasoned. - **Neo-Piagetians** -- Developmentalists who have elaborated on Piaget's theory, believing that children's cognitive development is more specific in many respects than Piaget thought and giving more emphasis to how children use memory, attention, and strategies to process information. *Vygotsky's Theories* **Zone of proximal development:** has a lower limit and an upper limit. - - Rogoff's concept of guided participation -- children learn from participating in activities with other children and adults. 2 cultural variations in children's attention and learning: - - *Scaffolding strategies*  *Vygotsky and Education* Framework for learning and education: - - - - - - - - EX The Leacock Foundation Reading buddy program - **Social constructivist approach**: An emphasis on the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction. Vygotsky's theory reflects this approach. EX Tools of the Mind - - **Developmental cognitive neuroscience**: an interdisciplinary field that attempts to explain how cognitive development is related to changes in underlying brain structure and function. **Executive function**: An umbrella-like concept that consists of a number of higher-level cognitive processes linked to the development of the brain's prefrontal cortex. - Stress can impede a child's prefrontal cortex or executive function abilities. Applying cognitive neuroscience to education: - - - - Lecture 9 2 October 2024 Motor Development and Sensation *Dynamic Systems View* Motor skills are fundamentally solution to goals - Proposed by Esther Thelen; extension on Gesell's view that rolling over leads to sitting, which leads to standing, which leads to walking Recall from lecture on genetics and biological bases (bidirectional interacting levels of activity) Recall Vygotsky (social to cognitive); goal to motor skills *Posture* Dynamic process linked with sensory information in skin, joints, muscles; vestibular organs in inner ear for balance and equilibrium; vision and hearing - - - - Experience matters! - locomotor experience, rather than age, predicts infants\' attempts at crawling/walking down slopes of varied steepness. *Cultural influences* Mothers traditionally massage.encourage physical growth to varying digress - - Experience - mom's engagement and expectations result in more experience, and these infants reach motor milestones earlier; North American standards may be inappropriate for pediatric care for a diverse population *Sports* 77% of Canadian children (5-19) participated in sports (2014-2016); 65% of Indigenous children; less participation with less income - - Most kids want parents to be proud of them - - *COVID-19 Lockdowns* Canadian movement guidelines state that we need a minimum 60 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity, \