Lifespan Pyschology

• a schema is an idea about what something is and how to deal with it.
• Assimilation is the process of fitting new experiences and information into our current understanding.
• Accommodation is the process of adjusting a schema to include new information as we encounter it.
• Equilibrium is when a child’s existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it – it is a state of cognitive (mental) balance
• Disequilibrium is an unpleasant mental state when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas
• Classification refers to the process of grouping objects or events by features they have in common
• Conservation is the process of understanding an object does not change its weight, mass volume or area simply because it changes shape
• Egocentrism means only being able to perceive the world from your own perspective.
• Object permanence is understanding that an object continues to exist even when removed from the field of vision
• Seriation is the ability to put things in order based on quantity or magnitude.
• Abstract thinking is the ability to think about and understand concepts that only exist in the theoretical world
• Invisible displacement is the ability to track the movement of a hidden object after seeing that object placed in, under or behind a second occluder.
• Piaget believed that children's thinking changed with age
• Cognitive development is the progressive organisation of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experiences.
• sensorimotor stage is from birth to 2 years old, the child is able to respond to their environment and learn to coordinate their actions with their senses. Object Permanence. Goal-directed behaviour: the relationship between their actions and the external world. They can manipulate objects to produce effects
• The pre-operational stage is the stage of cognitive development that begins at 2 years and ends at 7 years when children begin to understand abstract concepts. Egocentrism, animism, symbolic thinking, centration, seriation.
• The concrete operational stage is between ages 7-11 and 11, and they are able to think logically and carry out mental operations, provided they are working with concrete materials. Conservation, classification and reversibility of thought.
• The formal operational stage is when children become capable of abstract thought. Abstract thinking and hypothetico-deductive reasoning.
• finer motor skills is the use of small muscles in fingers, toes and wrists
• gross motor skills is the use of larger muscles in arms, legs, torsos and feet
• Gross motor skills are developed before finer motor skills
• Through social interactions, children comprise, assess, and evaluate others. These assessments are gained, refined and changed with experience
• social cognition is the acting of noticing and noting. to remremembereber and recall information about the social enviroment.
• Children need to learn to identify their emotions, understand why their emotions happen and learn how to manage their emotional responses appropriately.
• Emotions are biological reactions and behaviours. Children developed the ability to recognise their feelings and understand emotions in other people.
• Emotional development builds on social development through recognising and expressing feelings.
• Emotions contain four components: a physical response; feelings are recognised and identified; thoughts and judgments associated with feelings are created; and action signals.
• Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to modify its connections or re-unite itself.
• Plasticity refers to the brain's malleability or ability to change
• Adaptive plasticity is the ability to learn new information or skills
• impaired plasticity impairs the fundamental processes that mediate plasticity
• developmental plasticity is the process where which changes occur in the neurons and synaptic connections within the brain
• The difference is that developmental plasticity occurs from utero to early adulthood. However, adaptive plasticity occurs over the lifespan but it is more efficient and effective during infancy and early adulthood.
• neurogenesis is when the unborn baby's cells begin to divide and multiply
• neural migration is when newly formed neurons migrate to their specified location in the nervous system
• neural maturation is when the dendrites grow and extend to axons of other neurons, resulting in the formation of pathways between neurons.
• Sybnaptogensis is when the axons of the neurons branch out to target cells and form synapses with them.
• synaptic pruning is when the excess, weak or unused synaptic connections are removed
• Myelination is when the axons are insulated with a white fatty substance (myelin) that helps to increase the speed of neural transmission and stop electrical interference between neurons
• maturation of the brain processes from the back to the front of the brain which is the reason why the pre-frontal cortex is the last to structurally change