1. Lecture 1: Basic Concepts in Cognitive Development Dr. Neil H. Schwartz Department of Psychology Psych 353

2. Preliminary Assumptions • Experience is essential in the development of thinking • It takes nearly 20 years to develop an adult nervous system • Cognition develops quantitatively and qualitatively during the life-span. That is, • You don’t just know more but think quite differently over time. • The changes take place by virtue of: • Thedevelopmental function- the form cognition takes over time • Individual differences-variations among people at any • given developmental period.

3. Cognition: A Conceptual Description • It is what laypersons call thinking. • It is not directly observable, but implied from behavior. • It is real and it exists. • Cognition includes conscious and deliberate acts and non-deliberate processes. • It is comprised of different types of activities.

4. Those activities consist of: • acquiring, comprehending and modifying information. • developing, executing and evaluating plans. (macro-mechanism) • giving meaning to things we perceive. (micro-mechanism) • forming concepts and classifying stimuli. (micro-mechanism)

5. Cognition: Its Development over Time • Cognition has structure and function. • Cognitionchangesin both structure and function over time. • Change is perpetual. • Developmental progression is an interaction of biology and experience. • Developmental progression moves from simpletocomplex, andincomplete to complete. • Development is an active process.

6. Refers to the framework ofknowledge that underlies behavior. Ex. knowledge comprised of how to put one leg in front of another to walk or knowledge of how to solve a calculus problem, Or how to program a VCR or set the table for dinner. Cognition organizes this knowledge. It is probably a neural network, and network of networks. Function Refers to what we do with the cognitive system. Perception, memory, reasoning, judgment, problem solving. Structure

7. Cognition: Its Development over Time • Structure and function of cognition during development is bi-directional. • Environmental stimulation and actions of a structure itself can change the structure. • Changes in structure change the functions. • Functions are limited by structures’ capability.

8. Function is necessary for development. • Aspects of development are inter-related and integrated. • Development is sequential but not continuous. It is discontinuous. • Children will use a developmental accomplishment over and over once it is acquired.

9. Children will give cues to their environment that they are ready to move to the next developmental level. • Children will seek out stimulation in order to develop.

10. Developmental Function & Individual Differences • Development is studied in stages and norms. • Important differences do exist between and within individuals.

11. FIVE “Truths” of Cognitive development • Cognitive development proceeds as a result of the dynamic and reciprocal transaction of internal and external factors; • Cognitive development is constructed within social context • Cognitive development involves both stability and plasticity over time; • Cognitive development involves changes in the way information is represented; and • Children develop increasing intentional control over their behavior and cognition

12. Adaptive Constraints • Representational – hardwired into brain, such as the nature of objects. • Architectural – type and arrangement of neurons limit what information the brain can process, such as language. • Chronotopic – neural readiness for different areas is on a timeline.

13. Evolution and Cognitive Development • Evolutionary theory’s influence on cognitive development: • Evolutionary psychology provides explanations for both the “how” and “why” questions about human behavior.

14. Cognitive Flexibility • Stability: degree to which one’s intelligence maintains its relative rank order compared to one’s peers • Plasticity: degree of flexibility of a cognitive ability

15. A developmental contextual model culture Society Community School Network teachers parent child classmates child cognition personality Social network Time personality cognition Parent peers biology biology Behavior Behavior Development level Development level Demands Child’s peers Demands Temperament temperament Etc Marriage network Etc Health health Nonnuclear family siblings Parent spouse Work network Immediate job associates Indirect job associates

16. Dynamic Systems Approach • Cognitive changes are emergentdue to interaction among characteristics of structure and the environment. • Change is nonlinear. • Systems continually self-organized, transitioning from one stable state to another, known as phase transition.

17. Domain-general vs. Domain-specific abilities • Bothexist • Domain-general: cognition is influenced by one set of factors • Domain-specific: different cognitive domains are controlled by different brain functionsor areas of the brain

18. Changes in Cognitive Development • Representation: Children and adults differ in the ways they represent information. • Different techniques are particular to each stage of development. • Intentional Control: Children develop strategies to solve problems. • Strategies are intentional, goal-directed mental operations designed to solve a problem

19. Stages of Development: Characteristics • Stages are defined by qualitativedifferences: changes in type, often subjectively perceived as different. • There isdiscontinuity from one stage to the next as different behaviors appear at once. • Homogeneity of cognitive function is seen in stage related functions being done in the same way.

20. Evolutionary Psychology • Cognitive development is contextual • Cognition is shaped by domain-specific brain modules, and as such, function varies by each module.

21. Because of domain-specificity, representational, architectural, and chronotopicconstraints on cognition, learning becomes more facilitated. • Constraints allow the learner to filter and focus attention on what is important to learn.

22. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html

23. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCt1Wc8Kx4U&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ioMR8C9GI