The Development and Application of Cognitive

Skills

Chapter 7 Objectives:-How does our Memory develop?

-How do we learn Problem-solving skills?

Do infants even have a memory??

Yes…the foundation of memory is laid

down in the first few months following

birth. Young babies remember events for days or even weeks

at a time!

What kind of memory do infants have?

Scientists have confirmed that infants have great difficulty storing new memories in their first year.

But developmentalists have agreed that young infants can remember if certain conditions exist:

‐ Particularly if the experiment is similar to real life situation

Research on Infant MemoryThe most dramatic evidence comes from a series of experiments in which 3 month-old infants were taught to make a mobile move by kicking their legs (Rovee-Collier, 1990).

Virtually all infants began making some random kicks and movement, eventually realizing that these kicks made the mobile move.

When some infants returned to the experiment 1 week later, they immediately began to kick-indicating they remembered.

The Mobile Game(2 – 6 Months of Age)

3-Month-Old

Other infants were retested at 2 weeks and demonstrated

forgetting. However, they could remember if a reminder

session was provided that helped infants recollect the

experience.

Once a memory has been forgotten, it can be retrieved by a

reminderTwo types of reminders:‐ Reactivation

‐ A passive reminder during which the infant basically watches a “replay” of a portion of the original event

‐ Experimenter controlled – mobile game

‐ Computer controlled – train game

‐ Reinstatement‐ An active reminder during which the

infant plays with the mobile or train again‐ It is an abbreviated training trial

Which reminder is more effective?

Reactivation and reinstatement produces different effects‐ At 6 months:

‐ After a single reactivation – infants remember for 2 weeks (as long as they did originally)

‐ After a single reinstatement – infants remember for:‐ 4 weeks using the mobile‐ 19 weeks using the train

An active reminder is better than a passive reminder‐ The more involved you are in the reminder – the

better its effect

These experiments show that three important features of memory exist as early as 2

and 3 months of age:

-An event from the past can be remembered-An event from the past is eventually forgotten-A cue can serve to recover the memory that seems to have been forgotten

Infants Remember Longer As They Get Older

Infant MemoryResearch supports an increased ability to retain learned information as infant grows older

Because there are many types of memory, it’s not surprising that infants remember some things better than others

‐ Ex: language, images, actions, forgotten faces, smells, memorized facts and so on…

Memory rapidly improves in older infants and toddlers. Youngsters can recall more

of what they experience and remember it longer

When shown novel actions with toys and later asked to repeat it, toddlers can remember

more than infants and remember the actions for longer periods of time.

Memory in ChildrenUse of memory strategies‐ Activities that improve remembering

‐ Rehearsal: repetitively naming information that is to be remembered

‐ Organization: information to be remembered should be structured so that related information is placed together

‐ Elaboration: embellishing information to be remembered to make it more memorable

Organization

Example: a seventh grader trying to remember battles of the Civil War could organize them geographically or chronologically.

Elaboration

Example: A child cannot remember if the second syllable of rehearsal is spelled her (as it sounds) or hear. The child could remember the correct spelling by reminding himself that rehearsal is like re-hear-ing.

‐ Thus, thinking about the word in that context makes it easier to remember its spelling.

Knowledge that allows a child to organize information and give it

meaning increases gradually with age.

Children’s Memory of Their Own Lives

Scripts‐ Abstract generalized accounts of

familiar repeated events

For example, a child describing what happens during a birthday party “you play games, open presents, and eat cake”.

Is memory a social thing?Autobiographical memory refers to people’s memory of the significant events and experiences in their own lives.

Autobiographical memories are richer when parents talk about past events in detail and encourage their children.

‐ In addition it allows people relate their experiences to others, creating socially shared memories (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000).

Autobiographical Memory

This form of memory is very important because it helps people construct a personal life history.

Language helps facilitate the development of autobiographical memory.

‐ When parents converse with their children, parents teach children the important features of events and how events are organized.

Children’s Memory

Preschoolers’ memories for activities are better than their memories for objects because children find it easier to remember events that follow a logical order than events that do not

For example, 3 and 5 year olds have a better memory for activities involved in making pretend cookies out of Play-doh than they do for activities involved in a sandbox – because they can occur in any order

‐ (you put ingredients in a bowl, then you mix ingredients, then you roll the dough, then you put pieces on a tray to cook, etc…)

Metacognition

Awareness of and control of one’s cognitive abilities, as shown by the intentional use of cognitive strategies in solving problems

Metacognitive skills improves the performance of children in reading and in other areas

Metamemory

Knowledge of the functions and processes involved in one’s storage and retrieval of information, as shown by the use of cognitive strategies to retain information

Let’s test YOUR memory!

Take a minute and recall your earliest memory…write down any content that you can remember.

‐ How old were you?‐ What were the details of the event‐ Was the memory emotionally

significant?‐ Do you remember the memory or do

you remember hearing about the memory?

Memory TestWere you about 3 or 4 in your memory?‐ Most people recall early memories at

about this age.

Was there some degree of emotion surrounding the memory?‐ Most early memories are either very

positive or negative.

‐ Why don’t we remember our first birthday?

Infant Memory…or lack of one

Infants have great difficulty storing new memories in their first year known as Infantile amnesia which is the inability to remember events from one’s early life

‐ Usually events that happened before the age of 2.

But, we do remember a increasing number of events from about the age of 3 or 4 years.

Think on Your Own….

How would YOU explain the cause of infantile amnesia?

Theories Explaining Infantile AmnesiaOne theory is that infants lack adequate

language to successfully store memories.

How can we recall a memory before we have the language to organize our thoughts?

Once children learn to talk (about 2 years) they tend to rely on language to represent their past

‐ Early prelingual experiences may be difficult to retrieve from memory without proper language.

Inadequate Sense of SelfInfants and toddlers lack a sense of self. Their early experiences are not represented in autobiographical memory, so they can’t be recalled later in life.

Some theorists argue that because infants have no sense of self, they lack the autobiographical timeline that’s used to organize experiences later in life

‐ They do not have the framework for remembering early events

Think on Your Own…

Review and think about the Focus on Research question: Do Stereotypes

and Suggestions Influence Preschoolers’ Reports?

How Do Children Learn to Problem-Solve?

Piaget believed that reasoning and problem-solving become progressively

more sophisticated as children develop. We will see that young children do indeed solve problems with far greater skill than Piaget

predicted

Children typically solve problems more readily as they get older, but young children sometimes solve problems well and older children are sometimes

quite error-prone

Features of Problem-Solving

Young children sometimes fail to solve problems because they don’t encode all the important information in a problem

Encoding processes transform the information in a problem into a mental representation.

‐ Quite often children's representations of problems are incorrect or incomplete

Young children sometimes fail to solve problems

because they don’t plan ahead

For example, “get ready for school” requires planning because it involves coordinating a number of goals- get

dressed, eat breakfast. Brush teeth, find backpack- which must be completed under time pressure. When faced with problems like this one, children rarely come up with

effective plans.

That doesn’t mean young children never plan ahead

Young children can plan ahead, if the problem is not too complex- but many problems make it difficult or pointless for young children to plan

Successful problem-solving depends on knowledge specific to the problem as well as general processes.

‐ Children need critical facts to solve problems

More often than not, older children have more of the

knowledge relevant to solving the problem and will therefore

be more successful

Children often rely on Heuristics (general rule of thumb) to solve

problems, as well as means-ends analysis