Cognitive Development
David F. Bjorklund
Some Basic Concepts in Cognitive Development
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Cognition:
The processes or faculties by which knowledge is acquired and manipulated.
Cognition is usually thought of as being mental. That is, cognition is a
reflection of a mind. It is not directly observable but must be inferred.
Development:
Changes in structure or function over time.
 Structure refers to some substrate of the organism, such as nervous tissue,
muscle, or limbs, or—in cognitive psychology—the mental knowledge that
underlies intelligence.
 Function denotes actions related to a structure and can include actions
external to the structure being studied, such as neurochemical or hormonal
secretions, and other exogenous factors that can best be described as
“experience”—that is, external sources of stimulation.
 Development is characteristic of the species and has its basis in biology. Its
general course, therefore, is relatively predictable. Development progresses
as a result of bidirectional, or reciprocal, relationship between structure
and function, and can be expressed as structure  function.
 Developmental function
The species-typical form that cognition takes over time.
 Individual differences:
Differences in patterns of intellectual aptitudes among
people of a given age.
Issues in Cognitive Development
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Nature versus nurture, or more properly, how do genes/biology and environment
interact to yield the adult phenotype.
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Stages of Development
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How Does Cognitive Change Occur? Dynamic Systems Approaches to
Development
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Domain-General versus Domain-Specific Abilities
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Stability and Plasticity of Intelligence
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Changes in Representation
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Changes in Intentional Control
Nature versus nurture, or more properly, how do
genes/biology and environment interact to yield the
adult phenotype.
Framing the Nature/Nurture Issue
 Nature: heredity (nativism)
 Maturational processes guided by genes
 Biologically based predispositions
 Biological unfolding of genes
 Genetic determinism
 Nurture: environment (empiricism)
 Learning: experiences cause changes is thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors
 Environmental determinism
 Interactionist view: nature & nurture interact
Caspi et al., 2002
 monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) associated
with antisocial behavior in rats and humans
 Gene on X chromosome controls MAOA
(high versus low levels)
 Examined antisocial behavior in boys with
high and low levels of MAOA as function of
childhood maltreatment
Relationship between childhood maltreatment (none,
probable, severe) and MAOA activity (low versus high) on
antisocial behavior.
Composite Index of Antisocial
Behavior
1.25
1
Low MAOA Activity
0.75
0.5
High MAOA
Activity
0.25
0
-0.25
-0.5
None
Probable
Severe
Childhood Maltreatment
What Does it Mean to Say Something is “Innate”?
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Representational constraints (or representational innateness)
Representations that are hardwired into the brain so that some types of
“knowledge” are innate.
 Knowledge of objects
 Universal grammar
Architectural constraints (or architectural innateness)
Ways in which the architecture of the brain is organized at birth, thus limiting
the way information can be processed and understood.
Inhibitory versus excitatory neurons
Global organization (what’s connected to what)
Chronotopic constraints (or chronotopic innateness)
Limitations on the developmental timing of events, affecting what can be acquired
when.
Critical (sensitive) periods
Some cognitive abilities, such as language, might be most
easily acquired during a critical period in development
Stages of Development
 Continuity versus Discontinuity
 Quantitative versus Qualitative Differences
 Homogeneity of Cognitive Function
Discontinuous (stage-like) versus Continuous
changes
Dynamic Systems Approaches to Development
 “Patterns and order emerge from interactions of the
components of complex systems without explicit
instruction either in the organism itself or from the
environment” (Thelen & Smith, 1998, p. 564)
 Self-organization
 Phase transitions
 Nonlinear
 Relatively abrupt
Matrix problem (Siegler & Svetina, 2002)
 Analogical reasoning problem with 6- to 8-year olds, with objects
varying in form, size, orientation, & color
 Light-colored, large, right-facing mouse is to a light-colored, large,
right-facing bird as a light-colored, small, left-facing mouse is to:
 Light-colored, small,left-facing bird (correct choice)
 Light-colored, small, left-facing mouse (duplicate error)
 Light-colored, small, right-facing bird
 Light-colored, large, left-facing bird
 Dark-colored, small, left-facing bird
 Dark-colored rabbit
Pattern of changes on matrix problem (Siegler & Svetina,
2002)
Domain-General versus Domain-Specific Abilities
The Stability and Plasticity of Human Behavior
 Stability refers to the degree to which people
maintain their same rank order in comparison to
other children with respect to some characteristic
 Plasticity refers to the ability to change as a result
of experience.
Changes in Representation
Changes in Intentional Control
Basic tenet of evolutionary psychology:
 The human mind has been prepared by natural selection,
operating over geological time, for life in a human group.
Some Assumptions of Evolutionary Psychology
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What evolved are psychological mechanisms (information processing mechanisms
are the “missing link” in evolutionary explication)
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Information processing are relatively independent domain-specific modules
designed to solve recurrent problems faced by our ancestors
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Psychological mechanisms evolved in the “environment of evolutionary
adaptedness”
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An emphasis on adaptationist thinking, which stresses the function of a behavior or
trait
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Evolution occurs via mechanisms described by the Modern Synthesis, with special
emphasis on the role of natural selection as proposed by Darwin
Basic Tenets of Natural Selection (from Darwin, 1859):
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Superfecundity
Variationtion is characteristic among members of a species
Variation is heritable
Characteristics that result in individuals surviving and
reproducing tend to be selected as a result of the
interaction between the individual and the environment
Proposed Domains of Mind (From Geary)
Predicted Developmental Features of Evolved
Cognitive Modules
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Hierarchical in Nature
Sensitive Periods and Child-Initiated Activity
Based on Implicit Knowledge
Observed Universally
Universal Developmental Ontogeny
Biologically primary vs. biologically secondary
abilities
 Biologically primary abilities: Cognitive abilities selected in evolution.
 Acquire universally
 Universal developmental course
 Children have high motivation to perform them
 Biologically secondary abilities: Cognitive abilities built on primary
abilities that are culturally determined.
 Not universal
 Tedious repetition and external pressure often needed for their
mastery
Models of Gene-Environment Interaction in
Cognitive Development
Developmental Systems Approach
 Development proceeds as a result of the bidirectional interaction
between structure and function over time at all levels of organization,
from the genetic through the cultural.
 Epigenesis: “any gene-regulating activity that doesn’t involve changes
to the DNA code and that can persist through one or more
generations” (Pennisi, 2001)
Genetic activity (DNA <-> RNA <-> proteins) <-> structural maturation
<-> function, activity
A simplified schematic of the developmental systems
approach, showing a hierarchy of four mutually interacting
components (from Gottlieb)
Ducklings still in egg that are afforded sound of mother,
brood mates, or self-vocalizations will approach maternal
conspecific call hours after hatching.
 Ducklings denied any species-typical acoustic experience
shows no preference
 Previously described “instinctive” (i.e., no previous
experience necessary) behavior is critically dependent
upon species-typical experience for its expression
Premature Visual Stimulation and Subsequent
Acoustic “imprinting” (Lickliter, 1990)
 Bobwhite quails had part of shell removed 2-3 days before
hatching
 Experimental group: pattern light
 Control group: no patterned light
 Auditory preference test:
 Bobwhite quail maternal call
 Chicken call
 No preference
Percentage of bobwhite quail chicks that approached the
bobwhite quail maternal call, the chicken call, or showed no
preference as a function of premature visual exposure
(Lickliter, 1990)
Percent Preference
100
80
Premature visual
stimulation
No Premature visual
stimulation
60
40
20
0
Bobwhite
Call
Chicken Call
No
Preference
Discrimination learning set performance for monkeys as a
function of the age at which testing was begun (from
Harlow, 1959)
“There is a tendency to think of learning or training as
intrinsically good and necessarily valuable to the organism. It
is entirely possible, however, that training can be either
helpful or harmful,depending upon the nature of the training
and the organism’s stage of development (Harlow, 1959, p.
472).
Age at which infants reached the criterion as a function of
when training was begun (from Papousek, 1977)
“Social contexts evolved in the course of human phylogeny
are surprisingly fine-tuned in specificity to provide goodenough environments for the human cortex to unfold,
initially intrauterinely, then extrautaurterinely. . . With
advances in medical technology, that is, material culture,
even very immature nervous systems exist and develop
outside the womb. However, the social context of traditional
special care nurseries bring with them less than adequate
support for immature nervous systems . . . Leading to
maladaptations and disabilities, yet also to accelerations and
extraordinary abilities (Als, 1995, p. 462)
Scarr & McCartney’s model of behavioral
development
Three types of genotype -> environment effects
 Passive
Biological parents provide both genes and environment for child.
Passive effects decrease with age
 Evocative
Temperamental characteristics of child evokes responses from others.
Evocative effects remain constant with age,
 Active
Children seek out environments consistent with their genotype
Active effects increase with age.
Changes in correlations of IQ between siblings at
different times
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Correlation of IQs of adopted siblings (from Scarr & Weinberg, 1978) in
childhood:
range between .25 - .39
Correlation of IQs of dizygotic (nonidentical) twins (from Mathney et al.,
1981):
range between .60 - .75
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Correlation of IQs of adopted siblings (from Scarr & Weinberg, 1978) in
adolescence:
.00
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Correlation of IQs of dizygotic (nonidentical) twins (from Mathney et al.,
1981) in adolescence:
.55
“Good enough” parents
“ordinary differences between families have little effect on
children’s development, unless the family is outside of a
normal developmental range. Good enough,ordinary
parents probably have the same effects on their children’s
development as culturally defined superparents” (Scarr,
1992, p. 15)
Resilient children
 Children who develop social and intellectual competence
despite growing up in impoverished “high-risk”
environments
 “Through the process of evolution, parenting has been
shaped to protect development; nature has created in
ordinary parents a powerful protective system for child
development (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998, p. 213)
Neuronal Development
(neurogenesis)
 Proliferation
 Migration
 Differentiation
 Synaptogenesis
 Selective Cell Death
The Role of Experience in Brain Development
 Experience-expectant processes (experienceexpectant synaptogenesis) (Greenough et al.)
 Experience-dependent processes (experiencedependent synaptogenesis)
 Neural Darwinism (Edleman)
Brain Plasticity
 Neuronal plasticity
 Recovery of function from brain damage
 Slow growth and plasticity
Sociocultural Perspectives on Cognitive
Development
 “Cognitive development is an active constructive process that involves
beings who are evolutionarily predisposed to live and learn in social
context with other ‘like-minded’ beings. They are like-minded in terms
of both the neurological system available and the social requirements
that are in place”
 Mary Gauvain, 2001
Lev Vygotsky
 Development should be evaluated from the
perspective of four inter-related levels:
 Phylogenetic
 Ontogenetic
 Microgenetic
 Sociohistorical
Tools of Intellectual adaptation
 Methods of thinking and problem-solving
strategies that children internalize from their
interactions with more competent members of
society that permit them to use basic mental
functions more adaptively
Chinese and English number words from 1 to 20
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Number
Chinese word
English word
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
yee
uhr
sahn
suh
woo
lyo
chee
bah
jyo
shi
shi yee
shi uhr
shi shan
shi suh
shi woo
shi lyo
shi chee
shi bah
shi jyo
ershi
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen
twenty
Median level of counting (highest number reached)
by age for Chinese and U.S. preschoolers (Miller et
al., 1995
Median Counting Level
100
80
60
China
US
40
20
0
3
4
Age in Years
5
Zone of Proximal Development
 ZPD: the difference between a child’s actual developmental level as
determined by independent problem solving and his or her level of
potential development determined through problem solving under adult
guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.
 Scaffolding: When experts are sensitive to abilities of a novice and
respond contingently to the novice’s responses in a learnikng situation,
so that the novice gradually increases his or her understanding of a
problem
Apprenticeship in Thinking
 Guided participation refers to adult-child interactions, not only during
explicit instruction, but also during the more routine activities and
communication of everyday life. Guided participation is “the process
and system of involvement of individuals with others, as they
communicate and engage in shared activities” (Rogoff et al., 1993, p.6)
Some functions of shared remembering in children’s memory
development from Gauvain, 2001)
Children learn about memory process, for example,
strategies
Children learn ways of remembering and
communicating memories with others, for example,
narrative structure
Children learn about themselves, which contributes to
the development of the self-concept
Children learn about their own social and cultural
history
Children learn values important to the family and the
community, that is, what is worth remembering
Promotes social solidarity
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Some Assumptions of Piaget’s Theory
Structures (schemes) are unobservable mental systems that underlie intelligence.
Structures are most simply viewed as some enduring knowledge base by which
children interpret their world.
Intrinsic Activity
Children are active initiators and seekers of stimulation.
Structures are intrinsically active and must be exercised so that they can be
strengthened, consolidated, and developed.
Piaget made the child not only the focus of development but also its major
perpetrator.
Piaget on Education
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Piaget emphasized that the role of teachers should not be to instruct children (that
is, to transmit knowledge), but rather to provide opportunities for them to discover
knowledge.
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“Children should be able to do their own experimenting and their own research.
Teachers, of course, can guide them by providing appropriate materials, but the
essential thing is that in order for a child to understand something, he must
construct it for himself; he must reinvent it” (Piaget, 1972, p. 27).
The Constructive Nature of Cognition
 We interpret the world through our own personal perspective, and
reality is a construction based on the information in the environment
and in our heads.
 Knowing is an active, constructive process—an interaction between
the environment and the active individual – constructivism.
Functional Invariants
 Organization
 The tendency to integrate structures into higher-order systems or
structures.
 Every intellectual operation is related to all other acts of intelligence.
 Adaptation
 Assimilation is the incorporation of new information into already-existing
schemes.
 Accommodation is the modification of a scheme to incorporate new
information.
 Equilibration
the organism’s attempt to keep its cognitive structures in balance.
Stages of Development
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The Sensorimotor Stage – birth ~ 2-years
Preoperational Period – 2 ~ 7-years
Concrete Operational Period – 7 ~ 11-years
Formal Operational Period – 11 ~ 16-years
Sensorimotor Period
 Substage 1: The use of reflexes (birth to 1 month). Infants enter the
world with a set of inherited action patterns, or reflexes, through which
they interpret their experiences.
 Substage 2: Primary circular reactions (1 to 4 months). Reflexes are
extended so that new patterns of behavior are acquired that were not
part of the basic biological apparatus with which the child was born.
 Substage 3: Secondary circular reactions (4 to 8 months). repetitive
behaviors that are not based on reflexes but represent the first acquired
adaptations of new (that is, not reflexive) behaviors.
Sensorimotor Period
 Substage 4: Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8 to 12 months).
One circular reaction can be used in the service of another. The first
incidence of goal-directed behavior and the beginning of the differentiation
between means and ends (that is, cause and effect).
 Substage 5: Tertiary circular reactions (12 to 18 months). Children can
now make subtle alterations in their existing schemes that are directly
related to obtaining a solution to their conundrum. This, Piaget stated,
reflects a process of active experimentation.
 Substage 6: Invention of new means through mental combinations (18 to 24
months). Advent of symbolic function and transition to preoperational
period.
Expressions of the Symbolic Function
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deferred imitation
language
symbolic play
mental imagery
Object permanence
 the knowledge that objects have an existence in
time and space independent of one’s perception or
action on those objects.
 A-not-B task
 Invisible displacement
Imitation
 Imitation is the purest example of accommodation.
 Mutual imitation
 Neonatal imitation – Meltzoff & Moore (1977)
 active intermodal mapping
 Innate releasing mechanisms (fixed-action patterns)
ontogenetic adaptations
 Deferred Imitation
Information-Processing Approaches
 Limited capacity; limited amount of:
 Space
 Time
 Speed
 Information flows through the system
 Sensory register
 Short-term store (STM)
 Long-term store (LTM)
 Executive control processes (strategies)
Representation of knowledge
 Declarative (explicit) memory
 Episodic memory
 Semantic memory
 Nondeclarative (implicit, procedural) memory
Automatic and Effortful Processes
 Automatic processes
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Require no mental effort
Are not available to consciousness
Do not interfere with other processes
Do not improve with practice
Do not vary with individual differences in
intelligence, motivation, and education
Effortful processes
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Require mental effort
Are potentially available to consciousness
Interfere with other processes
Improve with practice
Vary with individual differences in intelligence,
motivation, and education
Short-term store
 Digit span
 Role of knowledge
 Chi and chess champions
 Span of apprehension
 Working memory
 Baddeley’s model
 Central executive
 Articulatory loop
 Visuo-spatial sketch pad
Capacity and Cognitive Development
 Pascual-Leone’s M-space model
 Case’s model of developmental differences in efficiency of
processing
 Total processing space
 Storage space
 Operating space
The Role of Knowledge
The Development of Children’s Cognitive Strategies:
The Origins of Self-control
Cognitive strategies are defined as:
goal-directed mental operations used to aid task
performance. They are usually viewed as nonobligatory,
being deliberately implemented, and potentially available
to consciousness.
The dominant perspective of strategy
development through the mid 1980s
 Children use a single, dominant strategy on a task
 Development proceeds by more sophisticated and efficient strategies
replacing less sophisticated ones
 There is a strong, positive relationship between levels of strategy use and
task performance
 Factors such as knowledge base and metacognition have their greatest
impact on performance through the implementation of strategies
New Directions for Strategy Development
Research
 Assessing multiple and variable strategy use
 Examining more closely the developmental relationship
between strategy use and task performance
 Developing dynamic systems models of strategy
development
 The application of strategies in more “real-world” contexts
 Integrating executive function and brain development with
strategy development
Assessing multiple and variable strategy use
 There is increasing evidence that children have available to
them multiple strategies for any particular task, and that
strategies do not develop in a stage-like way.
Siegler’s adaptive strategy choice model
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A “selectionist” approach, based on Darwin’s theory of natural selection
Children generate a variety of strategies for any particular task
These strategies “compete” for use
Some strategies as “selected” and used more frequently than others
The average level of strategy sophistication increases with age
Less effective strategies are sometimes used when dominant strategies don’t work
Siegler’s overlapping wave model of strategy
development
Microgenetic method
 Looking at strategy change over brief period of time
(months, weeks, or even trials) as opposed years
Examples of Arithmetic Strategies
Strategy
Typical Use of Strategy to Solve 2 + 3
SUM, adding from 1
Say “1, 2, 3, 4, 5”
MIN, adding from larger addend
Say “4, 5” (or “3 . . . 4, 5”)
MAX, adding from smaller addend
Say “3, 4, 5” (or “2 . . . 3, 4, 5”)
Fact Retrieval
Say “5” (within latency guidelines)
Finger recognition
Hold up 5 fingers and say “5”
Decomposition
Say “2 and 3 is like 3 + 3 minus 1”
Mental Arithmetic
Say “5” (beyond lat. guidelines)
Guessing
Say “4” or “8”
Sielger & Jenkins (1989)
 Microgenetic study with 4- and 5-year-old children, none
of whom were using MIN at beginning of study
 Children given series of single-digit addition problems
over 11 weeks
 All children used multiple strategies, with average
sophistication of dominant strategy used increasing over
weeks
Percentage use of ech strategy (from Siegler &
Jenkins, 1989)
40
35
Percentage Use
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Sum
Retrieval
Shortcut sum
Finger
recognition
Min
Guessing
Other
Overview of “Chutes and Ladders” study
(Bjorklund & Rosenblum, 2002)
 Participants
First grade children (6 years 10 months)
 Chutes and Ladders
Three (3) games of “Chutes and Ladders” over 3
weekly sessions; at least 25 moves per session
 Math Context
Three (3) sets of 12 orally presented arithmetic
problems, immediately following the conclusion of each
game
Number of different strategies used
 Game context:
2.65
 Math Context:
2.89
 F(1,21) = 2.65, p > .12
Development of multiple and variable strategy
use in a memory task (Coyle & Bjorklund, 1997)
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Children in grades 2, 3, and 4
5 sort/recall trials with different items and categories on each trial
Strategies coded during 2-minute study period:
 sorting
 category naming
 rehearsal
Strategies coded during recall
 clustering
Mean number of strategies used by grade
 Second Grade:
 Third Grade:
 Fourth Grade:
 F(2, 102) = 5.14, p < . 05
1.62
1.91
2.40
Mean number of strategies used by trial
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Trial 1:
Trial 2:
Trial 3:
Trial 4:
Trial 5:
1.72
2.07
2.15
2.10
2.02
 F(4, 408) = 5.23, p < .05
Examining more closely the developmental
relationship between strategy use and task
performance
 Utilization deficiency (Patricia Miller): Children use a strategy (either
spontaneously or following training) but fail to experience any benefit
in performance, or experience less benefit from using a strategy than
older children.
Contrast with:
 Mediational deficiency: Children are unable to benefit from strategy
training
 Production deficiency: Children fail to produce a strategy
spontaneously, but can use a strategy and improve task performance as
a result of training
Evidence of utilization deficiencies
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Utilization deficiencies documented for a wide variety of tasks, including
arithmetic, memory, reading, selective attention, analogical reasoning)
Miller & Seier (1994): Utilization deficiencies observed in 90% of all memory
studies examining children’s spontaneous strategy use
Bjorklund, Miller, Coyle, & Slawinski (1997). Utilization deficiencies
observed in 50% of all memory training studies
Patterns of clustering and recall over trials
indicative of a utilization deficiency (from
Bjorklund, Gaultney, & Coyle, 1992)
Clustering and Percentage of Recall
1
0.8
0.6
Recall
Clustering
0.4
0.2
0
1
2
3
Trials
4
5
Utilization deficiency in a memory training study
(Bjorklund, Schneider,Cassel, & Ashley, 1994)
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Third and fourth grade children
Sort-recall task with categorized words
Phase 1: Baseline
 sorting by category
 clustering
 recall
Phase 2: Training in organizational strategy
Phase 3: Near extension
Phase 4: Far (one-week) extension
Developing dynamic systems models of strategy
development
 “Patterns and order emerge from interactions of the
components of complex systems without explicit
instruction either in the organism itself or from the
environment” (Thelen & Smith, 1998, p. 564)
 Self-organization
 Phase transitions
 Nonlinear
 Relatively abrupt
Matrix problem (Siegler & Svetina, 2002)
 Analogical reasoning problem with 6- to 8-year olds, with objects
varying in form, size, orientation, & color
 Light-colored, large, right-facing mouse is to a light-colored, large,
right-facing bird as a light-colored, small, left-facing mouse is to:
 Light-colored, small,left-facing bird (correct choice)
 Light-colored, small, left-facing mouse (duplicate error)
 Light-colored, small, right-facing bird
 Light-colored, large, left-facing bird
 Dark-colored, small, left-facing bird
 Dark-colored rabbit
Pattern of changes on matrix problem (Siegler & Svetina,
2002)
The application of strategies in more “realworld” contexts
 School-related tasks (how to study for tests; how to
remember important information; how to get meaning from
text)
 Children’s strategies in everyday contexts (playing video
games; playing games with parents or peers)
 How do parents or peers “teach” children strategies in realworld contexts?
Integrating executive function and brain
development with strategy development
 Infant research on self-regulation and associated brain
development (A-not-B object permanence task)
 Executive-control (inhibition, working memory) tasks
during preschool years and performance on cognitive and
behavioral tasks (e.g., false-belief, resistance to
temptation)
 Self-regulation in adolescence, related to emotional
valance of task and associated brain development