Brain's Mental Hardware

3 Components

-sensory memory=holds immediate sensations briefly

-working memory=serves as the mental processing unity

-long-term memory=is the limitless, permanent storehouse of knowledge

1. understanding the question/problem
2. searching memory
3. comparing memory lists with problem requirements
4. responding

-consists of becoming able to use more efficient strategies and to gain more working memory capacity, automatic processing ability, and increased speed of processing

According to neuroscience, brain development involves...

(3 Things)

1. synaptogenesis=making connections among neurons to form neuronal networks
2. pruning=speeding thinking processes by eliminating unneeded connections
3. modular activity=brain areas are activated by particular types of experiences

-researcher in testing aspects of Piaget, particularly in logico-mathematical thought

-found cognitive development increased the representation of info in domains such as a number, space, and social interactions

-thinking depends on how much info processing capacity they have

-humans have Central Conceptual Structures

-kept the terminology of sensorimotor stage

-termed preoperational as interrelational (or rational) in which children learn to relate phenomena

-concrete operational as dimensional where children learn to categorize with varied dimensions

-formal operational as vectoral children can predict results of interactions among dimensions

A Multilevel of Cognitive Development

Case looked at a wide range of theoretical perspectives

Modularity

(neo-nativist theory)

-there are basic categories of functioning base on the modular structures of the human nervous system

-they are reworked over development and form the central conceptual structures

A Multilevel of Cognitive Development

Case looked at a wide range of theoretical perspectives

Knowledge Networks

(neo associations/info processing)

-central conceptual structures may be represented as semantic networks which require domain specific experiences

-networks are related to how strongly they are associated

A Multilevel of Cognitive Development

Case looked at a wide range of theoretical perspectives

Interpretive Frames

(sociohistorical)

-cultural experiences play a role, which increases with age in the central conceptual structures

-schooling plays a role

A Multilevel of Cognitive Development

Case looked at a wide range of theoretical perspectives

Executive Control Structures

(neo-Piagetian)

-developmental constraints are related to executive/working memory systems

-patterns of cognitive development is hierarchical and recursive

A Multilevel of Cognitive Development

Case looked at a wide range of theoretical perspectives

Operational Structures

(Piaget)

-construction, differentiation and coordination of knowledge are essential processes

-they are universal in nature and invariant across logio-mathematical content

-stage transitions depend on active reflection and resolution of conflicts of thought

Theoretical Influence and Critique

Case's Model

-useful integrative perspective on cognitive development

-doesn't present a simplified model, though internally consistent

-has not been incorporated much into educational practice

-strength is in providing the potential for looking inside each stage to determine where the best place for active experiences and instruction might be situated and for using the most important insights from a variety fo theoretical perspectives

-revised Piaget but also drawn from nonlinear dynamical systems, neuroscience, and ecological theory

-stresses cognitive development results from an interactive balance between nature and nuture forces

-model of growth cycles with four tiers and 10 levels each containing four types of mental operations

-system is dominated by growth spurts, reorganizations, and nested, recurring cycles

-two tiers=reflexes and actions

-tier 3=representations; 2 middle childhood

-tier 4=abstractions, parallels formal operations

  -single set=child act on one set of thinking patterns but not in relation to others; single reflexes, single actions

  -mapping=child connects one set to another

  -systems=child relates sets of actions to form systems of actions

  -system of systems=child connects systems to each other

-process of knowledge construction

-stresses the interactions and mutual influence of biological, cognitive, and environmental systems

-supported the Vygotskian ideas of scaffolding and ZPD bc most children don't perform at their highest levels of thinking independently but they can do so with help

-involves examination of each small step in the learning processfor a particular skill

-promotes understanding of developmental change at a precise level

-Dyanmical skills based model

Fischer's Theory

Influences and Critiques

-Theory is testable and falsifiable

-stress on the relation of cognitive development to brain development

-theory appears accurate in helping to explain the variability of performance among individuals at relatively similar tiers of development

-bc he is interested in determining the precise tasks that form the development of a skill, as more info is accumulated from microgenetic research, the theory may have practical usefulness in education

-attempted to take the stages outlined by Piaget and use mathematical modeling to explain

-Enactive representation=represents past experiences through motor responses

-Iconic representation=represents these experiences through selective organization of perception and images

-Symbolic representation=use language and other abstractions to represent and transform experiences

-all three are used throughout life

-instrumental in explaining the implications of Piaget's theory for early childhood education

-adolescence egocentrism has two components: imaginary audience and personal fable, unique life story

-believes these underlie many adolescent risk taking behaviors

-looked at egocentrism/perspective taking, memory development, false belief understanding and metacognition

-Found 2 levels of visual perspective taking: 1) young children, 3, understand that another person may not see something exactly as they do, but they cannot conceptualize and consciously represent the differences spatially; 2)understanding that other people have different perspectives, children at that level can represent the other view

Flavell's (et al.) Views on Perspective Taking and Theory of Mind

Metamemory

Flavell's (et al.) Views on Perspective Taking and Theory of Mind

Knowledge of False Beliefs

Flavell's (et al.) Views on Perspective Taking and Theory of Mind

Appearance-Reality Distinctions

-ability to distinguish real appearing objects from real objects

-believed very young children have more cognitive capabilities that Piaget and other theorists suggests

-indicates that children understand object permanence must earlier

-children demonstrate scientific thinking and test their own theories

-young children create representations of the outside world and rules for manipulating those representations

-children have use of the same cognitive devices that adults use in science

-they construct a theory, but if the evidence doesn't support it, then they change their theory just like scientists

-infants are born with innate theories

-under Gopnik

-idea that knowledge can be understood by scientific investigation of the mind

-studied interactive cultural processes inherent in human development

-focused her work on sociohistorical aspects of young children's lives in their interactions with parents

-children's participation in routine activities of theor communities influences how they will develop

-guided participation-process through which culturally relevant learning occurs (apprenticeship)

-learning occurs naturally in these contexts and can occur when w/o direct interaction

-whatever is learned is related to what the culture values agrees with Vygotsky's view of adult facilitation, but believes it also operates with parent/child interactions

-learning occurs through intersubjectivity which is promoted by sharing a common activity goal and focus of attention

-focused on cognitive activities related to memory development and mental processing speed

-examining the links between processing speed, working memory, and reasoning

-children have slower processing speed than adults; speed declines again at older age

-memory develops over time and is primarily cumulative in fashion

-memory is related to the ability is less developed

-young children use a variety of strategies, even after finding a good one

-children use associations that include both correct and incorrect strategies

-first use the quickest one and the one least likely to cause errors

-choice may depend on how strongly they associate with a particular ineffective strategy

-short-term changes in behavior result in developmental change bc they increase the number of cognitive associations

-sees problem solving strategy knowledge development as a gradual change process w/o abrupt changes

-microgenetic methods are a way of meeting the challenges posed by studying change

-young children can generalize cognitive scripts on the basis of one experience

-these generalizations can be influenced by adult comments before, during or after the event

-children have the ability to detect patterns and combine these patterns into higher order events

-environmental roles play a major role in script formation

-memory is begins in relation to event knowledge and is used cognitively to make sense of the world

-early work focused on visual cognition, studying human ability to image shapes, recognize faces and objects, and direct attention to various areas within a visual field

-language is a biological adaptation

-raised many questions about human development

-spoken language is an instinctive process

Pinker's View of Language and Mind

Computational Theory of Mind

-looked at the process of language acquisition from a cultural perspective, and asserted that human ability to acquire linguistic symbols is related to their ability to identify with other people and understand them as intentional agents of the self

-when children identify with others, they are able to join the culture

-language frees humans from just seeing perceptual situations; it allows them to make multiple representations of a variety of perspectives

Tomasello's Cultural Construction of Language

Two sets of skills for language acquisition

-ability to read intentions (theory of mind)

-ability to find patterns (categorization)

-studied language disabilities in children

-there is not an innate predetermined language organization in the brain

-many mechanisms facilitate language development: human social organization, imitation abilities, segmenting auditory and visual stimuli, interest in sharing objects, and fascination with joint attention

-plasticity of the brain enables all these abilities to operate in the service of language

-bc language is a system for encoding meaning, its activated by the same brain regions that are meaningfully activated by the environment