Growth and Development Ch 5

The number of items that can be briefly held in mind while also engaging in some effort to monitor or manipulate those items

working memory

T or F: Piaget saw mental representations as the building blocks of sensorimotor intelligence

False

T or F: consistent with Piaget's theory, the majority of cognitive changes in infancy are abrupt and stage-like

False

T or F: follow-up research indicated that infants anticipate events, master the A-B object search, engage in make-believe play, and treat pictures and video images symbolically earlier than Piaget expected

False

T or F: In their studies using the violation-of-expectation method, Renee Baillargeon and her collaborators found evidence for object permanent in the first few months of life

True

T or F: The core knowledge perspective acknowledges that experience is essential for children to expand on their native endowment

True

T or F: according to Piaget, during the sensorimotor stage, infants and toddlers can't yet carry out many activities inside their heads

True

T or F: as long as pictures strongly resemble real objects, toddlers treat them symbolically

True

T or F: representation enables older toddlers to solve advanced object permanence problems involving invisible displacement

True

T or F: unlike Piaget, most researchers now believe that babies have some built-in cognitive equipment for making sense of experience

True

the diverse cognitive operations and strategies - including controlling attention, coordinating information in working memory, and planning- that enable us to achieve our goals in cognitively challenging situations

executive function

Cognitive activities that are so well-learned that they require no space in working memory and, therefore, permit us to focus on other information while performing them

automatic processes

Using what you learned about brain development in Chapter 4, explain why it is best to initiate intervention for property-stricken children in the first two years rather than later

During the first two years, neural fibers and synapses increase at an astounding pace. As neurons form connections, those that are stimulated by input from the surrounding environment continue to establish new synapses, forming increasingly elaborate systems of communication that support more complex abilities. For this process to advance, appropriate stimulation of the child's brain is vital during periods in which the formation of synapses is at its peak. Therefore, it is best to initiate intervention for poverty-stricken children in the first two years in order to help them reach their cognitive potential.

T or F: Laboratory research suggest that deferred imitation is not evident until the second half of the first year

False

explain scaffolding as it pertains to infants/children. List techniques that parents can use to scaffold development of categorization in infancy and toddlerhood, and explain why each is effective

Scaffolding is a form of teaching in which an adult guides and supports a child in a task that the child cannot yet handle alone but can do with the help of a more skilled partner. Parents can scaffold development of categorization as early as 3 to 4 months of age by labeling a set of objects with a consistently applied word ("Look at the car!" "Do you see the car?")—a technique that calls babies' attention to commonalities among objects. At 14 months, toddlers can switch from classifying on one basis (for example, shape) to another (material: soft versus hard). Adults can scaffold this development by calling toddlers' attention to the new basis for grouping. As toddlers gradually shift from categorizing on the basis of prominent perceptual features to categorizing on a conceptual basis, adult scaffolding promotes their ability to use conceptual similarity to guide behavior in increasingly novel situations.

when Timmy was 18 months old, his mother stood behind him, helping him throw a large ball into a box. As his skill improved, she stepped back, letting him try on his own. Using Vygotsky's ideas, explain how Timmy's mother is supporting his cognitive development

Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development refers to a range of tasks that the child cannot yet handle alone but can do with the help of more skilled partners. In this example, Timmy's mother takes advantage of a task that Timmy has chosen. As she guides and supports Timmy in throwing the ball, he joins in the interaction and picks up mental strategies. Then, as Timmy's competence increases, his mother can step back, permitting Timmy to take more responsibility for the task. This form of teaching, known as scaffolding, promotes learning at all ages.

the mental structure that directs the flow of information through the cognitive system while also engaging in more sophisticated activities that enable complex, flexible thinking

central executive

our permanent knowledge base, which is unlimited

long term memory

The part of the mental system where sights and sounds are represented directly and stored briefly

sensory register

The part of the mind where we retain attended-to information briefly so we can actively "work on" it to each our goals

short-term memory store