Cognitive Development

Question 1

What is happening at around week 3 in neural development?

Answer 1

The embryo’s cells are starting to migrate towards their predetermined locations

The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system has began to develop

The brain has began to develop into 3 sac-like vesicles: The forebrain, the midbrain and the hindbrain

Question 2

What development is occurring from 8 weeks onwards of neural development?

Answer 2

The nerves begin to undergo synaptogenesis and making connections with each other, muscles and other tissues as well as organs

This process is influenced by environmental factors and experiences

At 2-3 years of age the number of synapses hit peak level

Question 3

What processes occur from 28 weeks onwards of neural development?

Answer 3

The nerves begin the process of myelination. This process slows significantly after 2 years of age, but does continue through adolescence or later

Question 4

What is synaptic pruning?

Answer 4

It is a process in which extra synapses are eliminated, therefore increasing the efficiency of the neural network. Major synaptic pruning stops at around 10 yrs, which 50% of the synapses present at age 2 have been eliminated. Minor pruning occurs throughout life

Question 5

What is Plasticity?

Answer 5

It is when neuronal connections change based on experience.

Synapses and neurons that are more active become stronger
Synapses and neurons that are less active become weaker, or are removed

Question 6

What is developmental plasticity?

Answer 6

It is the changes in neural connections as a result of interaction with the environment. It occurs throughout life but diminishes significantly with age

Question 7

What is adaptive plasticity?

Answer 7

It is the brains ability to compensate for lost functionality due to brain damage
It occurs over the lifespan, however it is most effective during infancy and early childhood

Question 8

Why are critical periods so important in development?

Answer 8

These are periods of development where an organism has a heightened sensitivity to external stimuli.
Once the critical period has passed there will be irreversible damage
These periods will start and end abruptly

Question 9

What is a enriched environment?

Answer 9

It is when the brain is stimulated by its social, cognitive and physical environment.
It tends to enhance brain development

Question 10

What is a deprived environment?

Answer 10

It is when the brain is lacking stimulation by its social, cognitive and physical environment.
It tends to impede brain development

Question 11

What is attachment?

Answer 11

Attachment is a strong, close emotional bond that develops between an infant and their caregiver, which lasts many years
If this attachment never occurs, it is called privation, and can cause permanent emotional damage

Question 12

What is Lorenz (1935) theory of attachment?

Answer 12

Lorenz investigated the mechanisms of attachment in geese.
He took a clutch of goose eggs and put half with a mother goose and half he kept in an incubator. Lorenz made sure he was the first moving thing his geese saw and imitated a mother gooses quacking.
He found that geese follow the first moving thing they see, this process is known as imprinting and suggests that attachment is innate and programmed genetically. Once imprinting occurred it could not be reversed.
The critical period of this happening can occur within 36 hours

Question 13

What was Harlow & Zimmermann’s (1958) theory of attachment?

Answer 13

They proposed the behavioural attachment theory. This suggested that infants form an attachment with a caregiver that provides food, however Harlow believed that emotional comfort was critical

Question 14

What was Bowlby’s (1969) theory of attachment?

Answer 14

He proposed that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, as this will help them to survive.
He proposed that attachment develops through a period of 5 years (the first 2 being most critical)

Question 15

What is secure attachment?

Answer 15

• It is seen in the majority of people.
• Distressed when mother leaves
• Avoidant of stranger
• Will seek immediate contact upon return
• Uses mother as a safe base

Question 16

What is insecure-avoidant attachment?

Answer 16

• No sign of distress when mother leaves
• Okay with stranger
• Little interest when mother returns
• Both mother and stranger are able to comfort infant equally well

Question 17

What is insecure-resistant attachment?

Answer 17

• Intense distress when mother leaves
• Avoidance and fear response to the stranger
• Seeks contact upon return of mother, but is still distressed
• Cries more, explores less

Question 18

What is Jean Piagets theory of cognitive development?

Answer 18

He believed that cognitive development depends upon the interaction of the brain’s biological maturation with experience

He proposed that children go through 4 different cognitive stages

Question 19

What is the first stage of cognitive development proposed by Piaget?

Answer 19

Schemas: They are mental frameworks that organise past experiences and provide an understanding of future experiences

Question 20

What is the second stage of cognitive development proposed by Piaget?

Answer 20

Adaption progress: allow progression from one stage to another

Assimilation: adding a new object or experience to an existing schema

Accommodation: changing existing schema or creating a new schema to included a new object or experience

Question 21

What is the third stage of cognitive development proposed by Piaget?

Answer 21

Cognitive stages:increasing sophistication

1) Sensorimotor stage (0-2):
- Thinking is egocentric
- Lack understanding of object permanence

2) Preoperational stage (2-7):
- Understand object permanence
- Think about things symbolically
- Egocentric thinking

3) Operational stage (7-12):
- Beginning of logical thought
- understand reversibility

4) Formal operation (12+):
- Think more flexibly
- Apply logic more abstractly
- hypothetical thinking

Question 22

What is the Sociocultural theory of cognitive development?

Answer 22

Lev Vygotsky (1978) believed that children learn through experience.
He also suggested that parents, caregivers, peer and the culture were responsible for developing high order functions

Question 23

What are the three components of Vygotskys theory of cognition?

Answer 23

1) More knowledgeable other (MKO): is anyone who has a higher understanding than the learner

2) Zone of proximal developmeny (ZOPD): is a zone where a learner can complete a task with the guidence of the MKO

3) Scaffolding: it refers to the temporary support given to a child by a MKO that enables the learner to perform a task until they can do it independently

Question 24

What are the 5 areas basic cognitive changes occur?

Answer 24

1) Attention
2) Memory
3) Processing speed
4) Organisation of thinking
5) Metacognition

Question 25

Attention

Answer 25

a state in which cognitive resources are focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others - Improvements are seen in selective attention and divided attention across development.

Question 26

Memory

Answer 26

the ability to retain information or a representation of past experience across time, and retrieve the memory - Improvements are seen in working memory and long-term memory across development.

Question 27

Processing speed

Answer 27

the time it takes for an individual to mentally perform a cognitive (or mental task) With maturation, children think more quickly. - Processing speed improves sharply between age five and middle adolescence, levels off around age 15, and does not appear to change between late adolescence and adulthood.

Question 28

Organisation of thinking

Answer 28

mental strategies that an individual uses to solve both simple and complex cognitive problems - As children mature, they are more planful, they approach problems with strategy, and are flexible in using different strategies in different situations.

Question 29

Metacognition

Answer 29

an individual’s personal awareness and understanding of their own thought processes - Older children can think about thinking itself. This often involves monitoring one’s own cognitive activity during the thinking process. Metacognition provides the ability to plan ahead, see the future consequences of an action, and provide alternative explanations of events.

Question 30

Rutter, O'Connor, and the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team (2004) - Sample

Answer 30

The sample consisted of 165 children - 144 were from Romanian institutions and reared from infancy in very depriving conditions. They were adopted into UL families between February 1990 and September 1992 - 52 were UK-born children who were used as the comparison sample

Question 31

Rutter, O'Connor, and the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team (2004) - Method

Answer 31

A stratified random sampling design was used based on the child's age at the time of entering the UK At adoption, the children were aged from early infancy (< 6 months) to 42 months - 45 children placed at under 6 months - 54 placed between 6 and 24 months - 4 placed between 24 and 42 months The UK-born children were placed into adoptive families before the age of 6 months The children were measured on psychological, behavioural and physical attributes at the time of entry and at 6 years of age

Question 32

Rutter, O'Connor, and the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team (2004) - Results

Answer 32

The researchers found that at entry the Romanian adoptees had significant deficits in psychological and physical functioning By 6 years of age, most of the children showed relatively normal psychological and physical functioning but that duration of deprivation was significant predictor of cognitive impairment and those children who spent the most amount of time in deprived environments were the most likely to be adversely affected Cognitive impairment occurred in 15.4% of the institution reared adoptees from Romania, compared with 2.0% of within-UK adoptees - There was a linear association with duration institutional care, with 2.3% cognitive impairment in those experiencing 6 months or less of institutional, 12.0% cognitive impairment in those experiencing greater than 6 but not more than 24 months, and 32.6% in those experiencing greater than 24 but not more than 42 months In addition, the pattern of disinhitited attachment was much more common in the adoptees from the Romanian institutions and was strongly associated with the duration of institutional deprivation... The researchers concluded that some form of biological programming or neural damage stemming from institutional deprivation was likely to have caused the differences observed in the outcomes of the children, and that this effect is not necessarily deterministic (because some children were able to 'catch-up').