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Block 3 Unit 2 Cognitive Changes

1. Define cognitive development in children.

Cognitive development refers to the growth of a child's ability to think, reason, and understand the world around them. It involves processes such as visual processing, memory, thinking, learning, feeling, problem-solving, and language. This development includes how sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used.

2. What are the unique features of cognitive development during adolescence?

• Abstract Thinking: Adolescents develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, such as philosophy and higher mathematics.
• Formal Operational Stage: According to Piaget, adolescents enter the formal operational stage, which enables them to think logically about abstract concepts and hypothetical situations.
• Complex Thinking: They begin to engage in more complex thinking processes, including considering multiple possibilities, developing their own ethical code, and thinking about future goals.
• Increased Independence: There is an increased independence in thinking through problems and situations.
• Adolescent Egocentrism: This includes an increased self-consciousness and the idea of an imaginary audience.

3. Describe Piaget’s approach to cognitive development during the adolescent stage of development.

• Piaget’s theory suggests that adolescents are in the formal operational stage. This stage is characterised by the ability to think logically about abstract concepts, solve hypothetical problems, and use deductive reasoning. Adolescents are capable of using symbols related to abstract concepts, and can apply general information to specific situations. In early adolescence, there is also a return to egocentric thought.
• Piaget's stages occur in a fixed order, with each stage building on previous ones.

4. What is information processing approach to cognitive development during adolescence?

The information processing approach focuses on how adolescents process information. It emphasizes the mechanisms of change, such as encoding, strategy construction, automatization, and generalization. This approach suggests that development is driven by self-modification. Adolescents develop more sophisticated ways of processing information as they grow, building on their prior knowledge. It focuses on the way humans learn and the fixed pattern of events that take place, which can be analysed to help with learning.

5. Relate cognitive development and defects thereof to school performance during adolescence.

• Cognitive skills are essential for school performance. Adolescents must develop the ability to understand complex concepts, solve problems, and think critically to succeed academically.
• Deficits in cognitive development can lead to difficulties in learning, problem solving, and academic achievement. Motivation also plays an important role in school performance.
• Information processing skills affect how adolescents learn and retain information, which directly impacts their performance in school. Adolescents may underperform due to lack of motivation.

Important Points

1. Adolescence is the period from age 12-19 years.
2. Adolescence becomes capable of logical thoughts.
3. Adolescence egocentrism is characterised by an increased self consciousness.
4. The development of the ability to think and reason is known as cognitive development.
5. Individuals in late adolescence focus on less self-centred concept.
6. Piaget discusses four distinct stages about cognitive development.
7. Early in the period of formal operational stage there is a return to egocentric thought.
8. Aspects of psychosocial development (i.e, belief systems) contributing to adolescence period is adolescent egocentrism.
9. Information processing is the change of information in any manner detectable by an observer.
10. Long term memory stores information for long time.
11. Sensory register is the mental processing unit that receives all information and stores it.
12. When the things are present in our conscious mind, and when we do focus on them, they are placed in our working memory.
13. When we get information from long term memory and focus attention on them, this process is called retrieval.
14. Information processing theory is the analysis of the way human being learns something new.
15. Mails, phone calls, etc. are short term memory.
16. Adolescents tend to under perform due to lack of motivation.