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Adolescence: Cognitive development
Lifespan Psychology (PS1006)
City University London
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PS1006 - LIFESPAN (week 8) ADOLESCENCE Adolescence: Cognitive development Essay Discuss the relative contributions of biological and social factors to the psychological changes that occur during adolescence using research evidence to support your points. What is adolescence? “Youth are heated by nature as drunken men by wine” - Aristotle Human adolescence… -Roughly spans the second decade of life, tough some suggest it continues until the age of 25! “…Is a period of physical, psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood”! (Spear, 2000) “…begins with the onset of puberty and ends with the assumption of a stable adult role” ( Damon, 2004) CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF ADOLESCENCE Does the “adolescent” phase exist across cultures? What defines this phase in other cultures? Social and/or biological? Storm and Stress -Popular idea that adolescence is characterised by difficulty, rebellion and “storm and stress” (Hall, 1904) -“To be normal during the adolescent period is by itself abnormal” (Anna Freud, 1958) Research focus in dysfunction rather than normative development: In Normative development -Changes in cognitive processes -Development of abstract characterisations of the self -Self-concepts become more differentiated and better organised (Most adolescents have a normal development) Developing abilities -Comprehension of abstract content (e. moral philosophies, mathematics, rights and privileges) -Establishment and maintenance of satisfying personal relationships (sharing intimacy) -Developing sense of identity and purpose PS1006 - LIFESPAN (week 8) ADOLESCENCE KEY CHANGES -Growth & maturation (puberty & changes in brain cells) -Levels of responsibility -Relationships (sources of support/intimacy) -Present vs future time perspective -Sensation seeking and behaviours associated with risk -Reasoning/logical thinking skills PS1006 - LIFESPAN (week 8) ADOLESCENCE Synaptogenesis in infancy -the formation of synapses between neurons. In humans it begins early in gestation but occurs most rapidly from 2 months before birth to 2 years after birth. Waste and selection task Further reading PS1006 - LIFESPAN (week 8) ADOLESCENCE Synaptic pruning in adolescene -Proliferation of synapses in the prefrontal cortex during early childhood and again at puberty, followed by a plateau -Subsequent elimination and reorganisation of connections after puberty – pruning -Results in a net decrease in synaptic density in the frontal lobes -Pruning thought to be essential for the fine-tuning of functional networks of brain tissue, increasing efficiency of synaptic circuitry Why prune? -Refines pathways, and increases speed of pathways -Diffuse vs focused attention Study - Luciana, Conklin et al, 2005 Participants between 9 and 20 years Asked to re-order multiple pieces of information to develop an accurate response to a question. Ability to remember multiple bits of information developed through age 13 to 15 Strategic self-organized thinking continues to develop until ages 16 to 17. DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS Umbrella term for processes that CONTROL behaviour Allow us to co-ordinate psychological processes (attention, memory, perceptions, etc) in order to achieve foals Executive Functions include: -Flexibility -Inhibition -Planning -Multitasking -Judgement / synthesis 1)Development of response inhibition Maturation of brain function associated with response inhibition – (Tamm et al., 2002) Objective of study: Tamm et al (2002) To investigate the developmental trajectory of response inhibition and, more specifically, whether there is a dissociation of function in the prefrontal cortex over the course of development of executive function and associated response inhibition abilities Simple task: “Press a button when you see a letter, unless it is an X” 19 participants (8-20 year old boys) lay in an fMRI scanner and the changes in blood flow in the brain were recorded. RESULTS: Adolescents activate the prefrontal region of their brain more than adults when performing tasks involving impulse control This suggests that this process takes more effort for adolescents than for adults Therefore even for tasks where adolescents perform well, their brains and behaviours are still developing PS1006 - LIFESPAN (week 8) ADOLESCENCE LONG TERM MEMORY: Increase in speed of processing? Keating & Bobbitt (1978) name sorting tasks Improvements in performance at 9, 13 & 17 years Improved memory strategies Rehearsal strategies Elaboration strategies Cluster effects 4)Perception -Perception (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch) are all well developed by the end of toddlerhood. -But there is some evidence that perception develops in flexibility during adolescence -Ability to see both perspectives in ambiguous figures develops between age 4 and 11 (Elkind and Scott, 1962). 5)Intelligence – Fluid vs Crystallised Fluid intelligence: -abstract thinking & reasoning, problem-solving, identifying patterns -Begins to decline from late adolescence Crystallised intelligence: -increases rapidly from adolescence -store of information strategies, skills -related to education & experience (see Raymond Cattell for further explanation of fluid and crystallised intelligences) 6)Reasoning skills Deductive reasoning Understanding of general rule is applied to specific instance i. if something is true of a class of things in general, this truth applies to all legitimate members of that class. key is ability to properly identify members of the class Analogical Reasoning method of processing information that compares the similarities between new and understood concepts uses those similarities to gain understanding of the new concept brain’s ability to form patterns by association. Abstract thought Using concepts to make and understand generalizations, such as of the properties or pattern shared by a variety of specific items or events Can consider many possible combinations in relation to a whole problem – take account of many variables at once rather than one at a time PS1006 - LIFESPAN (week 8) ADOLESCENCE Moral Reasoning Process of determining right from wrong in a given situation Kolhlberg’s Theory Preconventional behaviour is governed by the consequences of the behaviour Conventional behaviour is governed by conforming to the societal norms Postconventioal behaviour is governed by moral principles decided on by the individual May be in disagreement with accepeted social norms 7)Risky behaviour common behavioural changes during adolescence may be associated with a heightened responsiveness to incentives and emotional cues while the capacity to effectively engage in cognitive and emotion regulation is still relatively immature Figure shows schematic representation of age and individual differences as compound risk factors for predicting highly emotional and risky behaviour in adolescents. (Sommerville et al., 2010)
Adolescence: Cognitive development
Module: Lifespan Psychology (PS1006)
University: City University London
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