PSY10004

Ageing - Cognitive decline in abilities (65+)

(Mostly fluid type intelligence) - Those that require rapid and flexible manipulation of ideas/symbols, thinking , reasoning, effort - Performing unfamiliar task, solve complex problems where hold information in mind, manipulate more than one idea at a time. - Shift and divide attention- not so efficient and fast

Cons to Archival Data

- Accuracy of data collection - Correlation, not causation

Cons to Physiological Measures

- Accuracy of inferences - Additional resources - Time consuming - Costly

Variables

- Conceptual Variables - Operationalised Variables

Harlow's Studies on Attachment

- Contact/security more important than feeding for attachment - Infant monkeys were raised in isolation and were housed with artificial mothers - The infant monkeys could choose between a wire- mesh 'monkey' that provided food or a 'mother' covered in terry cloth that did not provide food - Harlow noted that the infants clung to the terry cloth mother as though 'attached' to that mother

Research Process

- Define the Problem - Review the Literature - Formulate a Hypothesis - Design the Research Study - Collect and Analyse the Data - Develop a Conclusion - Share the Results

Pros to Physiological Measures

- Does not rely on insight - Not subject to social desirability - Reduced interview effects

Cons to Self Reports

- Effect of wording/context - Relies on memory/introspection - Social desirability/honesty

Freud's Views on Attachment

- Emotional connection with mother - foundation for all other relationships. - Emotional bond with mother develops initially through feeding - baby builds a sense of trust if mother consistently satisfies his/her hunger & feeding occurs with sensitive & loving care. - Emphasis on early traumatic experiences - maternal deprivation could be seen as this - leads to neurosis Focus is on caregiver's role in fostering attachment

Blowlby's Views on Attachment

- Ethological theory - attachment between infant & caregiver is an evolved response - promotes survival- infant comes with behaviours to orient it to caregiver - Emphasised (like Freud) importance of quality of the connection between caregiver & infant - implications for development of sense of trust & security & for later relationships. - Influenced by Konrad Lorenz - infant has a set of "built-in" behaviours that help keep the parent close-by. - Feeding not basis for attachment, rather felt security from danger- ensures survival

Tips for Avoiding Cognitive Decline

- Live a healthy life (do not drink, eat to excess) - Do lots of cognitive activities from an early age - Exercise. - Get lots of education in your life. - Don't play stupid sports where you get concussed. - Have good genetics.

Postnatal Development - Environmental enrichment for pre-terms during infancy/ early childhood

- Middle class backgrounds: usually just a few sessions of coaching mean parents adapt, learn how to stimulate but not overwhelm, and mental test performance equates with full-terms after a few years. - But when born into low-income, often single parent household where many stresses, parenting of pre-terms is compromised. - More intensive interventions needed

Pros to Observations

- Natural setting - Does not rely on insight

Pros to Archival Data

- No new data collection - Access to large databases

Quantitative Data

- Numbers - Easier to analyse, but may miss important relationships

Issues in Cognitive Development

- Object permanence - Egocentrism - Conservation

Cognitive and Perceptual Development - Infant Perception & Cognition

- Originally underestimated abilities of infants- but needed new techniques to measure infant capabilities - Orienting reflex: The tendency to pay greater attention to novel stimuli than to familiar stimuli. - - Longer fixation times occur with novel stimuli - Sucking reflex: Infants can be trained to suck a pacifier which controls presentation of sounds or sights. Sucking rate increases with novel stimuli and decreases to familiar stimuli - Brain waves differ between novel and familiar stimuli

Theories of Cognitive Development

- Piagte's Theory - Integrative Theories of Cognitive Development

Types of Data

- Quantitative Data - Qualitative Data

Attachment Patterns

- Secure - Avoidant - Ambivalent - Disorganised

Types of Measures

- Self Reports - Physiological Measures - Observations - Archival Data

Pros to Self Reports

- Simple to administer - Minimal resources

Cons to Observations

- Social desirability - May be dangerous

Operationalised Variables

- Specific procedure for manipulating or measuring a specific conceptual variable - Operationalising variables is key for replication

Correlation Coefficient

- The strength and direction of association - Range of +1 to -1 - 0 equals no correlation - -1 strong negative correlation - +1 strong positive correlation

Erikson's Early Stages

- Trust Vs Mistrust - Autonomy vs shame/self doubt - Initiative vs guilt - Industry vs inferiority - Attachment

Conceptual Variables

- Typically thought of in abstract, general terms - We cannot test the abstract

Qualitative Data

- Words - Detailed information, but harder to analyse

Key Features of Experimental Designs

- internal validity - external validity

Research Designs

1. Descriptive Designs 2. Correlational Designs 3. Experimental Designs 4. Quasi-Experimental Designs

Physical Development - Prenatal Development

1. Germinal Period - the fertilised egg (zygote) enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division 2. Embryonic Period - the developing human organism (embryo) from 2 weeks through 2nd month 3. Foetal Period - the developing human organism (foetus) from 9 weeks after conception to birth

Ethical Principles

1. Protection From Harm 2. Privacy 3. Informed Consent 4. Debriefing

Piaget's Stages

1. Sensorimotor 2. Pre-Operational 3. Concrete Operational 4. Formal Operational

Critical Periods & Teratogen Exposure - Period of the Zygote Before Implantation

7-9 days after conception-teratogens rarely have impact- if they do - mass of cells damaged -dies-first two weeks about 30% of zygotes do not survive.

Issues in Cognitive Development - Egocentrism

A cognitive view in which a child understands the world to have only their view (has great difficulty in understanding the views of others)

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an explicit, testable prediction about the conditions under which an event will occur. A specific prediction about how one variable relates to another - It must be specific - Must be able to test it

Accommodation

Adjusting one's current schema to meet specific demands of an object or action

Attachment

Attachment involves: - Desire of the child to be close to the caregiver - A sense of security around the caregiver - Feelings of distress when the caregiver is absent - Provides a secure base from which to explore environment - Haven to return to when threatened

Early Stages - Industry Vs Inferiority

Begin to learn skills related to becoming productive member of society- internalisation of standards of society.

Social Development - Erikson's Basic Assumption

Biological maturation combines with cultural expectations to drive stages where individuals must come to terms with their sense of self and how they fit into the culture.

Dementia and Brain Scans

CT or CAT Scans, 3 D X-Ray image of the brain- used mainly to rule out other causes of cog. decline such stroke, brain tumour. MRI- 3D image- fine grained- reveals patterns of brain tissue loss characteristic of dementia-enlarged ventricles, loss of white matter, atrophy of hippocampus.

Teratogens: Rubella

Can lead to deafness and mental retardation

Attachment Patterns - Secure

Child welcomes mothers return and seeks closeness to her

Cognitive Development as Information Processing - Knowledge Base

Children gain knowledge with experience

Myelination

Coating of neural fibres with insulating fatty sheath- improves efficiency of message transfer- myelination rapid during first two years of life These developments responsible for growth in brain size: at birth 30% of adult weight, by 2 years- 70% of adult weight and 6 years- 90%.

Cognition

Cognition refers to mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating

Piaget's Stages - Concrete Operational

Concrete Operational Stage (7-12) Can do things to objects that change their properties. - Conservation examples - Transitivity: if a>b, b> c- then can infer a>c. - Can keep multiple things in mind at once - Can perform mental operations systematically

Early Stages - Trust Vs Mistrust

Considers more general pattern of interaction between parents and child- akin to way attachment patterns described.

Research Designs - Correlational Designs

Correlation measures the association between variables - (Correlation does not imply causation). - Used when variables cannot be manipulated - Allows prediction

Ageing - Intelligence and Ageing

Crystallised intelligence: The ability to use learned knowledge and experience. Fluid intelligence: The ability to solve new problems, use logic in new situations, and identify patterns.

Ageing - Dementia

Dementia is NOT an inevitable part of the ageing process Dementia is a progressive and incurable disorder marked by global disturbances of higher mental functions

Brain Development

During first two years major formation of synapses in auditory, visual and language areas- frontal lobes responsible for thought more extended growth period. Need stimulation for neural connections to survive- those that are not stimulated are pruned-first two years critical as when most of connections are forming

Types of Measures - Physiological Measures

EXAMPLE - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) - Penile Plethysmograph (PPG)

Types of Measures - Archival Data

EXAMPLE - Policy reports - Government collections

Types of Measures - Self Reports

EXAMPLE - Questionnaire - Interview - Rating scale - Diary Entries

Types of Measures - Observations

EXAMPLE Overt: watch children at play Covert: surveillance or undercover

Critical Periods & Teratogen Exposure - Embryonic period

Embryonic period-after implantation until 8th week placenta and umbilical chord grow and delivers blood to embryo and takes away waste products - Teratogens-Most harmful during these weeks of pregnancy - Often before women know they are pregnant - During these weeks groundwork is laid for all major body structures and organs

Research Designs - Experimental Designs

Experimental designs examine cause and effect relationships.

Cognitive Development as Information Processing

Focus on information processes that develop Processing speed Automatisation Knowledge base Cognitive Strategies Metacognition

Piaget's Stages - Formal Operational

Formal Operational (13+) Thinking becomes more abstract. - Can operate on abstract concepts - Can reason about formal propositions. - Can think about hypothetical, abstract concepts like " truth" , " justice" - Can frame hypotheses and think about how to test them

Social Development - Freud's Basic Assumptions

Freud argued that individuals go through 5 stages where different conflicts between biological drives and social needs have to be resolved- parents are "like riders on the horse". The stages end in late adolescence.

External Validity

Generalisability eg. —would TV influence aggression outside on your study?

Brain Plasticity

In infants and young children, parts of brain are not yet specialised (developmental) Recover better from brain injury - Language recovers better than spatial skills - Still have some problems with complex mental skills-as require considerable space to perform Older children, even adults, have some plasticity (adaptive)

Postnatal Development - Premature Babies

Infant stimulation originally thought harmful, but if modulated correctly can be highly beneficial - Rocking in hammocks, waterbeds that simulate rocking motion in uterus; visual mobiles, heartbeat recordings, soft music, mother's voice - Stimulation found to promote faster weight gain, more predictable sleep patterns, greater alertness - Touch — especially important, animal studies-releases brain chemicals that support physical growth-massage- gained weight, more advanced in mental and motor coord.-at end of first year - Need to adjust stimulation to level premature babies can cope with- more organised brain functioning two weeks later- and greater motor, cognitive and emotional maturity at 9 months.

Cognitive and Perceptual Development - Infant Sensory Capacities

Infants respond with changes in heart rate to loud sounds (even in the womb); hearing is reasonably developed at birth, hear soft speech 2- 3days, discriminate most speech sounds at 4 mths- like " baby talk" Infant visual perception is poor at birth 20/300, but improves to 20/100 by age 6 months- but like looking at human faces Intermodal processing is present at birth: infant turns its eyes toward the source of a sound (integration of sight and sound) Some aspects of smell and taste are present at birth- like sweet smells and tastes eg. mother's breast milk

Schema

Integrated pattern of knowledge store in memory that organises information and guides the acquisition of new information - A set of memories that are related to each other - May include many different types of information (episodic, semantic, procedural..) - Organised knowledge.

Integrative Theories of Cognitive Development

Integrates both information processing and Piaget (also Vygotsky as sees social interaction as important in promoting cognitive development) Argues for a general stage theory like Piaget with qualitative differences in how children solve problems Cultural input and practice at trying out strategies important- motivated to try to solve problems Underpinning the qualitative movement in stages is growth in working memory capacity, which allows children to hold more dimensions in mind simultaneously, and to more readily perform mental operations. Growth in capacity of central executive aspect to assign attention, coordinate information, handle multiple tasks at once underpins changes in way can solve problems.

Early Stages - Initiative Vs Guilt

Language plus wider social interactions- more contact with others- conflict with others as assert self- "on the make"- to be all-important, powerful, centre of attention.

Cognitive Development as Information Processing - Processing Spreed

Mental quickness increases as children age

Cognitive Development as Information Processing - Cognitive Strategies

More sophisticated cognitive strategies are developed

Early Stages - Autonomy Vs Shame/Self Doubt

Not just toilet training- but especially related to exploring wider social world, doing new things.

Dementia and Cognitive Tests

Number of detailed tests used but usually for screening will use the Mini- Mental State Examination (MMSE). Tests skills such as orientation, short-term memory, reading and writing. Asks questions such as where you are, what day it is; remembering three unconnected words, spelling a word backwards, following written instructions, writing, subtracting numbers, copying a diagram.- scored out of 30

Teratogens - Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Occurs when the foetus is exposed to alcohol and can result in physical and mental disabilities. Full syndrome-mental retardation, impaired motor coordination, attention, memory and language impairments, hyperactivity-plus slow physical growth, facial abnormalities- result of mother drinking heavily throughout most of pregnancy

PET Scans

PET - inject small amount of radioactive material, detect where goes to in the brain - gain images of activity in the brain. SPECT- used to trace blood flow to various regions of the brain

Piaget's Stages - Pre-Operational

Pre-operational Stage (2-5): Emergence of symbolic thought - Assign an arbitrary symbol (typically a word) to an object or image. - Allows thought to become detached from actions. - Thought is generally still limited to the perspective of themselves. i.e., you see what I see - even if you have a different perspective. - Representations of objects may be limited to a very small number of features (concentration) e.g, just the width. - Are not able to operate or perform operations on objects. (i.e., do things to them to transform them) - Limited in being able to keep a number of aspects in mind at once- focus on just one aspect (working memory limitations).

Psychology

Psychology is defined as the science of behaviour and mental processes. Objective =behaviour - something everyone can see and agree on Subjective = mental processes - subject of debate, room for error, open to interpretation

Ageing - Age Related Changes in Cognition

Psychomotor slowing results in older people requiring more time to process information (e.g. sport). Memory changes depend on the type of memory assessed: - Short-term memory relatively unchanged But difficulties in more complex tasks - Long-term memory storage unchanged but retrieval becomes more difficult — mostly problems with retrieving episodic memories, not semantic memories.

Research Designs - Quasi-Experimental Designs

Quasi-experiments are useful if random assignment is NOT possible. - Age - Gender - Personality traits - Neighbourhood

Early Stages - Attachment

Refers to an enduring emotional tie between child and primary caregiver.

Postnatal Development - Instant Reflexes

Reflexes are innate motor responses elicited by critical stimuli and are sometimes adaptive Examples of infant reflexes: - Rooting reflex: A touch on the cheek induces the infant to move its mouth toward the source of the touch (helps guide feeding) - Sucking reflex: Tactile stimulation of the mouth produces rhythmic sucking

Piaget's Stages - Sensorimotor

Sensorimotor Stage: Infants are bound by their sensations and actions. - Objects do not form a separate reality by themselves until object permanence is achieved - Represented in terms of their associated actions and sensations. (tasty red thing that goes quack I squeeze it) - The child is very egocentric - all things are represented in terms of themselves

Social Development

Social Development encompasses the changes in feeling, interpersonal thought and behaviour across the lifespan

Assimilation

Taking in new information and incorporating it into existing schemas

Foetal Period

Teratogen damage usually minor-but organs such as brain, eyes, genitals can be affected.

Teratogens

Teratogens are environmental agents that harm the embryo or foetus which include drugs, radiation, viruses, chemicals

Sensitive Periods

Term sensitive period used to emphasise that certain periods are more important for subsequent development than others- more open to possibility of remediation at later date.

Cognitive Development as Information Processing - Automatisation

The ability to perform some tasks automatically

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy concerned with the acquisition of knowledge - Piaget argued that children have schemas which are organised patterns of thought or behaviour (and are the basis of knowledge) - Cognitive development for Piaget involved the modification of intellectual schemas as the child seeks to understand its world

Critical Periods

The critical period concept suggests that the brain is set to acquire a function during a limited period of time. If key experiences do not occur during a critical period, the function may not develop or may not ever become fully developed. — e.g. imprinting in goslings to follow during the first two hours of life.

Research Designs - Descriptive Designs

The description of events, people, patterns, etc. - No manipulations - Not interested in relations or cause and effect - Survey vs Field

Developmental Psychology

The focus of developmental psychology is on how humans develop and change over time. Change can occur across the entire life span of the person (conception to death). Developmental psychology assumes that change is inevitable.

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable

Issues in Cognitive Development - Object Permanence

The realisation that an object continues to exist even if it cannot be seen

Reliability of Measurement

The reliability of a measurement is the extent to which measures are consistent and repeatable regardless of who is conducting the experiment, when it is being administered, and the number of times it is being administered to a person.

Validity of Measurement

The validity of a measure is the degree to which something measures what it intends to measure and that it is valid in context, meaning that a measure is not valid or valid in and of itself. - Internal Validity of experiments - External Validity of experiments

Independent Variable

The variable that is manipulated to see if it has an effect on some outcome.

Cognitive Development as Information Processing - Metacognition

Thinking about thinking

Issues in Cognitive Development - Conservation

Understanding that the basic properties of an object are constant even if the object changes shape

Internal Validity

Validity of your results eg. — is TV influencing aggression?

Infantile Amnesia

Virtually nothing before 3 years. - Lack memory strategies but 2-3 year olds can recall experiences weeks or months earlier. - Lack a sense of self-around which to organise memories- but can recognise self at about 2 years. - Early memories implicit, not explicit-yes do have implicit memory but compared to adults-poor - Lack language skills to talk about and solidify memories - Stored, but schemas different- hence lack retrieval cues - Stored and merged into generalised event schemas