Exam 2: Cognitive Development In Early Childhood Flashcards
(23 cards)
Piaget’s Preoperational Stage
Egocentrism
Kids think that others see the world the same way that they do
-mountain example
Magical Thinking: syncretism
believing that two things that happen at the same time are causal
ie. putting a swimsuit on makes it summer
Magical thinking: Animism
Attributing actions to objects
Centration
Focusing on only one characteristic of an object and excluding other characteristics
Centration: classification
When given a pile of white and black buttons; a child would only classify the black button as a black button and would fail to recognize it as a button in general
-when given 3 white buttons and 4 black and asked if theres more black buttons or buttons in general the child would say there’s more black buttons
Centration: conservation
children have not yet developed idea of conservation: recognizing that if you rearrange matter it remains the same
-when pouring the same glass of liquid into a wide cup and a tall cup will think the tall cup has more liquid
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory: private/inner speech
preschoolers that use private speech have better behavioral regulation, internalize new info more efficiently and are more motivated to master challenging tasks
-private speech is good
thoughts, inhibiting the mouth from moving
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory: the transition to private/inner speech
private speech and inner speech involve the use of language for self regulation
-children learn to think in words and they do so aloud before engaging in inner/private speech
Executive Functioning
Self-regulatory processes- ability to inhibit behavior, set-shift (rapidly transition between topics) and be cognitively flexible
-gradually emerged during early childhood and develops with brain maturation (PF cortex***)
-higher executive functioning with warm, responsive parents that use scaffolding and provide cognitively stimulating environments
Self Control
-response initiation
-response inhibition
-delayed gratification
-takes many years to develop
-play supports this process
Self Control: the marshmallow test
children presented with marshmallow and if they wait and don’t eat it they receive two marshmallows
-demonstrates how they delay gratification and inhibit impulses
Divided Attention (multitasking)
The ability to switch focus between tasks or external stimuli
Selective Attention
The ability to focus on a single task or stimulus
-children usually struggle with this
-better for visual than auditory stimuli
Sustained Attention
The ability to stay on task for long periods of time
Short term memory developments: sensory memory
sensory memory is the first stage of the memory system; sensory input in raw form
Massive changes in sensory memory from 2-6 years: 1 second at 2 years and 3-5 seconds at 6 years
-not related to attentional capacities
Short term memory developments: working memory
the ability to hold info in consciousness to allow for manipulation of information
-related to attentional capacities
-capacity grows as children grows
-5 year olds: can remember 4 digit number
-teens and adults: can remember 7 digit number
Language Development: fast mapping
massive increase in words from age 2-6; 200-1000
Language Development: literal understanding
taking the literal meaning of phrases and words
“that was a piece of cake”
Language Development: overregularization
Learn a grammatical rule and apply it everywhere “i goed there”
Which age??? Language Milestones
-speaks very clearly, simple story with full sentences, says name and address, uses future tense
5 yrs old
Which age??? Language Milestones
-knows basic rules of grammar, sings song or says poem from memory, tells stories, says first and last name
4 yrs old
Which age??? Language Milestones
Follows 2-3 step instructions, name familiar things, says first name, age, names a friend, “I”, “me” etc, strangers can understand most of the time, carries conversation using 2-3 sentences
3 yrs old
