PSYC2002 Study Guide - Final Guide: Explicit Memory, Exponential Growth, Language Delay
Cognitive Development II
i) Information Processing Approach
• IP approach invokes computer metaphor to explain cognition - development is the process of expanding
capacity (i.e. hardware: memory, processing speed) and acquiring more efficient and complex
processing routines (i.e. software: programs that perform operations for a specific purpose, eg:
statistics).
• Key feature of the approach is the domain-specific explanation of cognitive processes.
• Cognitive processes are defined procedurally (in the way in which they're done) and we then study each
component step in the procedure.
• IP approach described development as changes at different crucial points in a given cognitive process,
and development can theoretically be observed at any step, eg: access to LTM.
Memory Development
• Three aspects of memory - encoding, storage and retrieval.
• Two ways of accessing memory - recognition and recall.
• Infants can't say that they recognise something - we need clever methods to measure memory
development.
• Habituation-dishabituation procedure
o Infants become disinterested upon repeated stimulus presentation, eg: a photo.
o If children have encoded stimulus there should be a change in behaviour following
presentation of a different stimulus.
• Operant conditioning
• Eg: Baby (2mo+) kicks foot, which moves mobile via ribbon. Once children learns S-R relationship, the
mobile can be changed to study object recognition (novelty effects).
• Responses to toys can be measured over time delays (hours, days, week).
Memory in
Infancy
• We don't seem to have any explicit autobiographical memories from the first 2 years of our life. But we
are capable of forming (auditory) memories even in the womb.
• Newborns also appear primed to learn aspects of their sensory environment (visual, auditory, tactile).
• Newborn memory for visual objects might only last seconds.
• Length of retention increases sharply with age, eg: 3 months: memory for visual stimuli can last for 3
months, 5 months: encode faces following brief exposure (5-10 sec). For mobile: operant conditioning
procedure: 2mo: remember up to 3 days, 6 mo: 21 days.
• It seems that infants may not actually forget, but have trouble with retrieval.
• In operant conditioning procedure, if experimenter models ribbon-pulling, infants reactivate memory
and resume foot kicking.
Memory in
Childhood
• The development of language coincides with sharp increases in memory capacity, eg: WM span
increases, from a span of 3 at 3yrs to 7 in adolescence/adulthood.
• General increases in capacity and processing speed (i.e. hardware), can explain some of this
improvement.
• But other processes also contribute: i) strategies, and ii) knowledge.
• Three types of strategies:
1. Rehearsal of information - repeating material to oneself, eg: Keeney et al. (1967) - space
helmet experiment: 5yo rehearsed less than 10yo.
2. Organisation - grouping items remembered into meaningful clusters. Strategies change across
development: young children - phonological similarity, eg: rhyme: fish, dish, plate, cup, middle
childhood: semantic categories
3. Elaboration - standard mnemonic strategies, eg: associations of concepts.
Knowledge
• Expertise changes the way that information is represented, and the speed with which it is accessed.
• Prototypical case: language acquisition (initially slow, then exponential growth).
• Eg: Chi (1978): 10yo chess buffs vs college novices → 10 yo recalled chess positions better than adults.
Adults better on serial recall of numbers.
Cultural Experience
• Many traditional Australian Aboriginal cultures have adapted to vast arid environments largely devoid
of landmarks.
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