Powerpoint 3

formal operational stage

11-16. More abstract than concrete operational thoughts. Adolescents can conjure up make-believe situations and try to reason logically about them. Increased tendency to think about thought itself. Abstract, logical, idealistic way of thinking.

preoperational stage

2-7/ Children begin to represent world with images, words, and drawings. Symbolic thought goes beyond simple connections of info and action.

concrete operational stage

7-11. The child can now consider logically about concrete events, understand the concept of conservation, organize objects into hierarical classes, and place objects in an ordered series

short-term memory

A limited capacity system in which information is retained for as long as 30 seconds unless the info is rehearsed in which case it can be retained longer. Developed mostly at childhood and at a slower pace through adolescence

Schema

A mental concept or framework that is useful in organizing and interpreting information. Use assimilation and accommodation.

Long term memory

A relatively permanent memory system that holds huge amounts of information for a long period of times. Increase in middle/ late childhood years. Likely occurs through adolescence

Equilibration

A shift in thought from one state to another

Psychometric/ intelligence view

A view that emphasizes the importance of individual differences in intelligence; many advocates of this view favor intelligence tests

Analytical intelligence

Ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast

Creative intelligence

Ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine

Pratical intelligence

Ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Adolescents are motivated to understand their world because doing so is biologically adaptive. To make sense of the world, adolescents organize their experiences and adapt their thinking to include new ideas. They also adapt their thinking to include new ideas because the additional info furthers their understanding.

reflective and relativistic thinking

Adolescents often view the world in terms of polarities - Right/wrong - We/they - Good/bad With age, adults become aware of diverse opinions and multiple perspectives of others giving way to reflective, relativistic thinking

Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence

Analytical, creative, and practical intelligence.

Realistic and Pragmatic Thinking

As adults face the constraints of reality, their idealism decreases

Mindfulness

Being alert, mentally present and cognitively flexible while going through life's everyday activities and tasks

The synaptic connections that are used and strengened will be "pruned" What will result from this pruning?

By the end of adolescence individuals have fewer, more selective, and stronger neuronal connections than they did as children.

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals that carry information across synaptic gaps between neurons. Levels change during puberty

Divided attention

Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time

Attention

Concentration and focusing of mental effort

The brain depends on experiences to determine how

Connections are made

Researches primarily focus on what aspect of the brain over time?

Context-Inducing plasticity

important structural brain changes during adolescence involve the

Corpus callosum prefrontal cortex limbic system amygdala

Fuzzy-trace theory dual-process model

Decision making is influenced by two cognitive systems- one analytical and one experimental that compete with each other. The model emphasizes that it is the experimental system that benefits adolescents' decision making

What is needed to become an expert?

Deliberate practice- practice that is at an appropriate level of difficulty, provides feedback, and allows repetition. Such practice requires considerable motivation

What determines whether or not someone becomes an expert?

Deliberate practice-practice at am appropriate level of difficulty for the individual, provides corrective feedback, and allows repition-is required. Such extensive practice requires considerable motivation

Experts are better than novices at

Detecting features and meaningful patterns of information, accumulating more content knowledge and organizing it in a manner that shows understanding of the topic, retrieving important aspects of knowledge with little effort

In addition to metacognitive skills, it is also very important to teach

Domain-specific thinking skills

What activity is greater in the limbic system pathways in early adolescence than at any other point in development?

Dopamine

Location of intelligence in brain

Early consensus was the frontal lobes. Studies show that a a distributed neural network involving the frontal and parietal lobes in related to higher intelligence

Commonly promoted link between neuroscience and education is that most key changes in brain occur prior to adolescence

Education can considerably benefit adolescents in several areas of higher-level cognitive functioning

Emotional maturity may also affect cognitive development in several ways

Emerging and young adults become more aware that emotions influence their thinking

emotional intelligence

Emphasizes interpersonal, intrapersonal and practical aspects of intelligence. Ability to perceive and expression emotion accurately and adaptively, ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge, ability to use feelings to facilitate thought, ability to manage emotions in oneself and other

Do biological changes in the brain or experiences that stimulate these changes come first?

Evidence that environmental experiences make important contributions to the brain's development

Neoconstructivist view emphasizes the importance of interactions between

Experiences and gene expression in the brain's development

Self- oriented thoughts, such as worrying, self-doubt, and intense emotionally laden thoughts, may interfere with what?

Focusing attention on thinking tasks

Selective attention

Focusing on a specific aspect of an experience while ignoring others

What is the role of processing speed?

Generally, fast processing is linked with good performance on cognitive tasks.

prefrontal cotex

Highest level of the frontal lobes involved in "judgement." last part of brain to be fully developed

Changes in white/gray matter during adolescence

Increase in white matter and decrease in gray matter in prefrontal cortex

Improved critical thinking during this period are enabled by several cognitive changes

Increase speed, automaticity, and capacity of info processing, Greater knowledge in a variety of areas Increased ability to construct new combinations of knowledge A greater range and more spontaneous use of stratified and procedures for obtaining and applying knowledge

Preference for immediate rewards

Increased at 14-16 and then declined; and impulse control increased in a linear fashion from preadolescence to emerging adulthood

Why does white matter increase?

Increased myelination and possibly due to an increase in the diameter of axons

Working memory

Individuals manipulate and assemble info when they make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend written and spoken language. Adolescents is an important period for improvement in working memory. Impacted by sleep deficits.

Information-processing view

Information processing includes how info gets into adolescents' minds, how it is stored, and how adolescents retrieve info to think about and solve problems.

Cognitive flexibility

Involved being aware that options and alternatives are available and adapting to the solution. Confidence in one's ability to adapt their thinking is also an important factor

Cognitive control

Involves effective control and flexible thinking in a number of areas, including controlling attention, reducing interfering thoughts, and being cognitively flexible

Schooling influences intelligence

Largest effects occurring when adolescents have no formal education for an extended period, which is linked to lower intelligence

Amygdala

Limbic system structure involved in emotions. Depth of emotions is stronger then prefrontal cortex can handle

Sustained attention

Maintaining attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period. Improves in adolescents due to maturation of frontal lobes.

The neuroscience of intelligence

Moderate correlation found between brain size and intelligence. Some experts reason the highest level of intelligence that involves reasoning is linked to the prefrontal cortex. However, other researchers recently found a link between a distributed neural network in the frontal and parietal lobes of intelligence.

Brain size and higher intelligence

Moderate correlation. Einstein's brain was average

White matter

Myelinated axons

Can new brain cells be generated in adolescence?

Neurogenesis has been documented in the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb. The functions of these new brain cells are not known and they appear to last for only several weeks

Early formal operational thought

Newfound ability to think in hypothetical ways produced by unconstrained thoughts with unlimited possibilities; assimilation is the dominant process

Criticisms of Vygotsky's theory

Not specific enough about age-related changes No adequate description about how changes in socioemotional capablities contribute to cognitive development Overemphasis on role of language in thinking Emphasis on collaboration and guidance has potential pitfalls

hypothetical-deductive reasoning

Piaget's formal operational concept that adolescents have the cognitive ability to develop hypotheses, or best guesses, about ways to solve problems

Important connections between what strengthens in late adolescence and emerging adulthood

Prefrontal cortex and limbic system. Important for emotional control.

One way to encourage critical thinking

Present a controversial topic and show both sides of the issue to discuss

Divergent thinking

Produces many answers to the same question and is a characteristic of creativity

Convergent thinking

Produces one correct answer and is a characteristic of the kind of thinking required on a conventional intelligence test

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Range of tasks that are too difficult for an individual to master alone, but that can be mastered with the guidance and assistance of adults. Vygotsky's concept of the difference between what a child can do alone and what that child can do with the help of a teacher

What plays a key role in adolescent decision making?

Recent research reveals that the presence of peers in risk-taking situations increases the likelihood that adolescents will make risky decisions

Postformal thought

Reflective, relativistic, and contextual: may think more deeply about areas of life Provisional: More skeptical Realistic: thinking isn't always abstracts and must be realistic and pragmatic Recognized as being influenced by emotion: understand thoughts influenced by emotion In young adults more than adolescents

Piaget contributions

Responsible for the current field of cognitive development current vision of children as active, constructive thinkers current belief that a concept doesn't emerge all of a sudden, fully developed, but develops instead through a series of partial accomplishments that lead to an increasingly comprehensive understanding.

A concern is that adolescents' creative thinking appears to be declining

School environments that encourage independent work, are stimulating but not distracting, and make resources readily available are likely to encourage students creativity

Piaget criticisms

Some cognitive abilities emerge or later than Piaget thought Not as stage like Neo-Piagetians conclude his theory doesn't focus enough on attention, memory, and cognitive strategies adolescents use to process information and his explanations are too general Culture exerts a stronger influence on development than Piaget envisioned

What doe we know about applying information about brain development to adolescents education?

Speculative statements that are far removed for what is known about the brain

Vygotsky's theory is a social constructivist approach

That is, it emphasizes the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction. The end point of cognitive development can differ, depending on culture. Children and adolescents construct knowledge through social interaction

Intelligence

The ability to solve problems and to adapt and learn from everyday experiences

Creativity

The ability to think in novel ways and discover unique solutions to problems

Accommodation

The adjustment of a schema to new information. Schema changes

Can the adolescent's brain recover from injury?

The brain during adolescence has a remarkable ability to repair itself. Although the brain retains considerable plasticity in adolescence, the earlier a brain injury occurs, the greater likelihood of a successful recovery

Information processing is influenced by

The capacity and speed of processing.

Three parts of the neuron

The cell body Dendrites: receiving parts axon: carries information away from the cell body to other cells

Adolescent egocentrism

The heightened self-consciousness of adolescents, which is reflected in their belief that others are as interested in them as they are in themselves, and in their sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability

Assimilation

The incorporation of new information into existing knowledge. Schema does not change

memory

The retention of information over time. Central to mental life and to information processing

Social cognition

The way individuals conceptualize and reason about their social worlds

Critical thinking

Thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating evidence

Later formal operational thought

Through accommodation, intellectual balance is restored as adolescents test their reasoning against reality. Accommodation. Piaget revised his view and concluded that formal operational thought is not fully completed until 15-20.

Labouvie-Vief

Understand cognitive changes in adulthood is necessary to consider how emotional maturity might effect cognitive development. Adolescents become more aware that emotions influence their thinking, but at this point thinking is often swayed by negative emotions that can produce distorted and self-serving perspectives. In this research, a subset of emerging adults who are high in empathy, flexibility, and autonomy are more likely to engage in complex cognitive thinking. This way of thinking increase in muffle adulthood. In middle age, individuals become more inwardly reflective and less context-dependent in their thinking than they were as young adults.

Researches recently found the search for and presence of meaning was linked to what? also which 5 components were assessed?

Wisdom. This was assessed considering critical life experiences, reminiscence/reflectiveness, openness to experience, emotional regulation, and humor.

Cognitive control increases

With age across childhood and adolescence.

Does social contexts play a role in decision making?

Yes

Pragmatism

ability to reason from practical perspective, make choices knowing one isn't going to get them everything they want.

Changing way of thinking as a result of new information

accommodation

Lapsley and colleagues conclude that distortions in the imaginary audience and personal fable involve the

adolescent's ego and changes in perspective taking

The ability to judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast is known as ___

analytical intelligence

Executive function

and umbrella-like concept that involves higher-order, complex cognitive processes such as Exercising cognitive control, making decision, reasoning, thinking critically, thinking creatively, metacognition. These processes are linked to the development of the brain's prefrontal cortex and involve managing one's thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and exercise self-control.

Elements of Deliberate Practice

appropriate level of difficulty, corrective feedback, repetition

Imaginary audience

attention-getting behavior

Pitfalls of using information about an adolescent's intelligence in negative ways

avoid stereotyping and expectations know that IQ is not a sole indicator of competence

Theory of Mind

awareness of one's own mental processes and the mental processes of others

Myelination

axon becomes covered and insulated with layer of fat cells (myelin sheath), increasing the speed and efficiency of information processing in the nervous system. Continues into adolescence and emerging adulthood.

neuroconstructivist view

biological processes and environmental experiences influence the brain's development. The brain has plasticity and is context dependent; and development of the brain is linked closely w cognitive development.

sensorimotor stage

birth to about 2 years of age. Infants construct and understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (such as seeing and hearing) with physical, motor action.

Neurons are connected in precise ways to form the various structures in the brain, from the

bottom up, with sensory areas reaching full maturity before the higher level association areas of the prefrontal cortex

Most people make better decisions when they are

calm

Metacognition

cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing

According to the neuroconstructivist view, development of the brain is closely linked with

cognitive development

corpus callosum

connects brains 2 hemispheres. Thicken in adolescence to process information more effectively

Although adolescents are capable of very strong emotions, their prefrontal cortex hasn't adequately developed to the point at which they can

control these passions

Schools don't focus enough on

critical-thinking skills needed in everyday life.

IQ test is considered a measure of

current performance

Gray matter

dendrites and the cell body of the neuron

Reduced connectivity between brain's frontal lobes and amygdala was linked to

depression

Developmental social neuroscience is a recently developed field that focuses on connections between

developmental, socioemotional factors, and neuroscience

Cool executive functioning

driven by emotion, with emotion regulation as an important process

Hieghtened self-consciousness during adolescence

egocentrism

Ability to manage emotions in oneself and others

emotional intelligence

Cognitive control also has ben referred to as inhibitory control or effortful control to

emphasize the ability to resist a strong inclination to do one thing but instead do what is most effective

Critical thinking is thinking reflectively, thinking productively, and

evaluating evidence

Wisdom

expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life that permits excellent judgement about important matters. Mainly emerges in late adolescence and early adulthood

Monica, age 16, is able to understand that a poem has another, less literal meaning and that the words are actually referring to life choices instead of paths in a forest. Monica is in Piaget's

formal operations

The increase in myelination allows

greater connectivity and integration of brain regions

Increased complexity of cultures has generated a

greater need for more reflective, complex thinking that tales into account changing nature of knowledge and challenges

Two categories of executive functioning

hot executive function and cool executive function

Formal operational thought is full of

idealism and possibilities

Increased metacognitive ability during adolescents results in

improved cognitive functioning and learning

Studies seeking correlation between neurological speed and intelligence

inconsistent results

Dopamine

increase in neurotransmitter dopamine occurs in both prefrontal cortex and limbic system during adolescence. Linked to risk taking and drug use

Genetics and environment interact to influence

intelligence

Hot executive functioning

involves conscious control driven by logical thinking and critical analysis

Personal fable

involves the sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability

Vygotsky's Theory

knowledge is situated and collaborative. Knowing can best be advanced through interaction with others in cooperative activities. Knowledge is distributed among people and their environments.

During adolescence, it is as if the prefrontal cortex doesn't yet have the brakes to slow down the

limbic system's emotional intensity and moderate its reward focus.

Executive functioning works when adolescents are

making decisions, thinking critically, and engaged in thinking about thinking

What is thought to increase cognitive control

maturation of brain pathways and circuitry

IQ

mental age divided by chronological age times 100

One trend involving divided attention is adolescents'

multitasking. If a task is complex and challenging, multitasking reduces attention to the key task.

loosing sense of smell

olfactory bulb.

Gardner and Sternberg's theories include

one or more categories related to social intelligence

As a result of having varying degrees of all of these intelligences

people learn and process info in different ways

Factors other than age are critical for wisdom, such as

personality related factors such as openness to experience and creativity are better predictors of wisdom than cognitive factors such as intelligence. Factors other than age are critical: life experiences/ values. Very rare. Time frame: late adolescence/ early adulthood.

Executive attention

planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or difficult circumstances

Conceptualization of metacognition includes several dimensions of executive functioning, such as

planning, evaluation, and self regulation

According to the neuroconstructivist view, the brain has

plasticity and is context-dependent

Heavy media multitasking in adolescence is linked to

poor memory, increased impulsivity, and reduced volume in the cerebral cortex/

Wisdom is linked to

practical and academic intelligence. The key is a balance between self-interest, the interests of others, and contexts that produce a common good.

Most-information-processing psychologists argue that an increase in capacity improves

processing of info

An increase in executive attention supports the

rapid increase in effortful control to effectively engage in complex academic tasks

Prefrontal cortex is primarily involved with

reasoning, decision making, risk taking

Limbic system

reward system. Increased preference for immediate rewards at 14-16, then declines.

Metacognition includes knowledge about

strategies

Heredity

strong influence of heredity on intelligence. Researchers have found that IQs on identical twins are more similar than those in fraternal twins, but in some studies the difference isn't large

What does pruning of synaptic connections indicate?

the activities adolescents choose to engage in influence which neural connections will be strengthened and which will disappear

One potential influence on intelligence test performance is stereotype threat-

the anxiety that one's behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one's group

Elkind argued imaginary audience and personal fable are due to

the cognitive geocentricism involved in the transition to formal operational thought

Long memory depends on

the learning activities engaged in when an individual is learning and remembering info

As part of the prefrontal cortex's rural leadership and organizational role

the prefrontal cortex likely coordinates the best neural connections for solving a problem

individual differences

the stable, consistent ways in which people are different from each other

Some developmentists argue what about formal operational thought?

there are 2 sub periods

If a solid basis of fundamental skills were not developed during childhood, critical thinking skills are

unlikely to develop in adolescence

Gardners 8 frames of mind

verbal, mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist