Child Development
Laura E. Berk 8th edition
Cognitive
Development 2
An InformationProcessing
Perspective
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Store Model of
Information-Processing System
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Development of
Information Processing
Increases in two
broad areas:
Capacity
– Memory span
– Processing
speed
Strategy use
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Increases in Memory Span
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Connectionist Model
of a Neural Network
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An Illustration of the Development
of Central Conceptual Structures,
by Age-Group
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Preschool
Early School
Years
Nine-to ElevenYear- Olds
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Overlapping-Waves Pattern
When facing a problem or task,
children:
– Try variety of strategies
– Observe how well they work
– Gradually select those leading to
rapid, accurate answers
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Ways of Finding
More Efficient Strategies
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Using a slower technique
Problem requires it
Reasoning about
concepts
Being taught
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Speech-Gesture Mismatches
Children who produce speech-gesture
mismatches are in a transitional state,
which is a sign they are ready to learn.
Parents and teachers can use
children’s gestures to provide
instruction at the most opportune
moment.
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Types of Attention
Sustained
Selective
Adaptable
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Development of
Sustained Attention
Increases sharply between 2 and
3½ years
– Frontal lobe growth
– More complex play goals
– Adult scaffolding
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Cognitive Inhibition
Ability to control
distracting stimuli
– Internal - thoughts
– External - distractions
Improves from infancy
on
– Gains on complex tasks
from middle childhood
to adolescence
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Development of
Attention Strategies
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Emerge and are refined during
4 phases:
1. Production deficiency
2. Control deficiency
3. Utilization deficiency
4. Effective strategy use
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Planning
Begins in infancy
Improves with age
– Preschoolers sometimes
generate & follow simple
plans
– School-age children better
planners than preschoolers
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Tools, teaching, practice
help children learn to plan
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Steps in Planning
Postponing action to weigh alternatives
Organizing task materials
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Remembering steps of plan
Monitoring how well plan
works
Revising if necessary
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Enhancing Cognitive Control
Through Preschool Education
Cognitive Control:
inhibition
effortlessly holding
information in
working memory
flexibly adjusting
attention to
changes in task
requirements
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Memory:
Strategies for Storing Information
Rehearsal
Organization
Elaboration
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Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
Inattention
Impulsivity
Excessive motor activity
Results in
Social problems
Academic problems
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Culture, Schooling,
and Memory Strategies
Everyday use grouping may
help to remember objects
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Western schooling
gives little practice
in spatial location
techniques
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Recognition and Recall
Recognition
Noticing that a
stimulus is identical
or similar to one
previously
experienced
Easier than recall
Recall
Generating a mental
representation of an
absent stimulus
More difficult than
recognition
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Reconstruction
We select and interpret
information as it is encoded,
stored, or retrieved.
Can happen deliberately
or due to “fuzzy trace.”
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Verbatim vs. Gist Memory
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Expertise and
Memory
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Semantic Memory
Vast
Organized
– Taxonomically
– Hierarchically
Grows from episodic memory
Repeated events form scripts
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Autobiographical Memory
Long-lasting representations of
one-time events
Personal meaning
Develop basis after age 2
– Self-image
– Time-oriented life story
Parents help develop
narrative
– Elaborative
– Repetitive
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Ross Coombes/Courtesy of Harlene Hayne
Infantile
Amnesia
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Eyewitness Memory
Preschoolers’ testimony less reliable than
school-age children’s
–
–
–
–
–
Less-developed language skills
Desire to please
Poorer source-monitoring
Bias toward specifics; less gist memory
Less skill with autobiographical narratives may leave out details
– Suggestibility
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Metacognition
– Theory of Mind
– Knowledge of Mental Activity
Cognitive capacities
Strategies
Task variables
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Awareness and
understanding of various
aspects of thought
Develops with:
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Cognitive Self-Regulation
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Promoting
Cognitive Self-Regulation
Point out special demands of tasks.
Stress importance of planful learning.
Suggest effective learning strategies.
• Provide for evaluation of effectiveness.
Emphasize monitoring of progress.
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Fostering Emergent Literacy
Spoken language skills
– Phonological awareness
– Adult conversations
Informal literacy
experiences
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– Interactive reading
– Games
– Writing
Training, books for low-SES families
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Middle Childhood Literacy
Combines InformationProcessing Skills
– Phonological awareness
– Processing speed
– Visual scanning
Balanced reading
instruction combines
– Whole language
– Phonics
Photodisc
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Early Childhood
Mathematical Reasoning
Ordinality
– Relationships between quantities
– 14 to 16 months
Cardinality
– When counting, last number is the total
– 3½ to 4 years
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Mathematics and
Middle Childhood
Math instruction in
school should combine
– Extensive practice
– Number sense
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U.S. schools often
overemphasize drill
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Scientific Reasoning
Coordinating Theory with Evidence
Improves with Age
– From childhood through adulthood
– Individuals vary
Contributing factors
– Working memory capacity
– Exposure to
complex problems
– Metacognitive understanding
– Open-mindedness
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Evaluation of
Information-Processing Approach
Advantages
Limitations
Breaks complex
Components hard to
cognitive activities into
precise components
combine into broad
picture
and skill-related
differences
experience; overlooks
nonlinear aspects,
interaction with others
Computer metaphors
Provides details of age- simplify
real-life
Describes precise
mechanisms of
cognitive development
Slow to include biology,
evolution
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