Cognitive Development: Cognitive Processes

1. Cognitive Development: Cognitive Processes Chapter 7

2. Chapter Outline • Basic cognitive processes • Metacognition and cognitive strategies • Adding a sociocultural element to information processing theory • Children’s construction of theories • Comparing and critiquing contemporary approaches to cognitive development • Exceptionalities in information processing

3. Information Processing Theory • Theoretical perspective that addresses how human beings acquire, interpret, and remember information

4. A Model of the Human Information Processing System

5. Key Ideas • Raw material: Input from the environment • sensation vs perception • Human memory has several mechanisms • sensory register, working memory, and long-term memory • Getting information in: • Attention • Moving information from WM to LTM • rehearsal, organization, elaboration • Controlling information-processing • the central executive • Cognitive development involves gradual changes in the system

6. Cognitive Processes • Sensation and perception • Attention • Working memory & central executive • Long-term memory • Thinking and reasoning • Language (see Chapter 9)

7. Sensation & Perception • Sensation • detecting stimuli in the environment • Perception • interpreting those stimuli

8. Sensation & Perception • Developmental change • newborns can sense and discriminate • sights, sounds, tastes, & smells • prefer new & interesting stimuli • preference for social stimuli • faces, mother’s voice, people walking • sensory & perceptual capabilities improve significantly during infancy • vision, depth perception

9. Attention • Affected by stimulus characteristics • novelty vs. familiarity • people vs. inanimate objects • Developmental change • distractibility decreases • sustained attention increases • attention becomes increasingly purposeful

10. Working Memory & the Central Executive • Working memory • enables people to think actively about & process small amount of information • Central executive • oversees flow of information throughout system

11. Working Memory & the Central Executive • Developmental change • processing speed increases • automatization • capacity of WM increases • central executive takes control

12. Long-Term Memory (LTM) • Knowledge base • content (where are cookies) • procedures (how to ride bike) • both universal and culturally specific • Unlimited capacity • Memories last longer if used frequently

13. Long-Term Memory (LTM) • Developmental change • begins before birth • sounds, tastes • becomes more conscious by preschool • infantile amnesia • amount of stored knowledge increases dramatically • knowledge becomes more integrated • schemas and scripts Children’s growing knowledge base facilitates learning

14. Thinking and Reasoning • Developmental change • increased use of symbols • sensorimotor vs symbolic thought (Piaget) • increased logical thinking • some present in infancy (cause-effect) • inferences by preschool • influenced by personal biases even in adolescence • gestures before verbal representations • a way for children to experiment with cognitive ideas • may foreshadow emergence of more sophisticated skill

15. Facilitating Cognitive Processing • Provide a variety of sensory experiences • Help children pay attention to things that are important • Relate new information to existing knowledge base • Remember that children can only think about a small amount of information at any one time • Consider both verbal and nonverbal behaviors • Provide opportunities for ongoing practice

16. Development of Metacognition & Cognitive Strategies • Metacognition • knowledge about own cognitive processes • intentional use of cognitive processes to improve learning and memory • Cognitive strategy • mental process used to acquire or manipulate information • example: learning strategy

17. Learning Strategies • Rehearsal • repeating over and over; repetition • Organization • identifying relations among pieces of information • categorization • Elaboration • using prior knowledge to embellish new information Appear as early as 18 months but not consistently used through grade school

18. Problem-Solving Strategies • Appear by 12 months • largely behavioral (pull cloth to reach string attached to toy) • Become increasingly mental by school age • applying rules (e.g., balance task)

19. Balance Scale and Weights Balance Scale and Weights A beam without weights balances on a fulcrum located at its center. After weights are hung from the beam in the manner shown here, will the beam continue to balance? If not, which side of the beam will drop?

20. Strategy Development as “Overlapping Waves” • Children gradually replace simple cognitive strategies with more advanced and effective ones. • With time and practice, children become more adept at applying strategies efficiently, flexibly, and successfully. How five different strategies for dealing with the same task might change in frequency over time

21. Metacognitive Awareness • Reflecting on the nature of the thinking process • Developmental change • preschoolers • aware of existence of thought • limited awareness of own thought processes • language precedes full understanding • know, remember, forget appear in preschool • overly optimistic about memory • beneficial for cognitive development • elementary-school children • better able to reflect on their own thought processes • increasingly aware of nature of their thinking and learning • knowledge about and use of effective strategies • early adolescence • repetition and elaboration increasingly understood and used

22. Self-Regulated Learning • Directing and controlling one’s own cognitive processes to learn successfully • setting goals for learning activity • planning study time • identifying and using appropriate learning strategies • monitoring progress toward goals • evaluating the final knowledge gained • Comprehension monitoring • checking oneself to make sure of understanding • grade-school children overestimate understanding • even adolescents sometimes have difficulty self-regulated learning virtually nonexistent in grade-school students many secondary students have difficulty self-regulating learning

23. Epistemological Beliefs • Beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge & knowledge acquisition • certainty, structure, source of knowledge • speed at which learning occurs • nature of learning ability • Developmental change • absolute truth about any topic “out there” to be discovered (children) • knowledge may be subjective (adolescents) More advanced levels of achievement bring about more advanced views about knowledge and learning

24. Western culture acquisition of knowledge for personal benefit focus on making sense of classroom material East Asian culture learning has moral and social dimensions encourage rehearsal and rote memorization African culture strategies for remembering orally transmitted stories Australian aborigine culture strategies for remembering spatial arrangements of objects Cultural Diversity in Metacognition

25. Promoting Metacognitive & Strategic Development • Engage children in discussions about thinking & the mind • Model and teach effective cognitive strategies • Expect and encourage increasingly independent learning over time • Provide opportunities for children to evaluate their learning; help them develop mechanisms for doing so effectively • Promote more sophisticated epistemological beliefs

26. Adding a Sociocultural Element to Information Processing Theory • Intersubjectivity • awareness of shared understandings & perceptions • as early as 2 months • Joint attention • two people (e.g., child and caregiver) simultaneously focus on same object or event, monitor each other’s attention, coordinate responses • 9 or 10 months of age • Social referencing • looking at someone else (e.g., caregiver) for clues about how to respond • 12-15 months

27. Social Construction of Memory • Adults help children reconstruct shared events • children more likely to remember event if they talk about it • children learn important things to remember • children learn cultural values • children learn narrative structure • BUT: children are susceptible to leading questions

28. Collaborative Use of Cognitive Strategies • Co-regulated learning • adult & child share responsibility for directing child’s learning • scaffolding decreases as child gains mastery

29. Enhancing Information Processing Through Social Interaction • Regularly engage infants in social exchanges • Talk with children about their experiences • Involve children & adolescents in joint activities that require new strategies

30. Children’s Construction of Theories • Theory — integrated belief system about topic • Theory theory • researchers’ theory that children develop theories • belief that children construct integrated, complex explanations of the world Example: Children’s theories of the physical world • infants know that objects • are substantive entities with definite boundaries • fall unless something holds them up • move in a continuous manner across space • early conceptions provide foundation for more elaborate theory • knowledge may be biologically preprogrammed (nativism) • misconceptions interfere with learning new concepts

31. Facilitating Children’s Theory Construction • Encourage & answer why and how questions • When teaching something new, determine what children already know, believe • When children have a misconception, work actively to help them acquire more accurate understandings • ask challenging questions • present phenomena that children cannot explain within their existing perspectives • discuss pros and cons of various explanations of the observed phenomena

32. Exceptionalities in Information Processing • Learning disability • significant deficit in one or more cognitive processes • special educational services are required • does not include mental retardation, behavioral disorders, or sensory impairments • appear to have biological basis; often genetic • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) • deficit in central executive • easily distracted, daydream, trouble listening and following directions, give up easily • excess energy (hyperactivity) • fidgety, move around, talk excessively, difficulty working or playing quietly • impulsivity • blurt answers, interrupt, make careless mistakes, act out without thinking through the consequences

33. Working With Children Who Have Information Processing Difficulties • Examine children’s work for clues about specific processing difficulties • Help children keep their attention on the task at hand • Teach strategies for controlling hyperactivity and impulsivity • Provide extra scaffolding for studying, doing homework, completing other learning tasks • Teach social skills

34. Information processing: how children receive, think about, modify, & remember information Metacognition: knowledge about thinking processes and use of these processes to facilitate learning and memory Learning strategies: rehearsal, organization, & elaboration Combining information processing and sociocultural perspectives gives a more complete picture of cognitive development The theory theory: children construct integrated belief systems about the physical, biological, social, & mental worlds Instruction must be designed to meet the needs of children with learning disabilities, ADHD, and other cognitive impairments Take-Home Messages