2 DEP3053
Exam Study Questions
Spring 2011
Exam 2: Wednesday, March 2, 2011-bring a #2 pencil
Exam Notes:
*All lecture material is important. Be sure to review text-related material that
corresponds to lectures & text material identified in class (and study guide) but not
covered in lecture.
The topics and questions listed below reflect all the topics/issues that you are responsible
for.
You should also study those sections of the book that overlap with the notes, but
emphasis will be given to the notes
An asterick* means that this material was not covered in class but you are responsible
for itFor these *text book sections focus on terms in bold and major concepts and
findings.
List of Topics Covered
Chapter 5 Infancy
Newborn characteristics
Relexes: primitive vs. survival
o Primitive disappear around 3-4 months of age and become voluntary (not used
often); include Moro (startle), Palmar, and stepping
o Survival carry on throughout life and include breathing, swallowing, and sucking
What are the different states of alertness and how do they change developmentally?
o 1) Sleep 16-18 hrs per day for first few days, then 14-15 hrs per day around 46 weeks
o 2) Irregular sleep eyes move under closed eyelids, breathing may be irregular
o 3) Drowsiness baby is falling asleep or waking up, breathing regular but rapid
o 4) Crying Peak at 2 hrs per day around 3 months, 1 hr per day around 1 year;
use crying for discomfort at first, then intentional communication by 8 months
(know that someone will come help)shift eye gaze from goal to person who
can achieve goal
o 5) Alert activity babys eyes are open, irregular breathing; various bursts of
diffuse motor activity and fussiness
o 6) Alert Inactivity- wide open and bright eyes, exploring environment; regular
breathing and inactive body
How does sleep (rem vs. non-rem) change?
o Newborns = 50% REM sleep, 6 months = 25-30% REM sleep; REM sleep occurs
because of autostimulation way of stimulating brain function and activity
What are the procedures for measuring sensation and perception?
o 1) Preference method
o 2) Habituation-recovery
o 3) Method of Evoked Potentials (change in patterning of brain waves indicates
the infant detects a stimulus sensation)
o 4) High-Amplitude Sucking
How does habituation/dishabituation(recovery) and preferential looking operate?
o 1) Habituation-recovery: measures changes in attention by seeing what infants
can discriminate (habituation = attention decreases, recovery = attention
increases)
Increase look time for interesting object
High Aptitude Sucking: sucking rate increases for interest in an object
Heart rate: HR decreases for interesting object
o Preferential-looking: 2 stimuli presented simultaneously, see which one infant
looks at longer (which they prefer); no preference may still be able to
discriminate w/o a preference or may not be able to discriminate
Limited to studying vision only
How well do infants see and hear? Do they perceive faces and objects?
o Hearing: hear poorly first few hours of life but can discriminate some sounds;
attentive to voices and can recognize mothers voice; discriminate phonemes
very early
o Vision: see at about 20/400 at birth, 20/70 at 6 months, as well as an adult at 12
months
Face vs. scrambled face: slight preference for reg face at birth
Mothers: recognize moms face by 12-36 hours because of hair-face
contour
Infants of all ages prefer attractive faces
React to changes in eyes more than mouth
What determines their visual preferences?
o 1) contrast sensitivity: like more contrast (light/dark)
o 2) neural sensitivity: like things that stimulate brain/neurons
o 3) moderate novelty: things that are new to them but not too extreme
*What is intermodal perception? (pp 182-184)
o Ability to recognize by one sensory modality an object that is familiar through
another (ex recognize a ball through touch after seeing it with vision)
o Not present at birth but present in limited situations by one month (greatly
improves over first year, only oral-to-visual measured in one month olds)
How do infants of different ages act on the visual cliff to indicate depth perception?
o 2.5 month olds: show interest as lowered onto deep side, HR decreases
o 9 month olds: show fear, HR increases
o 7 month olds: also fear deep side
What role does crawling experience play in depth perception?
o An experienced crawler wont crawl across the cliff (show fear)
How do infants perceive objectsobject boundaries (Spelke)?
o Habituation-recovery to rod behind a block
If seen as connected, dishabituate to broken rod
If seen as broken, dishabituate to connected rod
4 month olds dishabituate to both both perceived as novel
o Add movement to the rod (cue that bottom and top are connected)
4 month olds dishabituated to the broken rod
What is the common movement principle?
o If 2 surfaces move together relative to a 3 rd, the 2 are perceived to be part of the
same object
Where does this knowledge come from according to Spelke?
o Basic principles are innate and show around 2.5-4 months of age
Common movement
Continuity (object moves until it comes to rest on an object)
o Other principles rely on experience
Gravity (6 months)
How do infants perceive speech? What are phonemes?
o Phonemes: smallest meaningful sound units that make up a spoken language
Pa vs ba = difference on Voice Onset Time (40-80 msec vs 0-40 msec)
What is categorical perception of speech?
o Dividing speech sounds into categories corresponding to the basic sound units of
language; more likely to recognize differences between categories than within
categories
3-6 month old infants are better than adults at perceiving phonemes not
part of their language
Is this ability innate or learned? What is the evidence for innateness?
o Innate babies less than 1 week older can distinguish vowels and segment
words into discrete syllables; 2-3 month olds can distinguish consonant sounds
that are very similar evidence = young age, animal data
How are cross-linguistic studies relevant to this debate?
o Werker: compared English to Hindi infants up to 10-12 months could
distinguish linguistic differences but lost the ability
Since young infants perceive all sounds, ability must be innate
*Newborn imitation (pp. 190-191)
o 7 day olds able to imitate adult facial gestures, but harder to elicit same response
in 3-4 month olds (may be due to neonate reflexes)
o Andrew Meltzoff: these are voluntary, imitative responses intermodal
matching (babies match facial movements they see in models face to those they
can feel in their own faces)
Chapter 6 Theories of Cognitive Development
Piaget
What are the major characteristics of each of Piagets stages?
1) Sensorimotor (0-2 years):
-Construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences
with physical, motor actions
-Progressive from reflexive, instinctual action to beginning of symbolic thought
-Acquire object permanence
2) Pre-operational (2-7 years):
-Symbolic skills
*Object permanence
*Language ability
*Symbolic play: use one object to represent another
*Deferred imitations: imitate behavior of others
*Problem solving in the head
-Egocentric/Lack of Spatial Perspective Taking
-Confusing Appearance and Reality (ex: frightened by masks)
3) Concrete Operational (7-13 years)
-Develop schemes (mental actions that are reversible)
-Think logically about mental representations (concrete concepts)
-Declining egocentrism
-Understand conservation
4) Formal Operational (13 to adult)
-Logical about abstract ideas
-Scientific reasoning
-Coordinate multiple dimensions
-Reason abstractly independent of semantic content
-sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, formal operational
What are sensorimotor schemes and how do they change?
o Schemes are mental actions; the sensorimotor child begins with reflexes (at
birth) and ends with internalized symbolic schemes around 18-24 months
Causality, object permanence, and spatial concepts develop
How do infants develop an understanding of object permanence?
o 6 stages
1-2) 0-4 months
Dont look for hidden objects
Will track moving objects
3) 4-8 months
Look for partially hidden objects
Wont search for completely hidden objects
4) 8-12 months
Start searching for hidden objects
Make A not B error (dont completely understand OP)
5) 12-18 months
No A not B error
o Solve visible displacement problem (movement from A to
B)
o Cannot solve invisible displacement
6) 18-24 months
Solve invisible displacements
Complete mastery of OP
Reflects symbolic/representational skill
What is the criteria for passing OP?
o Piaget: must solve invisible displacement
What is the evidence that Piaget underestimated OP?
o Infants in the Baillergeon study passed OP at a much younger age
Critics claim Piaget task = too hard
How did the Baillergeon study with the dolls moving through the gap demonstrate this?
o Gap condition: doll moves through gap
o No gap condition: no doll in gap
o 3 month olds show surprise to no gap condition
They must have OP
What is the difference between the 3 and 3.5 month olds.
o 3 month olds: show surprise in no gap condition
o 3.5 month olds: dont show surprise might think there are 2 dolls
What is the A-not B error in the OP task?
o A not B error occurs when infants see the object moved from point A to point B,
yet they still continue to search for the object at point A
What was Piagets vs. Diamonds explanation of the A-not B error?
o Piaget: infants are egocentric; their actions are responsible for existence of the
toy
o Diamond: memory limits forget the toy was moved to B
Error increases with longer delays
Transparent covers still show error
Cant inhibit motor response of going to A
Looks at B while searching at A
Due to frontal lobe immaturity
What is the difference in how pre-operational and concrete operational children solve
the conservation problem? Can conservation be trained? Is it universal?
o Conservation: pre-op child says C has more, concrete-op says they have the
same
Concrete-op understands height/width relationship
Understand logical necessity of relation
Can explain situation (nothing is taken away)
Identity: nothing taken away
Compensation: taller but narrower
Reversibility: pour it back
Pre-op uses only height to solve the problem
Conservation can be trained only if the child is developmentally ready
Culturally relevant tasks are not universal; children in non-industrial
societies lag a year or more in conservation acquisition
*see book for seriation and class inclusion tasks (p.272-273)?
o Class inclusion: object belongs to superordinate and subordinate category at the
same time (a dog is an animal and a dog at the same time)
o Seriation: transitivity (A>B and B>C; therefore, A>C)
What are the chacteristics of formal operational thought?
o Logical about abstract ideas
o Capable of scientific reasoning
o Coordinate multiple dimensions
o Can do algebra (reason abstractly independent of semantic content)
Interpropositional reasoning (if p then q)
Hypothetical deductive reasoning (develop and test hypothesis)
Consider multiple possibilities (chem lab example)
Concrete-op cant think this way
What are the limitations in adolescent thinking ?
o Ignore info that is discrepant with beliefs
o Hold beliefs with certainty
What are the major criticisms of Piagets theory?
o abilities Underestimated of infants, preschoolers
o Overestimated abilities of adolescents
o Equilibriation (assimilation/accomidation) is a vague concept
o Cognition is not as stage-like
o Underestimated the role of the social world
o Piaget said very little of cognitive development is innate
Core knowledge theory
What domains of knowledge are included within core knowledge?
o 1) Object knowledge: common movement principle (Spelke)
o 2) Object permanence: Baillargeon OP earlier than Piaget claimed
o 3) Object motion: principle of continuity object continues to move on an
unobstructed path (Spelke)
Infants dishabituate to inconsistent motion (4 month olds); showed they
understand continuity
Object knowledge (see Spelke from Ch. 5), common movement principle and principle
of continuity, interpretation of infant response
o Criticisms of Spelke:
1) No clear criteria for what is innate
2) Overestimating abilities?
Hood, Carey, Prasada (2000) examined 2 year olds understanding
of continuity in a search task if understand continuity, search
upper cup (only 40% search correctly)
3) Explanations of discrepancy
Infant results misinterpreted
Looking time measures are more sensitive
Theory of Mind
o Understanding of the mind: mental states (intentions, desires, and beliefs)
o Perception/experience mental states behavior
development of a theory of mind (e.g., mind exists, connected and different from physical
world)
o 1) Infants know others have minds
Understand intentions8-9 months
Follow points and eye gaze12 months
Understand/use language to refer to others mental/emotional states
o 2) Preschoolers mind connected to physical world
Perception leads to knowledge3 years
Dont understand different sensory experiences different knowledge
Mental states (desires) actions2-3 years
o 3) Mind is separate from physical worldby 3 years
Thoughts are private (people cant access your thoughts)
Think about things that dont exist (pretend/imaginary play)
Shaky understanding
o 4) Mind represents world
development of intentions, desires, and beliefs
What is the difference between the copy theory of mind and the representational theory
of mind?
o 1) Copy theory: what is in their mind reflects realty
o 2) Representation: mind represents world (representations can be accurate or
inaccurate)
How do 3 and 5 years olds differ on the false belief tasks?
o 1) 3 year olds fail dont understand representational mind
Have copy theory
Trouble with conflicting representations
Fail false beliefs, appearance reality (dog mask on cat), deceptions
o 2) 5 year olds pass understand representational mind
Modularity/Core knowledge theory-explanations of theory of mind; autism,
o Core knowledge views of Theory of Mind
Innate Theory of Mind Module (TOMM)
Brain mechanism devoted to understanding others
Matures over first 5 years
Evidence that TOM is a core domain
Autism: primary deficit = understanding mental states
o Cant predict behavior from beliefs
o Fail false belief tasks
o Can understand physical causality
Why do autistic children support the core knowledge view of autism?
o Autistic children find tasks that test understanding of the knowledge of other
peoples minds particularly hard
Usually engage in solitary behavior
Most do not engage in pretend play
Show greater interest in objects than people
o Supports core knowledge because they argue that there are certain domains of
knowledge that are innate
Children with autism are impaired primarily in this specific domain
Vygotskian explanations of theory of mind
o Theory of Mind comes from interacting with others
Family conversations about mental states
Children with older siblings do better in false belief tasks
Vygotsky : sociocultural theories
Main points of Vygotskys perspective
o 1) Children co-construct knowledge with others (active)
o 2) Culture influences development (tools for thinking language, symbolic
tools)
o 3) Cognitive skills social interactions with more competent others
o 4) Language critical for mental development
Scaffolding, Intersubjectivity, and Guided Participation (Rogoff)
o Scaffolding: learning accomplished with guidance from more skillful person
o Intersubjectivity: shared minds have the same goal/experience
Reflected in joint attention (emerges around 9 months)
Fairly unique human ability lays ability for teaching
Child must understand intentions of adult
o Guided Participation: Child actively participates in culturally relevant activities
with more skilled partners
Culture variation categorized in 2 ways:
Children separated from adults (school) Western
Children contact with adults all day, actively interacting
traditional
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
o Range of tasks too complex to be mastered alone; accomplished through
scaffolding
o Intersubjectivity required for ZPD
Difference between scaffolding and guided participation
o Both focus on learning by doing
o Scaffolding = explicit instruction/explanation
o GP = adults organize tasks
Intersubjectivity and its role in ZPD & teaching
o Intersubjectivity lays the ability for teaching child is aware of what the other
person is thinking (shared minds) and shared attention between people and
objects (joint attention)
Intersubjectivity is required for ZPD
Role of language in cognitive development
o Thought and language eventually merge language is a cultural tool
Speech is social, then private, then internal
o Language behavior regulation (others speech controls our behavior)
External/Overt Private Speech what is private speech?
o Private speech communicative to self, assists in self-regulation
Increased use in problem-solving, especially when task is difficult
Never disappears, but changes (becomes internalized)
Chapter 8 Information-Processing
*Characteristics of IP modelscomponents of memory (long-term, working, short-term,
long terms) (see pages 300-303)
How and when does speed of IP change across childhoodyoung adulthood
o Increase in speed and capacity of processing info
o Gains in inhibitory control (controlling thoughts and behaviors)
How does brain change during childhood for IP?
o Increased myelination in frontal cortex (reasoning, inhibitory control)
o Increased synapses
o Increased output of neurotransmitters
o EEG patterns change dramatically around age 4 or 5
Increase in alpha activity (engaged attention)
Decrease in theta activity (sleep-like)
o EEG coherence increases around 5-7 years of age
How well areas of brain are able to coordinate/work together
How does inhibitory control change in preschool.
o Preschool task:
Teach one sorting rule (ex: sort by color)
Switch rule to sorting by shape
Must forget (inhibit) old rule
3 year olds cant inhibit old rule
Memory Development
Role of knowledge in memory (Chi, chess studies)
o Chase and Simon: memory for chess positions (adult experts vs. novices)
Studied board and recalled chess positions
2 types of arrangements: meaningful vs. random
Experts recalled more meaningful arrangement
No differences in recall of random
Knowledge of chess needed to recall
o Chi: compared 10 year old chess experts to adult novices
Examined memory for meaningful chess positions
Child experts did much better than adult novices
How are young experts different than older novices?
o Young experts outperform older novices on the meaningful chess recall
Greater chess knowledge helps recall
Dont just have better memories
Tested by digit span: memory for random numbers
Child no longer has advantage, adults are better
Can reverse developmental memory differences if reverse knowledge
differences
-role of strategies (production vs. utilization deficiencies)
o Encoding: things you do as info is presented (taking notes)
Rehearsal: repeat info
Forming associations: links between info and related piece of info
Categories: place info into related categories (ex: grocery list)
o Retrieval: what you do at time of recall
o Preschoolers rarely use strategies
More frequent in middle childhood (7 years)
More sophisticated use by 12 years
Cumulative rehearsal
o Deficiencies in strategy use
Production deficiency:
No spontaneous strategy use
Can be trained, improves recall
Still not used spontaneously after it is taught
Utilization deficiencies
Spontaneous use
No need for training
Doesnt improve recall
Why deficiencies?
Requires cognitive effort
New strategy interferes with old
Dont understand benefit
-role of capacity & metamemory
o Not as important as knowledge and strategies
Autobiographical memory
o Memory for important personal events expressed through language
Toddlers and preschoolers remember events that typically happen in
familiar contexts (familiarize routines into scripts)
Constructed through joint events children and parents talk about past
events; children guided to remember by adult prompting
-eyewitness testimony (issues of suggestibility)
Are children reliable witnesses? Are they more suggestible than adults?
o Goodman: suggestibility study
3-4 year olds vs. 7 year olds
Activities in a trailer with a male experimenter (innocent activities)
Interviewed several weeks later
Free recall: no misleading questions
Suggestibility questions: He took your clothes off, didnt he?
Photo Identification
Results
Free recall: children left out info
o Rarely included false info
Suggestibility: younger children more suggestible than older
o Only 5% error rate for younger, 0.3% for older
Photo ID of person in the room with them
o 4 years: 61% incorrect
o 7 years: 38% incorrect
o Cici: repeated questioning
Tested 3-6 year olds
Interviewed repeatedly about real vs. false events
Interviewed over 10 week period
Did children believe false events?
True events: 90% correct
False events: 34% asserted these were true
Repeated questioning did not increase acceptance of false events
Younger children more likely to accept false events
*How do children strategies change for solving problems (see pp. 304-307)?
o Younger children use simple strategies, increase in efficiency with age
Children of all ages have a variety of strategies available to them and
select among those strategies when trying to solve a problem
Gradual use of more efficient strategies isnt stage-like
*What is Sieglers adaptive strategy choice model?
o Describes how strategies change over time
Multiple strategies exist within a childs cognitive catalog at any one
time
These strategies compete for use on relevant problems
Strategies develop in a series of overlapping waves
Use sophisticated ones for familiar problems, basic ones for novel
problems
*The development of attention (pp311-314)
o Younger children have very short attention spans
Attention is easily captured by distractions
o Reticular formation (responsible for attention) not fully myelinated until puberty
o Young children do not display selective attention (cant concentrate on ONLY
task related stimuli without distractions)
o Young children are not enable to inhibit responses related to neurological
maturation
*Other cognitive skillsanalogical reasoning,mathematical skills (pp 328-335)
o Analogical reasoning: involves using something one knows already to help
reason about something not known yet (A is to B as C is to __?)
Not well developed before adolescence
o Arithmetic skills: may be an early developing ability