Cognitive Adolescent Development

Question 1

basic level cognitive functions

Answer 1

attention
perception and memory

Question 2

high level cognitive functions

Answer 2

logical reasoning
problem solving

Question 3

Cognitive function in adolescents - we are interested in three interrelated concepts:

Answer 3

1. Content of adolescent cognitive functions
2. Structure in which adolescents’ cognitive functions are organized
3. Process by which adolescents perform basic and higher functions

Question 4

What is perception

Answer 4

Perception is a cognitive ability that is present from early on in life.

Question 5

What happens to perception with development

Answer 5

change in the flexibility of perceptiopn

Question 6

how is flexibility of visual perception tested

Answer 6

ambiguous figures

Question 7

what is selective attention

Answer 7

selective attention is the ability to allocate attentional resources and focus on a specifc object
Crucial for problem solving where you may need to pay attention to relevant information and ignore irrelevant information

Question 8

what is processing speed

Answer 8

the time it takes the brain to receive or output information; or the speed in which mental calculation can be carried out

Question 9

what is the development of processing speed driven by

Answer 9

maturation of white matter in the brain

Question 10

what can be used to investigate white matter in the brain

Answer 10

diffusion tensor imaging

Question 11

what is STM

Answer 11

required for a short duration of time
subject to temporal decay and chunk capacity limits

Question 12

STM is often measured using

Answer 12

span task
spatial span task

Question 13

span task

Answer 13

series of items presented at the rate of 1/sec; task is to repeat them in the same order

Question 14

spatial span task

Answer 14

blocks are presented in a particular arrangement and the experiment taps the blocks in a specific order; aprticipants are required to repeat the sequence.

Question 15

what happens to chunk capacity during adolescence

Answer 15

improves

Question 16

what about immediate recall

Answer 16

age related improvements in immediate recall remain costant across varying retention intervals from 5-30 seconds of delay

Question 17

explanations for age-related improvement in STM

Answer 17

-Neurological changes
-volummetric changes in the medial temporal lobe due to sexual maturation
-gray matter changes in the frontal love as a result of brain maturation

Question 18

3 different conceptualisations of WM:

Answer 18

1. Short term memory applied to cognitive tasks
2. A multi component system that holds and manipulates information in short term memory
3. The use of attention to manage short term memory

Question 19

WM often measured using

Answer 19

modified span task
letter span task

Question 20

modified span task

Answer 20

participants are presented with a series of items and asked to reproduce them in reverse order

Question 21

letter span task

Answer 21

a list of random letters are presented, and participants are required to repeat the letters in the order they appear.

Question 22

memory formation

Answer 22

relies on brain plasticity.
Our brains retain an ability to learn due to experience-dependent plasticity
During sensitive periods, the plasticity of our brains is experience-expectant

Question 23

what ltm strategy do young children tend to use

Answer 23

rehearsal strategy

Question 24

what do older children tend to use

Answer 24

elaboration stategies

Question 25

cluster effect

Answer 25

organise clusters of items in memory

Question 26

organisational stategies

Answer 26

adolescents will use information about categories to recall more items when asked to recall as many items as possible from a list They actively organize the material

Question 27

non verbal facial recognition

Answer 27

ps presented with faces, then presented with a pair of faces

Question 28

delayed spatial recall

Answer 28

dots flashed at different locations on screen with a short or long delay, and participants needed to indicate the location of the dot with a touch pen

Question 29

spatial memory span

Answer 29

sequences tapped on three blocks in front of participants, which they needed to reproduce in correct order and backwards

Question 30

spatial self ordered search

Answer 30

measures the participants ability to conduct an organized search of locations to obtain tokens hidden at each location

Question 31

when does the ability to maintain and manipulate spatial units in WM develop

Answer 31

13-15 years

Question 32

when does strategic self organization develop

Answer 32

16-17 years

Question 33

how does face processing change in adolescence

Answer 33

adolescents and adults use information about the configuration of the features encoding of critical information (encoding switch hypothesis)

Question 34

face perception and memory

Answer 34

face identity perception seems to develop later in adolescence than other aspects of face cognition something to do with specific temporal love areas such as the fusiform gyrus and white matter tracts connecting this area to the occupital lobe