The Beginnings of Life

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The Beginnings of Life
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Developmental Psychology

• Development
• Changes in behavior that occur over time
• Developmental Psychology
• Study of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial
  changes in humans across the life-span

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Basic Terminology

• Life Span
• Conception to death
• Maturation
• Relatively permanent change in behavior that
  occurs as a result of the genetically controlled
  process of growth

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Neural Development

• Birth -- same number of neurons
• 90 of neural growth by 6
• Mostly cerebral cortex
• Sensory and motor
• Association areas
• Right hemisphere -- continuous, gradual
• Left hemisphere -- discontinuous

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Basic Questions

• Maturation vs Learning
• Continuity vs Discontinuity
• Domain Generality vs Domain Specificity

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Capabilities of Neonates

• Near-sighted (19cm)
• Preference for faces
• Preference for human voices
• Preference for sweet tastes
• Reflexes
• Automatic response to a stimulus

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Developmental Milestones

• Useful for detecting potential CNS problems
• Little predictive power beyond identifying
  potential CNS problems

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Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development

• Schema
• Unit of knowledge, mental picture, concept
• Accommodation
• Create new schemas
• Change existing schemas
• Assimilation
• Integrate new stimuli into existing schemas

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Example

• Accommodation -- dog
• Assimilation -- new breed of dog
• Accommodation -- cat

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Stages of Cognitive Development

• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Conrete-Operational
• Formal-Operational

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Sensorimotor

• Birth - 2
• Coordinate sensory experiences with motor
  activities
• Object Permanence -- 9 months

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Preoperational

• 2 - 7
• Represents the environment with objects and
  symbols
• Preconcepts -- toys
• Egocentrism

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Concrete-Operational

• 7 - 12
• Application of cognitive operations on concrete
  (tangible) objects
• Conservation
• Reversibility

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Formal-Operational

• 12 -
• Application of cognitive operations on abstract
  concepts

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Neo-Piaget

• Post-Formal
• Ability to handle ambiguities and contradictions
• Dialectical thinking

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Vygotsky

• Internalization
• Absorption of knowledge from context
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Difference between observed ability and potential
  ability

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Cognitive Development in Adulthood

• Loss of neurons
• Slowing done of processing
• Fluid vs Crystallized
• In the absence of some form of dementia, no other
  loss of cognitive abilities
• Alzheimers Disease
• Vascular Dementia

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Age and Cognitive Development

• More sophisticated thinking strategies
• Process information more thoroughly
• Ability to deal with complexity
• Increasing flexibility

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Wisdom

• Extraordinary insight, keen awareness, and
  exceptional judgment