PSYC 355 Exam 2

Vygotsky's theory (particularly social scaffolding, zone of proximal development)

Vygotsky: children are social learners, who are shaped by and shape their cultural contexts, and learn from willing teachers. This is uniquely human. Continuous, quantitative changes Social scaffolding: more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children's thinking at a higher level than they could manage on their own Tends to involve explicit instruction and explanation compared to guided participation Zone of proximal development: the range of performance between what children can do unsupported and what they can do with optimal support What i can do → what i can do with help → what i can't do

How do phonemic contrasts differ for adults vs. infants?

Young children and sensitive to the phonetic changes and categories because they do not have perceptual narrowing à they listen to it all and take that all into account in order to understand Speech sounds are not categorical - they are more on a continuum Adults - there is no middle ground - the sounds are perceived categorically Less able to discriminate !!

fast-mapping

ability of children to correctly and immediately map a novel word to a novel object in the presence of other familiar objects

theory of mind definition and what age does it develop

an organized understanding of how mental processes such as intentions, desires, beliefs, perceptions, and emotions influence behavior Children develop TOM by 5

timeline of TOM

birth (prefer faces and biological motion) -> 5 months (understand other's actions goals) -> 12 months (will imitate other's goals, not actions) -> 18 months (understand others can have desires that differ from own) -> 3 to 5 years (false belief understanding)

Understand and give examples of how both caregiver and child contribute to multiple levels of language

child gives social signals, intense interest in social partner, intentional attempts to communicate when 9-12 months; parents give infant-directed speech, enforces conversation dynamic, strong mptivation to communicate and treat interaction as meaningful, engagement and support of joint attention

Be able to identify strengths and limitations when measuring intelligence at different ages

Advantage of measuring IQ is that different ages are easy to compare Strengths: can see how intelligence changes over longer periods of time (you won't have same score when you take the test at 6 vs 18) Weaknesses: taking it in relatively close periods of time (i.e. 5 vs 6) won't give you useful info

Understand how Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence views intelligence and competence differently/more broadly compared to more traditional views

Binet - one of the best ways to measure intelligence to observe people's actions on tasks that require a variety of intelligence types Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence - there are 8 different types of intelligence: visual-spatial, linguistic-verbal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic G is domain general (Spearman), Gardner's theory is domain specific

sensation vs perception

sensation - processing of basic info from external world by sensory receptors in sense organs and the brain; perception - process of organizing and interpreting sensory info

intermodal perception

this is the combination of information from two or more sensory systems - this then contributes to their learning. ·There is frequently combination between visual and auditory syimuli

implicit false belief

Implicit false belief tasks ex: infant watches a woman reach for the location where she thinks the toy is; infants will look at the correct window before she reaches for the toy (anticipating her action based on the goal); when the toy is moved, infants will still anticipate her action but based on previous knowledge of where the toy was Tells us that infants will anticipate an action based on a known goal but have not yet learned to differentiate between their beliefs and the experimenter's beliefs Also gives evidence for TOMM b/c there is a belief representation already present in the infant's brain

Explain what is meant by infantile amnesia and childhood amnesia and what type of memory these relate to

Infantile amnesia = 0-2 years Childhood amnesia = we can't remember being young children (2-6 years old) Early memories lack contextual detail and changes in the brain develop to support memory for details. RELATES TO EPISODIC MEMORY Volume of hippocampal subfields relates to age-related differences in memory during early childhood

Be able to describe infant's understanding of numbers, including numerosity discrimination and the ratio signature required

Infants discriminations between numerical sets depends on the ratio of number of entities in them Izard study -> newborns show the same tendency to discriminate b/t 6 and 18 syllables and objects but not with 4 vs 8 -> can discriminate 3:1 ratio but not 2:1 ratio Discrimination among numbers becomes more precise during 1st year and beyond Can discriminate b/t sets w 2:1 ratios by 6 months 9 months: discriminate b/t 3:2 but not 4:3 By adulthood -> can discriminate 8:7 ratios Could be b/c 1) experience w/ symbolic numbers and 2) maturation and non-specific experience Exception to ratio dependence Discrimination b/t very small sets (1 to 4 objects or events) is more accurate, faster, and less variable than would be expected Infants can discriminate 2 objects from 1 object before they can discriminate larger sets with the same ratio Indicates that there are at least 2 mechanisms for processing numbers of sights and sounds: one for small sets based on specific numbers and one based on ratios

Define differentiation and affordance in the context of perceptual learning mechanisms

Perceptual learning mechanisms - using perceptual abilities to actively search for order and regularity in the world around them Differentiation - extracting elements from the environment that are invariant or stable Discovery of affordances - possibilities offered by objects or situations (perceptions drive actions) - how can we interact in specific situations

Describe the concept of perceptual narrowing for phonemes

Perceptual narrowing - refers to the refinement of the perceptual system after repeated experience with a certain stimulus at a younger age, we are better able to discriminate between stimuli when compared to later. This is because once you are older and have heard all of the words, you are better at discriminating. So a 6-month old is better at differentiating between two small things when compared to adults We like to look at human faces more than other faces because of the experiences and perceptual narrowing that we have done

Define perceptual narrowing and explain in the context of face perception

Perceptual narrowing occurs with a lot of experiences. The infants are able to focus on the details that are important and that are relevant to them and then they can use this to block out irrelevant information - Use the experiences that one has to shape the way that the mind will perceive things · Face perception -- they especially do perceptual narrowing with face perception and as a result, they are able to discriminate among stimuli of familiar types, such as same-race faces. -They also learn their parents faces as one of the first ones - explains their change in demeanor when a parent comes

Understand how the dynamic systems perspective explains the A-not-B error

There is so much that goes into producing a behavior, it's hard to nail down There is a relation between motor activities, attention, and other aspects that have an effect A-not-b error not due to lack of conceptualization, but rather the reach to A is a formed habit (memory subsystem), which influences behavior Infants' performance was dependent on the influence of strength of habits, memory demands, attention, and physical force required

Understand violation-of-expectancy paradigms and be able to explain the method, what is measured, and conclusion drawn from them

This states that if the infants are shown an event that causes them to be surprised because it does not align with their beliefs. They look at these things for a longer period of time so that they can learn about them so that they can be less surprised if it were to happen again Infants are shown things that make sense according to their beliefs and then they are also shown things that do not make sense. Then were then found to look at these things for a longer period of time - looking time measure. This is especially prominent with the example of a rod and it twirling in the background

Know how experience plays a role in the development of perception of the senses

Universal development: developmental changes occur in which experience fine-tunes the perceptual system. -The things that you are exposed to will also help you learn and that can determine how you sense things and what is in your knowledge base

defs of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, perceptual constancy, object segregration, depth perception, optical expansion, and binocular disparity

- Visual acuity - the sharpness of visual discrimination - Contrast sensitivity - the ability to detect differences in light and dark areas in a visual pattern - Perceptual constancy - the perception of objects as being constant in size, shape, color, etc. In spite of physical difference that may be present on the retina - Object segregation - the identification of separate objects in a visual array - Depth perception - using depth and distance cues to tell us whether we can reach the thing that we are looking a or something that is approaching us - Optical expansion - the visual image of an object increases in size as the object comes towards us, occluding more and more of the background -Binocular disparity - the difference between the retinal image of an object in each eye that results in two slightly different signals being sent to the brain

infant perceptual abilities (visual, auditory, taste, smell, touch)

- Visual: not very well developed at all. They do start using their eyes as soon as they are born so that it can develop. They have v v bad vision and see the BLUR of the face, but this gets better - Auditory: very well developed at the time of birth because it is loud af in the uterus so the child is able to hear. They have a hard time with auditory localization though, because there is not a huge difference in the amount of time it takes for information to get from one ear to another · Also note that they like IDS more than ADS · They can also make perceptual discriminations that adults cannot - this is important to consider and shows that they have not yet gone through perceptual narrowing - Taste: Like sweet things and this develops before birth (the contents of the amniotic sac is sweet) - Smell: Like sweet and this develops before birth. This is a vital sense for them to be able to recognize their mother -Touch: Initially explore with mouth and tongue and once they are better developed in a motor sense, they use their hands to explore

give an example of how objects are categorized hierarchically and what level kids tend to start categorizing start

Category hierarchies: general -> medium -> specific (aka superordinate -> basic -> subordinate) Ex. plant -> tree -> oak SUPERordinate is the most GENERAL (superstore has everything, it's general) Basic is the one in between SUBordinate is the most SPECIFIC (a sub is a specific type of sandwich Children learn basic level first Parents and teachers use basic level categories children make as a foundation for teaching specific and general categories

principles of dynamic systems theories

Change is the only constant Depicts how change occurs over time in complex systems Each child is a well-integrated system, in which many subsystems (perception, memory, language..etc) work together to determine behavior

Describe the overlapping-waves theory of strategy use

Children use a variety of strategies to solve problems At any one moment, children have a variety of strategies they can use. With age and experience, they rely on the strategies that do the best

What are the weaknesses of Piaget's theory?

Children's thinking a lot more inconsistent than the stage model depicts Children are a lot smarter than piaget thought Tests were concrete and did not test internal cognitions such as memory Did not account (enough) for the social world to cognitive development Did not explain mechanisms for change (esp for assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration)

concept definition

Concept - a general idea that organizes objects, events, qualities, or relations on the basis of some similarity There are are an infinite # of concepts Provide the structure we use to organize our understanding of the world

Define constructivist, assimilation, accommodation, equilibration

Constructivist: children construct knowledge for themselves in response to their experiences Assimilation: people incorporate incoming information into concepts they already understand Accommodation: people restructure their current understanding in response to new experiences Equilibration: balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding

How is Piaget's theory continuous and discontinuous?

Continuity: constructivism, along with assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration are all continuous. These are processes that continuously happen Discontinuity: the developmental stages (each stage is qualitatively different from one another)

explain the Carolina Abecedarian interventions discussed in class

Occurred from 1972-1977 in North Carolina with 111 children in the project Focused on low income families Program included healthcare and full time education from infancy - 5 years old Focused on social, emotional, and cognitive areas with a special focus in language Progress was monitored throughout adulthood (up until age 35)

What is meant by domain-specific vs. domain-general and what would core knowledge theories be considered?

Domain specific: knowledge of a particular area (language, numbers, objects, people) We represent things differently depending on the domain We learn things differently depending on the domain Domain general: development driven by general learning processes Underlying mechanism for learning crosses multiple domains Ex. associations: can associate anything Piaget is domain general; core knowledge = domain specific b/c ppl have highly specialized fxns that are independent from one another

What are the rules a kid must learn for the count list?

Each counting word corresponds to a specific, unique set size Numbers in the list start small and get bigger Each number in the list is exactly one more than the number before it When they put all of this together -> cardinality principle!

Know what develops in memory

Early memories lack the contextual details, which is necessary for episodic memory Infants have the ability to remember events for up to a few weeks but our ability to remember things progressively gets better throughout childhood hippocampus is important for making episodic memories, which rapidly develops during childhood -> forming new conxns w/ memory circuits, new neurons may disrupt previously formed connections

individual differences in children's memory development

Early parenting helps memory (parents who talk more have more memory) Mothers with history of depression have kids with poorer memory performance Low SES is bad Sleep Prenatal alcohol exposure Language Attention

explicit false belief

Ex. Teacher asks "What do you think is in the box?" Child says "Smarties!" Child opens box and sees it's pencils. Then, teacher asks what do you think your friend would say was in the box? Child says "pencils!" like a ******* lmaooooo Accuracy increases a lot from 3-5 years Cross culturally this can be seen 3 year old will succeed at false belief if the experimenter tells the child they're going to play a trick on their friend by hiding pencils in the Smarties box -> then they say their friend will guess that Smarties are in the box

explicit vs implicit memory

Explicit (declarative) and implicit (procedural) memory fall under LTM Explicit memory consists of episodic and semantic memory Episodic: experiences; semantic: facts and knowledge Implicit memory has to do with skills and unconscious behaviors Ie. riding a bike Instrumental conditioning

Examples of evidences supporting core knowledge theories

Face processing: newborn infants prefer faces over non faces Language: children are able to quickly master complicated grammatical rules Number: infants can discriminate large differences in magnitude and track small quantities space/navigation; objects; social agents; social bonds

What did the intervention focus on, types of components (e.g., skill training, EF training) were used, overall findings?

Overall findings Experimental group had IQ ½ to 1 SD higher than control Significantly higher IQ scores even 15 years later Less likely to be teen parents More likely to attend 4 year college Better physical health in mid 30s Experimental group scored higher on math and reading tests

Understand the "Give-a-Number" task

Give-A-Number task: ask a child to give you some number of objects and see how many they give you Child who doesn't understand any number words: pre-number-knower even if they can recite number list perfectly Will give you a handful or the same number no matter what you ask for Become one-knowers after that and learn the meaning of the word 1 Give you one object if you ask for one but multiple -> not correct 6 months later -> become two-knowers Prefer to give one or two objects when asked to give another number; not more Kids become 3-knowers before learning how to count and could also be 4-knowers After this period, make a conceptual leap to cardinal-principle-knowers (kids who understand how counting works) Can give 1, 2, or 3 objects without counting but above 4 -> needs to count it out first and then give out objects Kids go thru these stages from 2-5 Exact ages vary b/t children and cultures but everyone seems to go thru the same stages in the same order

methods used to assess infant perception

Habituation - The infant is repeatedly shows a particular stimulus until the response that they initially had habituates. Then a novel stimulus is presented and the infant will dishabituate in response to the stimulus. Shows that infants can again discriminate between the two stimuli. · Preferential looking - the infant is repeatedly shown patterns or objects to see which one they have a preference for. They look at the facial expressions of the child and they also look at how long the child looks at a particular object. Looking at something for a longer period of time is indicative of preference. This also shows that infants can discriminate between the two objects. · Ultimately: - Younger à look at things more generally and appreciate it as a whole - Older à specialist because of perceptual narrowing -Generally, this tells you that infants have the ability to perceive differences and they have the ability to discriminate between different stimuli because they look at this generally rather than just looking at specifics that adults look at

Describe the 7 types of learning and be able to give examples of each (habituation, perceptual learning, statistical learning, classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, observational learning, rational learning)

Habituation - a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus The reason that you become less interested in something over time is because you have experienced it and so it is no longer new and novel Perceptual Learning - the use of perceptual abilities to actively search for order and regularity in the world around them Using your senses to perceive things and then making inferences about the order in the world perceive the world around you and make sense of it Statistical Learning - forming associations among stimuli that occur in statistically predictable patterns Ex. When we hear "bay" à we think of bay-bee because we are used to thinking of the beginning of that word Pattern recognition Classical Conditioning - learning about the relations between environmental events that have relevance for them Associating an initially neutral stimulus with a stimulus that always evokes a reflexive response Instrumental Conditioning - this is also known as operant conditioning - learning about the relation between one's own behavior and the consequences that result Ex. A child is rewarded every time they do a chore and so overtime, they start doing the chore more because they know that it is associated with a reward Observational Learning - children learn in a certain environment about these behaviors à this is why this learning method is considered to be domain-specific Infants imitate the things that other people do Rational Learning - involved integrating the learner's prior beliefs and biases with what actually occurs in the environment Ex. 6-month olds are sensitive to the distribution of elements and base their expectations on these Analyze, look at probability, adjust their computation and predictions

In terms of the computer metaphor, describe hardware and software in terms of info processing theories

Hardware: memory and speed of operations (brain) Software: strategies and information available for performing tasks (long term memory) Can improve by upgrading hardware and software: Expand the amount of information that can be processed at one time (short term memory, working memory) Increase the speed they can execute thought processes (neuron connections, myelation) Acquire new strategies and knowledge (trying new things, brain development, rehearsal, crystallized intelligence...omg look at me connecting topics wow)

Identify which part of the brain is critical for the development of episodic memory

Hippocampus is critical for development of episodic memory

principles of core knowledge theories

Humans are endowed with a small number of innate systems of core knowledge Based on evolution Specialized learning abilities with innate capacities and content Enables rapid learning in infancy Simplest and most frequently mental activities Associating events with one another Recognizing objects as familiar Recalling facts and procedures Generalizing from one instance to another Encoding specific features of objects into memory

Describe how category understanding and organization changes from infancy into childhood (i.e., how more "adult-like" concepts of objects develop, including increased meaning)

Infants frequently use perceptual categorization (grouping together of objects that have similar appearances) Categorize based on parts of an object rather than the object as a whole Infants younger than 18 months rely on presence of legs to categorize objects as animals and wheels -> vehicle During 2nd year, categorize objects on basis of overall shape During childhood, there is less perceptual focus and there is an increasing ability to form categories over non-perceptual commonalities I.e function And during childhood -> increased understanding of causal connections Something has claws and horns b/c it is a predator; a prey has big eyes b/c it needs to see to escape

Be able identify the three component processes of memory from a brief description

Input -> encoding -> storage / consolidation -> retrieval Encoding: how info gets into memory Storage / consolidation: retaining info over time Retrieval: getting info out of storage Failure can occur in any of these processes

Describe how instrumental/operant conditioning can be seen at 2 months of age

Instrumental/operant conditioning is imitation and learning after seeing what others do. There is also a component of rewards that is important to consider!! Ex. The young infant learned within minutes that kicking her leg would cause the mobile to move in an interesting way. And can remember that this is the case for a decent period of time. Reward is that she's now entertained? Contingency relation is basically the concept that if infants are able to successfully cause a target response, they are given the reinforcement. The reward/reinforcement is contingent on the relationship (do thing→ ger reward)

Explain what abilities Sternberg focused on in his "Theory of Successful Intelligence"

Intelligence can be broken down into 3 factors Analytical intelligence: problem solving abilities Creative intelligence: capacity to deal with new situations using past experiences and current skills Practical intelligence: ability to adapt to a changing environment

Understand how intelligence is measured and what an intelligence quotient (IQ) is measuring

Intelligence in children is measured based on observable behaviors Preschool children are evaluated based on Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) Older children (6+) are evaluated based on Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) Yields overall score and separate scores on 5 general abilities: verbal comprehension, visual-spatial processing, working memory, fluid reasoning, and processing speed IQ is a quantitative measure for fluid and crystallized intelligence (i.e. reasoning and problem solving)that typically has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, used to indicate child's intelligence relative to that of other children of the same age Polygenic trait (influenced by 500+ genes) Falls in normal distribution

Define intersubjectivity and provide two examples of this

Intersubjectivity: the mutual understanding that two people share during communication Joint attention: infants and social partners intentionally focus on a common thing in the external environment speaking the same language

guided participation

Knowledgeable people organize activities in such a way to allow less knowledgeable people to learn and engage in them at a higher level than they could on their own

Understand what types of behavior are "learned" in classical conditioning

Many emotional responses are initially learned in this manner. Note that by itself, the classical conditions cannot account for the emergence of new behaviors The subject also learn about the relations between environmental events that have a relevance for them; ex. people may like smell of gasoline because they associate it with good memories from childhood; Little Albert

Understand why memory is a "multifaceted cognitive ability

Memory is a multifaceted ability because it dynamic; changes over time and gets distorted; not like camera; uses multiple parts of the brain

2 theories on ToM development (nativist vs empiricist)

Nativists believe in theory of mind module (TOMM): a hypothesized brain mechanism devoted to understanding other humans TOMM matures over first 5 years Studies of autisitic kids supports TOMM because they have atypical sizes and activity of certain brain areas that are crucial for understanding people Certain areas of the brain have been consistently associated with understandings of others' thoughts / beliefs Failing False beliefs is still a thing initially because need time for this area of the brain to mature and need other cognitive abilities (i.e. language) to pass the test Consistent w/ nativist views b/c believe you're born with TOMM and it continues to develop Empiricists think that TOM comes from interactions with other people On false belief tasks, preschooler that have siblings outperform kids who don't; children whose mothers talk a lot about others' mental lives outperform and kids who engage in more pretend play outperform They think that autistic kids don't interact much with other people and that's why they can't understand people well Consistent w/ empiricist views b/c believe children develop thru social and environmental interactions

Describe newborns visual preferences including the order of preference

Newborns LOVE looking at faces. Then they like face-like stimuli, and finally, they like the contrasting patterns.

Understand why number is a concept and what nativists / empiricists think about numbers as a concept

Number is an abstract concept that applies to sets of items Nativists - children are born with a core concept of number Certain regions of the brain represent numerical magnitudes Empiricists - children learn about numbers thru same types of experiences and learning mechs that help them acquire other concepts and their numerical competence is not as great as nativists claim Large differences in numerical understanding cross-culturally

define what is meant by numerical equality

Numerical equality: realization that all sets of N objects have something in common "Twoness" -> two dogs, two horses, two legs

Explain evidence nature and nurture in children's acquisition of morphology and syntax rules

Nurture does play a role - the experiences during the critical period are important for proper development, but note that it is still possible for others to come and influence this. There is a nature component to this because children who have been deprived of certain stimuli are still able to come up with their own grammar rules that they use to make sense of stimulation Case of deaf children with hearing parents They still have happy and healthy childhoods - they just use their hands to sign for communication

Compare and contrast Piagetian, Information processing, Core knowledge, sociocultural, and dynamic systems (hint: use the main development themes)

Piagetian: nature/nurture Active child continuity/discontinuity (focuses on how children acquire knowledge and understand nature of intelligence) Information processing: nature/nurture Mechanisms of change (brain receives input, processes, and delivers output) Core knowledge: nature/nurture continuity/discontinuity (what capacities are there at birth and what do we gather from experience) sociocultural: nature/nurture Sociocultural context Mechanism of change (contributions of society to development) Dynamic systems: Active child Mechanisms of change continuity/discontinunity (behavior is a self organizing, multicomponent system)

what is thought to be consistent about development across cultures and what is thought to be the different

Processes of development (e.g. guided participation) are the same across cultures Content of these things differ (fairytales...)

Explain factors that can influence IQ

Random variation - mood and alertness on test day Child environmental change - parental divorce, moving to a worse neighborhood Similarity of children's environments over shorter periods of time contributes to the similarity of scores over shorter periods of time With age, influence of genetics increases and influence of environment decreases Gene-environment interactions Passive genetic effects: biological parent may provide environment suitable for your genetics Evocative effects: what your qualities elicit from others Active effects: what you actively choose to experience (what qualities about you cause you to choose an experience?) Environmental effects Family: parenting; can be confounded with shared genetics Schooling: near-age kids with 1 year difference in school experience very different IQs Summertime decline in low-SES families Society: Flynn effect - consistent rise in IQ in the past 80 years Average IQ between racial groups differs Intrinsic explanations for differences aren't justified IQ scores relate to grades in school and economic and occupational success Other factors like motivation and self-discipline come into play

Know the broad definition of "memory"

Retention of information over time

Be able to give examples of risk factors related to IQ scores and how poverty relates to IQ

SES modifies heritability of IQ but only in the US Adequacy of family income for meeting family needs is related to children's IQ More years children spend in poverty -> lower their IQ Poverty can exert negative effects on IQ thru nutrition, healthcare, intellectual stimulation, emotional support Risk factors related to IQ scores: 1) head of household is unemployed 2) mother didn't complete high school 3) 4+ children in the family 4) no father or stepfather 5) African American family 6) stressful life events in the past few years 7) maternal anxiety Number of risks is negatively related to IQ The influence of the shared environment decreases with age. The influence of nonshared environment (genetics?) increases with age

Explain how habituation is assessed

The students are shown things multiple times and then they look at how their facial expressions change or for how long they look at the thing Will see that they gradually look at the thing less and less as they become less intrigued by it

Why are theories important for developmental psychology?

Theories structure the facts and help us understand where they came from, how they fit together with existing facts, and where new facts can come from

Piaget's 4 stages

Sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years) Infants show intelligence through sensory and motor activities Infants perceive and explore the world around them Can form enduring mental representations (deferred imitation) Goals start as concrete, then become more abstract Lack of object permanence until 1yo Performs A-not-B Error Preoperational stage (2-7years) Can represent their experiences in language, mental imagery, and symbolic thought Acquire symbolic representation (use of one object to stand for another) Inability to perform certain mental operations Egocentrism: perceives world from only their point of view Fails three mountain task Egocentric conversations Centration: focus on a single, striking feature but excludes other relevant but less striking features Fails conservation concept (thinks a taller glass of water has more water...*******es) Concrete operational stage (7-12years) Able to reason logically about concrete objects and events Passes all the conservation tasks Cannot think in purely abstract terms or generate systematic scientific experiments Cannot correctly test the pendulum problem (what helps a pendulum swing faster?) Formal operational stage (12+) Able to think about abstractions and hypotheticals Able to perform systematic scientific experiments and draw conclusions Can correctly test pendulum problem

Give examples on the role of culture and experience in motor development

Some cultures frown upon the kids moving too quickly so they do not let the kids explore and attempt to walk à as a result, they are slower at developing their locomotion skills Some other cultures promote walking and they push their kids to explore - ability to walk at a younger age Some cultures also may have certain expectations for what the kids should be doing at certain times - will impact their development

Understand the different levels of precision when defining "intelligence" (g, fluid and crystallized intelligence, multiple processes) and how these are integrated in John Carroll's 3-Stratum theory

Some researchers view intelligence as a single trait that influences all aspects of cognitive functioning General intelligence (g): cognitive processes that influence the ability to think and learn on all intellectual tasks Thought to be a thing b/c performance on all intellectual tasks in positively correlated Fluid intelligence: ability to think on the spot to solve novel problems Peaks around age 20 and usually declines after Prefrontal cortex active here Crystallized intelligence: factual knowledge about the world Increases steadily from early in life to old age Children who do well on one test of fluid intelligence do well on other tests of fluid intelligence but not necessarily crystallized intelligence Primary mental abilities theory: 7 abilities are crucial to intelligence - word fluency, verbal meaning, reasoning, spatial visualization, numbering, rote memory, and perceptual speed Multiple processes: many processes are involved in doing things like remembering, encoding, generalizing, planning Three-stratum theory of intelligence: g is at top of intelligence hierarchy, 8 moderately general abilities are in the middle (includes fluid and crystallized intelligence and seven primary mental abilities), and many specific processes are the bottom

Describe statistical learning in the context of word learning

Statistical learning - picking up things from the environment, specifically detecting statistically predictable patterns This works because our environment has a high levels of repetition and redundancy Basically look at patterns of sounds and see which patterns occur more regularly Phonotactic constraints - can have language learning because you can segment random sounds into ones that actually make sense, even if they collectively do not make any sense

Explain an example of how action shapes cognition (e.g., sticky mittens experiment)

Success of reaching something with a sticky mitten results in children having improved focus and environmental engagement later in life They gave kids sticky mittens and they would want to reach around to try and get stuff to stick to it (habit building) Later, they saw the kids who wore the sticky mittens have better motor development and liked to explore their environment more

What do theories do?

Summarize facts Allow for predictions Guide those who work with children Stimulate new research and discoveries Acts as filters for relevant information

Define syntactic bootstrapping and describe how it was tested

Syntactic bootstrapping - children use the grammatical structure of whole sentences to figure out meaning Using the syntax of the surrounding words to understand what the meaning of the sentence is Tested by showing 2 year olds a videotape of a duck using its left hand to push a rabbit down into a squatting position while both animals waved their right arms in circles (Figure 6.11) (Naigles, 1990). As they watched, some children were told "The duck is kradding the rabbit"; others were told "The rabbit and the duck are kradding." All the children then saw two videos side by side, one showing the duck pushing on the rabbit and the other showing both animals waving their arms in the air. Instructed to "Find kradding," the two groups looked at the event that matched the syntax they had heard while watching the initial video

Know the multiple levels of language and rough developmental timelines of their emergence

communication: birth and onwards phonology (sounds): birth and onwards lexicon (words): 1 year and onwards morphology and syntax (rules): 2 years and onwards Infants can start making sounds from birth and communicate at a basic level Start forming words near 6 months to 1 year

implications of grammar's critical period

complexity of parent/teacher speech influences complexity of children's speech; hearing it helps you better learn the language and the way that you should speak; language deprivation or learning of a second language impacts the way in which you develop; critical period for grammar is impacted by late first learners (deaf or hard of hearing), late second learners or immigrants, and age of first exposure determines how well the learner commands grammer

theory definition

explanation of how facts fit together

give examples of how action serves to organize perception

kid will try and walk down a steep ramp and fall down bc it's too steep (*******), but then after it's had the experience with walking, it will try and go slower and then eventually learn to crawl down the ramp

Nativists vs Empiricists on language development

nativist - - Unique to humans; we are the only ones who have language that is complex and we have a universal language, thus it is innate -We also note that there are critical and sensitive periods which are not explained by the environment. This probably exists because of the way in which the brain is wired empiricist - Emphasizes the richness in the environment and they look at the experiences that the child had and how that contributes to who they are - Social interaction is crucial in this viewpoint -- look at what the parents and community provide to the developing child à this is important for development

McGurk effect

perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception. The illusion occurs when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception of a third sound; to illicit this illusion, an auditory syllable is dubbed onto a video of a person who is saying ga. The person watching the video will hear da, which is in between the two. The perceiver must be able to integrate the visual and auditory information to understand this