1. Psychology: Brain, Mind, and Culture, 2e by Drew Westen Paul J. Wellman Texas A&M University John Wiley and Sons, Inc. PowerPoint  Presentation: Chapter 13 Physical and Cognitive Development

2. Lecture Outline n Issues in Developmental Psychology n Methods of Developmental Psychology n Development Across the Lifespan n Cognitive Development © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

3. Developmental Psychology n The focus of developmental psychology is on how humans develop and change over time  Change can occur across the life span of the person Cradle to grave developmental psychology  Assumes that change is inevitable  Change can be continuous or discontinuous © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

4. Core Developmental Issues n Delineate the interacting forces of nature and nurture  Maturation: Refers to biologically determined changes that follow an orderly sequence n Determine the importance of early experiences  The notion of “critical periods” n Assess whether change is continuous or in qualitative stages © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

5. Critical Periods n Notion is that the brain is set to acquire a function during a limited period of time. n If key experiences do not occur during a critical period, the function does not develop  The case of Genie: a girl who was isolated until the age of 13. Although Genie made some gains in language, her syntax never approached normal levels. The case of Genie argues for a critical period for language acquisition © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

6. The Nature of Change n The focus of developmental psychology is on change across the life-span  Change can refer to the acquisition or loss of a behavior or function Five year old gains language ability Ninety-five year old loses memory ability  Change can occur as Continuous: Refers to a gradual alteration of behavior Discontinuous: Refers to stages of growth that are qualitatively different and that are usually ordered in a fixed sequence © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

7. Developmental Methodology n Cross-sectional method compares groups of different ages at the same time  Useful for assessing age differences  Not useful for examining age changes The problem is that each age group (cohort) has different life experiences n Longitudinal method compares same group at multiple time points n Sequential studies examine different age groups at multiple time points (reduce cohort effects) © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

8. Developmental Methodology Results © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

9. Physical Development n Prenatal period has 3 phases:  Germinal period (1st 2 weeks after conception)  Embryonic period: 3rd to 8th weeks of gestation  Fetal period: from 9 weeks to birth © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

10. Teratogens n During the embryonic period, the developing fetus is susceptible to toxins n Teratogens are environmental agents that harm the fetus (viruses, chemicals)  Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: If the mother consumes alcohol during pregnancy, the fetus is exposed to the alcohol which can lead to abnormal physical development and learning disabilities  Crack Cocaine: Fetal exposure to cocaine alters motor and emotional development © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

11. Infant Reflexes n Reflexes are innate motor responses elicited by critical stimuli  Reflexes are adaptive n Examples of infant reflexes:  Rooting reflex: A touch on the cheek induces the infant to move its mouth toward the source of the touch (helps guide feeding)  Sucking reflex: Tactile stimulation of the mouth produces rhythmic sucking © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

12. Motor Development © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

13. Aging Beyond Adolescence n Physical growth is mostly complete by the end of adolescence n Aging is often associated with a decline of physical abilities  Muscle function peaks at 20-30 and then declines  Certain mental functions also decline with age Sensory-perceptual functioning Memory © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

14. Infant Cognitive Development n Measures that are used to gauge infant perception:  Orienting reflex refers to the tendency to pay greater attention to novel stimuli than to familiar stimuli. Longer fixation times occur with novel stimuli  Sucking reflex: Infants can be trained to suck a pacifier. Sucking rate increases with novel stimuli and decreases to familiar stimuli  Brain waves differ between novel and familiar stimuli © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

15. Infant Sensory Capacities n Infants respond with changes in heart rate to loud sounds (even in the womb); hearing is well developed at birth n Infant visual perception is poor at birth but improves to 20/100 by age 6 months n Intermodal processing is present at birth: infant turns its eyes toward the source of a sound © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

16. Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory n Piaget’s interest was epistemology: the branch of philosophy concerned with the acquisition of knowledge  Piaget argued that children have schemas which are organized patterns of thought or behavior  Cognitive development for Piaget involved the modification of intellectual schemas as the child seeks to understand its world © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

17. Assimilation and Accommodation n The cognitive schemas developed by children must be able to handle new information and situations n Piaget proposed 2 intellectual processes:  Assimilation: Involves interpreting new information in light of an old schema All 4 legged animals are viewed as a “dog”  Accommodation: Process by which old schemas are modified to fit new situations A horse is not a “dog” © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

18. Issues in Cognitive Development n Object permanence refers to the realization by a child that an object continues to exist even if it cannot be seen n Egocentrism refers to a cognitive view in which a child understands the world to have only their view (has great difficulty in understanding the views of others) n Conservation: Understanding that the basic properties of an object are constant even if the object changes shape © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

19. Conservation © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

20. Piaget in Perspective n Piaget will be known for proposing novel explanations of how children acquire knowledge and for conducting experiments to test his hypotheses n Piaget underestimated the capacities of infants and preschool children n Piaget rarely considered the role of culture in cognitive development © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

21. Cognitive Development as Information Processing n Focus is on the information processes that gradually develop over time  Processing speed: Mental quickness increases as children age  Knowledge base: Children gain knowledge base with experience; in some arenas they have better ability than adults (cartoons)  Automatization: Refers to the ability to perform some tasks automatically  Metacognition: “Thinking about thinking” © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

22. Cognition and Aging n Assessing cognition as subjects age has difficulties:  Problems with experimental designs (cohorts)  Motivational effects may produce what appear to be cognitive deficits  Different cognitive aspects may be influenced by aging Sensorimotor aspects may decline Wisdom (accumulated experience) may increase  Cultural beliefs about aging may affect how elderly subjects think and remember © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

23. Age-Related Changes in Cognition n Psychomotor slowing increases with age  Older subjects require greater time to make a decision in a simple reaction time experiment n Changes in memory associated with age:  Older subjects have problems with complex working memory tasks Repeating lists backwards Keeping track of cars at a four-way intersection  Storage in LTM is not an issue with aging  Retrieving information from LTM is more difficult in older subjects © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

24. Intelligence and Aging n Intelligence changes with aging but depends on the specific aspect of intelligence that is assessed:  Fluid Intelligence: Refers to speed of processing; declines with age  Crystallized Intelligence: Refers to the knowledge base accumulated over a lifetime; increases with age n Aging can take a toll on specific cognitive abilities, especially if the ability is unused © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

25. Intelligence and Aging (Figure adapted from Horn & Hofer, 1992, p. 79) © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

26. Copyright Copyright 1999 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. © 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.