Chapter 16: cognitive development in adolescents Flashcards

1
Q

Why is adolescence so important?

A

Many mental disorders arise in this period of life. Prevention should start at an early age

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2
Q

What is adolescent thinking? Name 3 aspects

A
  1. Process by which adolescents perform intellectual functions
  2. The structure in which adolescents’ thoughts are organized
  3. Content of the thinking
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3
Q

What 2 things are developing in adolescents concerning perception? And how does it develop (name 3 things)?

A
  • Seeing ambiguous figures in multiple ways
  • See composite objects as a whole or seperate objects and switching attention to both parts

How: increased flexibility, increased knowledge and selective attention

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4
Q

What is selective attention? With what type of task is this measured?

A

Focus attention in a goal directed manner

Central-incidental learning task = Adolescents selectively maintain attention to the central objects as required by the command of the task

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4
Q

How is selective attention represented in the brain?

A

Different activity in V1 between percepts

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5
Q

How do people with ASD perceive ambiguous figures?

A

They less often see two percepts, but if they are instructed to see them both, they can see it

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6
Q

What is the Flanker task and which people find this task very hard? What can help these people?

A

Attending to the direction of a central arrow to measure selective attention

Mild to borderline intellectual disability –> easier with structured and quiet environment

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7
Q

What is meant with the speed of processing and how does it develop in adolescence?

A

The time it takes for the brain to receive or output information and the time it takes for a mental calculation to be carried out

Improvement over adolescence because of maturation white matter/myelination

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8
Q

What 4 types of memory were discussed in the lecture?

A
  1. Face recognition
  2. Short-term memory
  3. Working memory
  4. Long-term memory
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9
Q

What is the encoding switch hypothesis? What type of face processing occurs in children and which type in older children/adolescents?

A

Claim that young children rely more on information of faces that isn’t as good for remembering them compared to older children

  1. Young children: featural processing (separate face features)
  2. Older children: configuration processing (relations face features)
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10
Q

What is short term memory and what is a span task? How does short-term memory develop in adolescents?

A

Short-term storage of information

Span task = Series of items is presented at a rate of 1 per second and the participant has to repeat the items

  1. Increase in short-term memory capacity
  2. Increase in general knowledge about what has to be remembered
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11
Q

What is working memory and with what type of task is it measured?

A

Processing and structuring of information

Complex span task: e.g. set of numbers is named and you have to answer by saying the numbers in reverse

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12
Q

How does working memory develop in adolescents in the brain?

A

Increase in activity in the dorsolateral PFC

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13
Q

What disability impairs working memory?

A

ADHD

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14
Q

What is a good working memory a good predictor of? Name 2 things

A
  • Study success
  • Self control (substance use)
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15
Q

Is working memory training effective?

A

It’s only effective to the category you practice in, but it’s not generalizable to other capacities

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16
Q

What is long-term memory and with what type of task is it measured?

A

The long-term storage of information

Speed of card sorting task: sorting cards on physical similarity (AB or ab or aa etc.) or on name similarity (Aa or Bb or bb etc.)
Reaction time decreases with age

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17
Q

How does long-term memory develop over age?

A

Time to retrieve things from memroy decreases with age and there is a decrease in interference due to increased selective attention

18
Q

What are the 3 memory strategies that are most prevalent in adolescents?

A
  1. Rehearsal strategy
  2. Elaboration strategy
  3. Cluster effect/organization strategy
19
Q

What’s the difference between fluid and crystallized intelligence? How does this develop over age?

A

Fluid = free reasoning
–> declines after 30

Crystallized = experience, facts, education
–> increases over age and reaches a plateau in late adulthood

20
Q

How does fluid intelligence increase over age and why is there a sharp decline?

A

Increased mental speed + working memory
Decline: deterioration of the part of the brain for attention and alertness

21
Q

What age group has a relatively stable IQ?

A

Adolescents

22
Q

What are the 4 types of reasoning?

A
  1. Deductive: deriving something specific from a theory
  2. Inductive: creating general principle from specific examples
  3. Analogical: resolving a problem by comparing it to a similar problem that has been solved
  4. Second-order analogical: analogy that requires crystallized intelligence to understand it
23
Q

What is the WISC test?

A

Wechsler intelligence scale for children –> IQ test for kids

24
Q

Which 2 scales are there in the WISC test?

A
  1. Verbal
  2. Performance
25
Q

What is a percentile and what does it mean if soemones IQ is in the 90th percentile? How does this predict the individual’s IQ in later life?

A

Location of an individual’s development along a percentage scale

IQ is higher than 90% of the age group of the individual
–> When older, this person will probably be in the same rank

26
Q

What is a syllogism? What type of reasoning uses this?

A

Two statements (premises) and a conclusion that is derived from the statements
–> Deductive reasoning

27
Q

What is the difference between a universal and particular quantifier in syllogisms?

A

Universal: all birds can fly
–> Easy to reason about
Particular: some birds can fly

28
Q

What are the 3 main differences in reasoning between concrete operational vs. formal operational stages?

A

Formal operational:
1. Abstract reasoning without content
2. Reasoning outside reality
3. Scientific reasoning: hypothesis, theory, experimetn

29
Q

What is abstract thought according to Piaget?

A

The use of operations that are extracted from a number of concrete operations

30
Q

What is interpropositional thinking? In what stage does intrapropositional thinking belong?

A

Inter = individual can relate one/more parts of a proposition to another to arrive at a solution (arithmetic calculations e.g.)

Intra = reasoning about concrete things, rather than abstract symbols

31
Q

What is hypothetico-decuctive reasoning?

A

Develop theories to explain phenomena - create hypotheses based on these theories - devise tests to confirm/refute these hypotheses

32
Q

What is the balance scale problem and how do adolescents respond to this?

A

Placing weights on different parts of the scale and then predicting if the scale will be in balance

Adolescents succeed in predicting behavior of balance scale

33
Q

What is the pendulum problem?

A

Predicting speed of a pendulum with certain weights and lengths

Adolescents proceed in predicting behavior pendulum

34
Q

What are 4 criticisms on Piaget’s theory concerning adolescents?

A
  • Overestimating adults, underestimating kids
  • Gradual development in formal operational stage instead of stagewise
  • Formal operational thought isn’t constructed by adolescents only. Great role for training and cultural experience
  • Environment is important for development formal thought (flynn effect)
35
Q

What is combinatory thought?

A

Taking more than one factor into consideration

36
Q

Which people find it difficult to process complex rules for e.g. a game? Name 2 disorders

A

People with mild to borderline intellectual disorder + people with ADHD

37
Q

What are 5 general characteristics of adolescent thinking?

A
  1. Emphasis on world of possibilities
  2. Hypothesis-testing/scientific reasoning
  3. Planning ahead
  4. Introspection/meta-cognition
  5. Thinking about moral, social, personal and political matters
37
Q

What does the tower of hanoi task measure?

A

Measures goal-directed behavior + strategic planning

38
Q

What are 3 flaws in adolescent thinking?

A
  1. Separating theory and evidence
  2. Select evidence consistent with their theory, instead of modifying/abandoning the theory
  3. Theory seems to be more important than evidence
39
Q

What are the 2 different Post-Piagetian approaches?

A
  1. Information processing approach
  2. Intuitive scientists
40
Q

What is the information-processing approach and what does it mean when it’s domain specific?

A

Adolescents are rule-based problem solvers, just like a computer. Information is gathered from environment and various rules/strategies are applied to manipulate information

Domain specific = knowledge that can only be applied to specific situations that fall within the same domain. The rules adolescents obey when reasoning are domain specific and they may have different expertises across individuals

41
Q

What does it mean that adolescents can be seen as intuitive scientists?

A

We are all capable of constructing common sense theories to explain how the world works. This is domain-specific