Lecture 3

Question 1

Changes in cognition for adolescents

Answer 1

1. Adolescents are able to think what is possible
2. Adolescents can think about abstract things
3. Adolescents are able to think about the process of thinking (metacognition)
4. Adolescents’ thinkin is more often multidimensional
5. Adolescents are more likely to see things as relative

Question 2

Counterfactually thinking

Answer 2

Creating possible alternative scenarios fo what has been

Question 3

Deductive reasoning

Answer 3

Concluding the special from the general (dogs have ears, a teckel is a dog, teckels have ears)

Question 4

Hypothetical thinking

Answer 4

Thinking about what can possibly happen in a situation

Question 5

Metacognition

Answer 5

Thinking about the process of thinking itself, leads to introspection and self-consciousness

Question 6

Introspection may lead to

Answer 6

Adolescent egocentrism, which has two distinct problems: imaginary audience and personal fable

Question 7

Imaginary audience

Answer 7

Thinking everyone always looks at your behaviour

Question 8

Personal fable

Answer 8

Believing your experiences are unique and are therefore not subject to the rules, this can lead to better self-esteem and self-importance, but also to risky behaviour

Question 9

Piagetian perspective

Answer 9

Cognitive development proceeds through fixed stages.

Question 10

Piagetian stages

Answer 10

1. Sensorimotor (0-2) - motor development and cognitive development
2. Preoperational (2-7) - able to represent the world symbolically, how the child sees the world is the truth
3. Concrete operational (7-11) - systematic thinking, more advanced
4. Formal operational (11-15) - abstract thinking, deductive reasoning, metacognition, relativity

Question 11

Information processsing perspective

Answer 11

Cognitive development is not set in stages but is happening in 4 domains: attention, memory, processing speed, organization

Question 12

Selective attention

Answer 12

Focusing on one thing while tuning out the rest

Question 13

Divided attention

Answer 13

Paying attention to two different things at the same time

Question 14

Memory

Answer 14

Working memory and long-term memory

Question 15

Autobiographical memory

Answer 15

The recall of personally meaningful past events

Question 16

Reminiscence bump

Answer 16

Experiences from adolescence are recalled more, this is because the brain is chemically primed to encode these memories more deeply.

Question 17

fMRI

Answer 17

Tells us which areas of the brain are active during tasks

Question 18

DTI

Answer 18

Tells us how different parts of the brain are connected

Question 19

Structural MRI

Answer 19

Tells us what the brain looks like, volumes of different parts

Question 20

Grey matter

Answer 20

Synapses in the brain

Question 21

White matter

Answer 21

Myeline

Question 22

Synaptic pruning

Answer 22

The elimination of unnessecary synapses, this will make the brain more efficient

Question 23

Synaptic proliferation

Answer 23

The formation of synapses

Question 24

Plasticity of the brain

Answer 24

The capacity of the brain to change in response to experience (first 3 years and in adolescence)

Question 25

Developmental plasticity

Answer 25

The plasticity of the brain during the building of the brain

Question 26

Adult plasticity

Answer 26

Relatively minor changes in the brain during adulthood in response to experience

Question 27

Risk of malleability

Answer 27

The brain is heightened in sensitivity, and more vulnerable to damage from drugs, trauma and stress

Question 29

The experience-expectant framework

Answer 29

The expectancy of experiences to maturate the brain.

Question 30

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 30

Planning, weighing risks, inhibition and thinking ahead.

Question 31

Limbic system

Answer 31

Middle part of the brain, important for processing emotional experiences, socal informaion and reward and punishment.

Question 32

A further developed PFC leads to

Answer 32

Better responsive inhibition and executive functioning

Question 33

Functional connectivity

Answer 33

Using multiple parts of the brain at once

Question 34

The brain will become more sensitive for the neurotransmitters

Answer 34

Dopamine - regulates experience of rewards and serotonin - experience of different moods

Question 35

Zone of proximal development

Answer 35

Learning is most efficient if the task is slightly more challenging than the abilities an individual has.

Question 36

Scaffolding

Answer 36

When a student works with a teacher who has better understanding of the material

Question 37

Social cognition

Answer 37

Thinking about other people, interpersonal relations. Topics: Theory of mind, social relationships, social conventions and conceptions of laws

Question 38

Theory of mind

Answer 38

the ability to understand others have a beliefs, values and knowledge that may differ from your own

Question 39

Mentalizing

Answer 39

Being able to understand someone else’s state of mind

Question 40

Social conventions

Answer 40

Norms that govern everyday behaviour.

Question 41

Behavioural decision theory

Answer 41

1. Identifying choices
2. Consequences of each choices
3. Costs and benefits of the consequences
4. Assessing the likelihood of the possible consequences
5. Combining information to come to a decision

Question 42

Behavioural autonomy

Answer 42

The capacity to make independent decisions and follow through with them

Question 43

Go - No-go task

Answer 43

Measuring the imbalance between cognitive control and socia-emotional systems, dual systems theory