Chapter 5

What is a theory of mind? About what age do children start to develop a theory of mind?

A theory of mind is an awareness and understanding of mental process (self & others) and that everyone has different beliefs, desires, and intentions. This develops after the age of 4

What is animism, and how do preoperational children show it?

Animism is the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities. For example, " the cloud is smiling at me."

What cognitive functions improve as a result?

As a result, the rapid growths in each part of the brain, the functions of sensorimotor. Coordination, language, and memory improve as a result.

Define attention, and describe changes in attention that occur during early childhood.

Attention is the ability to focus mental resources on selective information. Childrens attention span changes throughout development.

What does Piaget mean by mental representation, or the ability to mentally represent objects?

By mental representations, Piaget means that children are able to visualize actions and things that they are not yet able to do. Or, the ability to imagine in one's head what is no longer in one's sense

What is meant by pre-operational thinking?

By pre-operational thinking, piaget means that children aren't just able to connect senses to physical actions but, are now able to represent the world with images, objects, and drawings. (object performance, memory, pretend play)

What does Piaget mean by symbolic function?

By symbolic function, Piaget means that children are able to use objects, images, or numbers to represent mental representations.

What is centration? How do preoperational children show difficulty with "decentering?"

Centration is focusing on one characteristic (the shape) and excluding all others. For example, the beaker test: is there the same amount of liquid. If the answer is no cause one is taller, the child shows centration cause they are only focusing on one characteristic (shape)

What is centration? How does the attentional "block" of centration make it difficult for preoperational children to solve conservation problems?

Centration is when the child focuses on one characteristic and excludes all the other ones. The attentional "block" doesn't help because the children don't see the full picture of things therefore they settle for what they only concentrate on.

What is decentration? How would learning to decenter help children solve conservation problems? [This marks a transition to the Concrete Operations stage of cognitive development!]

Decentration is the opposite of centration, this is when the child will view all characteristics of something all at once and not just one thing.

How do ego centrism and centration contribute to false beliefs? Use these concepts to explain why it is hard for young children to understand that they might be wrong.

Ego centrism and centration both contribute to false beliefs because they both are similar in definition. They both mean that they focus on one thing and exclude all other objects of a specific object. This is why children can't see they are wrong cause the only focus on one thing.

Define egocentrism and give examples of this characteristic of preoperational thought.

Egocentrism is when the child only sees his/her own perspective. The child believes that everyone sees, hear, feels like them.

What is empathy? Why is it important to develop empathy?

Empathy is the ability to understand others' feelings or what it might be like to "be in their shoes." This is important to develop because it helps with sharing, discipling, and helping the child understand what is right and wrong.

what are thee three steps of memory?

Encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Define executive function. What forms of executive function improve during early childhood?

Forms that improve is being able to shift attentions to different topics(cognitive flexibility), sharing (goal-setting), letting go of something you like for something you really want(delay of gratification)

. Irreversibility can be viewed as a form of centration. Explain why.

Irreversibility can be viewed as a form of centration because the child only focuses on ONE way an action can process.

Explain how irreversibility makes it difficult for preoperational children to solve conservation problems.

Irreversibility results in failure to understand that an action can go two or more directions. For example, the conservation of liquid test was a fail. The child doesn't see that the liquid could be put in different ways and still have the same volume.

Where are memories stored in the brain?

Memories are stored in the hippocampus.

What developmental changes make autobiographical memories possible?

Myelination and theory of mind help these memories possible.

What does Piaget mean by the cognitive process of conservation?

Piaget means the awareness that alters an object or a substance's appearance doesn't change its basic properties. (beaker test)

What is Piaget's second stage of cognitive development? What age range does this stage span?

Piaget's second stage would be the intuitive thought, it ranges from the ages of 4 to 7.

How did preoperational children show egocentrism in Piaget's "3 mountains" task?

Preoperational children show egocentrism in Piaget's "3 mountain task" by showing that they only describe what they see from their view and no the others when asked.

Give examples of symbols that pre- operational children use to mentally represent different aspects of their worlds.

Pretend play, they children could use tea cups and pretend to drink out of the cup.

What is social cognition? How does this development contribute to a child's social competence skills?

Social cognition is the ability to think about others' mental processes. This shows the child that other people have their own perspectives as well as empathy.

How do preoperational children use transduction to reason about cause and effect? Give examples.

The children lack logic skills, for example they will say "we went to the store because.... We came back." They won't understand why they went to the store or they arent developed enough to understand why.

Describe conservation of mass ("how much"), conservation of number ("how many"), and conservation of liquid (volume) tasks.

The conservation of mass piaget refers to the balls of clay: the child's response would be "no the longer one has more." Conservation of #: the longer row would be the childs pick since its the "longer" row. And conservation of liquid (volume) the child's pick would be the beaker that is taller. LACK OF CONSERVATION

What parts of the brain help children develop social cognition and theory-of-mind skills?

The frontal lobe help the children develop social cognition and theory of mind skills.

What is the function of the amygdalae, and where are they located?

The function of the amygdalae is the process of emotions. The amygdalae has to ends and it is right next to the hippocampus.

What is the function of the hippocampus, and where is it located?

The function of the hippocampus is memory formation and it is located on top of the brain stem.

What structure in the brain helps form memories?

The hippocampus is the structure that helps with memory formation.

Where is the prefrontal cortex located in the brain? What are its cognitive functions?

The prefrontal lobe is located in the frontal lobe. It's function is attention, organization, planning, and behavior control

What effect do myelination and pruning have on these functions during early childhood?

When myelination happens, it increases the ability of each cognitive ability. As well as increases the coordination of the functions.

Define working memory (WM). What are WM's functions as the central executive in memory?

Working memory is a part of the short term memory (STM) that selects and "works on" memory. It basically decides whether to keep a memory or not.

What process would be used to keep information in STM? What would you have to do to move information into LTM?

You would need to give the children cues and prompts as well as repetition.

Empathy:

ability to understand others feelings or what it might be like to "be in their shoes"

Animism

another limitation of preoperational thought, is the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action.

What areas of the brain undergo rapid development during early childhood (ages 3-6)? What processes occur in the brain during this time period?

areas that go through rapid growth during the ages of 3 and 6 are the prefrontal cortex parietal and temporal lobes. The process of myelination occurs as well as the process of pruning.

At about what age do children start to form autobiographical memories?

autobiographical memory is delayed until the age 3-4, Preschool years are when autobiographical memory is formed.

How do children's brains change between ages 3 and 6, and how are these changes linked to their cognitive development?

between age 3 and 6 children brains are pruning. myelination improves the speed and process of information processing.

What problems in attentional control can we expect from pre-schoolers?

children are more likely to pay attention to stimuli that stand out. And also have trouble with planfulness, like judging two things and they won't pay attention to details.

Describe aspects of theory of mind that develop during the preschool years.

children start to understand three mental states: perceptions, emotions and desires.

Attention

focusing on mental resources on select information

Hippocampus

function is memory formation

Theory of mind

he awareness of one's own mental processes and those of others.

The main cognitive skill that preoperational children lack is the ability to think logically. List various aspects of illogical thinking shown by preoperational children, and explain them in detail

illogical thinking would involve centration (focusing on one aspect) and egocentrism (other see, hear, feel exactly what they feel)

what is sensory memory

involves, seeing,hearing, and touching happens in 1 second

Procedural memory

is a part of the long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things, also known as motor skills it is considered at "scripts" or general outlines of repeated, familiar actions. . Examples are walking, talking, and riding a bike.

Episodic memory

is a person's unique memory of a specific event, so it will be different from someone else's recollection of the same experience. It is sometimes confused with

Symbolic function

is the ability to use symbols (mental representations) that have meaning

Corpus callosum

is the band of nerve fibers connecting 2 hemispheres

implicit memory

is unconscious things, things we automatically do.

Amygdala (plural = amygdalae)

its function is to process emotions

Prefrontal cortex

located in the front of the lobe. Its function is attention, organizing, planning, and behavior control

How long do episodic memories last at this age?

memories last a few weeks or months

Autobiography

memories of significant events and experiences such as remembering your 1st grade teacher.

Define memory

memory is the ability to retain info over time

Short-term memory

people retain info for upto 30 seconds if there's repetition

Why might it be easy to "fool" or deceive a preoperational child - for instance, with magic?

the child still doesn't understand deception and knowing when and why they are wrong.

Where is the corpus callosum located in the brain? What is its function?

the corpus callosum is between the two hemispheres, left and right.

How does increased myelination of the corpus callosum affect cognitive and motor functions during early childhood?

the increase in myelination speeds the coordination (organization) of the functions. For example: language, speech (left side of the brain) and understanding sentences (right side of the brain)

Long term memory

things you can remember after days, months, and years

Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development

this stage starts at 2 yrs old and ends at 7yrs old. This is the second stage in piaget's theory and its when children learn to use the symbols of language.

Mental representation

to imagine in ones mind

transduction

transportation or transformation of something from one form, place, or concept to another.

Implicit memory

unconscious; memory for things we automatically do. Procedures, routines.(can't tell)

Egocentrism

when the child mind doesn't think that there is anything out of their world

Executive attention

when you are able to control what to concentrate on to reach your goals this involves planning, monitoring progress, and seeing errors.

Sustained attention

when you are focused on an object, etc, for an extended time.

Explicit memory

you are conscious, as in you can explain it. Mostly events with people, and things we go through.