Neural and Cognitive Developments in the Early Years

1. Neural and Cognitive Developments in the Early Years The Life Span Human Development for Healthcare Professionals, Chapter 3

2. The Brain • Neural Tube • Neurulation: the beginning of neural development • Neurons • Glia • Structures of the brain • Hindbrain • Midbrain • Forebrain

3. Structure and Function of Neurons

4. Later Prenatal Brain Development • 14-16 weeks: random neural firing begins • About 15 weeks: sounds are heard • 25 weeks: eyes open and close • Critical periods: developmental periods in which a certain stimulus needs to be present in order for sensory organs to function properly or allow specific skills to be learned.

5. Postnatal Brain Development • First year: neurons are still developing at a fast rate, then this slows. • Lots of synapses are formed and allow for quick learning • 1-12 years of age • Neural pruning: the elimination of excess neurons

6. Cognitive Development • Piaget’s Constructivist Theory: The human brain constructs knowledge • Schemas • Adaptation • Assimilation • Accommodation • We learn because we are intrinsically motivated to learn

7. Cognitive Development

8. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years): stage in which the baby is learning about their body and their surrounding environment through direct action/interaction with it. • Object concept: the process babies use to learn about their surroundings. • Object permanence: knowing that just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist; also, the benchmark that allows us to say an infant is ready to go to the next level of cognitive development

9. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

10. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor stage (con’t) • Infant memory: previously it was believed that infant memory was virtually non-existent on more than the rudimentary levels. New research is showing otherwise: • Recognition • simplest type of memory • Believed by researchers up until the past few years to be the only type of memory babies had • Recall • More complex • Deferred imitation

11. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • Preoperational Stage (Ages 2-6) • Piaget saw the preschool years as a time of both stability and great change. • Preschoolers are in the PREOPERATIONAL STAGE, from age 2 to 7 • characterized by symbolic thinking • Mental reasoning emerges, use of concepts • Less dependence on sensorimotor activity for understanding the world • Preoperation egocentrism

12. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Which row contains more buttons? Preschoolers usually say that the bottom row has more because it looks longer.

13. Number Rearranging elements The type of conservation task grasped the earliest! Substance Altering shape (clay, water) Length Altering shape, configuration Area Rearranging figures Weight Altering shape Volume Altering shape (water in container) Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

14. Understanding Language • Phonology: the sound system • Babbling • Semantics: the meaning of words • Vocabulary spurt • Fast Mapping • Syntax: How we link words together: the rules that govern syntax is grammer • Pragmatics: knowing what type of language to use when

15. How language is learned • Behavior theory: language is reinforced • Cognitive theory: Language Acquisition Device