Deck 2: Cognitive Development

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT considered an influence in our cognitive development according to Piaget?

A) Activity
B) Exploration
C) Maturation
D) Social transmission

Answer 1

Activity

Question 2

The two processes involved in adaptation are

A) assimilation and accommodation.
B) assimilation and equilibration.
C) equilibration and organization.
D) social transmission and scheme.

Answer 2

assimilation and accommodation.

Question 3

The last part of the brain to develop fully is the

A) cerebellum.
B) cerebral cortex.
C) frontal lobe.
D) thalamus.

Answer 3

frontal lobe.

Question 4

A debate assignment involves the analysis of divergent perspectives on an issue, development of arguments to support diverse perspectives, and efficient recall of resources and persuasive points during the debate. What part or parts of the brain are most likely functioning to complete this assignment effectively?

A) Amygdala
B) Right hemisphere of the cortex processing creatively
C) Left hemisphere of the cortex processing analytically
D) Many parts working simultaneously

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT an example of a developmental change?

A) Julius is working on his batting skills, and he hit the ball much farther today
B) Caitlin left out several steps in the process of conducting the lab experiment, but she understands what she did wrong and is redoing the experiment.
C) Mark is walking carefully on one foot while his sprained ankle heals.
D) Milos has learned enough English to introduce himself to other students

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT considered a general principle for the teaching implications of neuroscience?

A) The brain is not malleable.
B) Because cognitive functions are differentiated, assessment should be differentiated.
C) There are multiple ways to teach and learn a skill.
D) Some learning disorders have a neurological basis

Question 7

What part of the brain has the information processing capacity of a small computer?

A) Each neuron
B) Cerebellum
C) Thalamus
D) Hippocampus

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT one of the three key questions surrounding development that continue to elicit debate among researchers and theorists?

A) Are there critical periods for developing abilities?
B) What is the source of development?
C) Do people develop at different rates?
D) What is the shape of development?

Question 9

Mr. Mills instructs his students to practice the steps in the process over and over. As a result of students' practice, what is happening in their brains?

A) Overproduction of neurons in the amygdala
B) Pruning of neurons in the amygdala
C) Increase in number of axons per neuron
D) Strengthening of connections between neurons

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT a myth about the brain?

A) Alcoholic beverages kill brain cells.
B) Some people are more "right brained" and others are more "left brained."
C) Our brains are changing all the time.
D) You use only 10% of your brain.

Question 11

If John is introduced to the concept of fractions today, he will not be able to start adding and subtracting them tomorrow. What general principle of development is illustrated?

A) Development proceeds through identifiable stages.
B) Development takes place gradually.
C) Maturation is the basis for development.
D) John lacks personal development.

Question 12

As time goes on, Tina becomes a happier individual, more in touch with life, and content with her situation. This description emphasizes what kind of development for Tina?

A) Cognitive
B) Personal
C) Physical
D) Social

Question 13

Specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain involves

A) Broca's area.
B) lateralization.
C) the primary auditory cortex.
D) Wernicke's area.

Question 14

Which of the following pairs of factors that influence thinking is thought by Piaget to be genetic or inherited tendencies?

A) Accommodation and assimilation
B) Adaptation and organization
C) Assimilation and schemes
D) Schemes and equilibration

Question 15

What part of the brain coordinates and orchestrates skilled movements?

A) Cerebellum
B) Hippocampus
C) Thalamus
D) Amygdala

Question 16

According to Piaget, the basic blocks of thinking and memory that permit us to represent objects and events in our world are called

A) actions.
B) accommodations.
C) adaptations.
D) schemes.

Question 17

The part of the cerebral cortex that matures first controls

A) higher-order thinking processes.
B) physical movements.
C) the processing of language.
D) the formation of associations.

Question 18

Which of the following would NOT be considered a general principle in nearly all theories of development?

A) Development is balanced.
B) Development is gradual.
C) Development occurs in an orderly way.
D) Individuals develop at different rates.

Question 19

Which one of the following is an example of maturation?

A) Gaining weight from age two to age three
B) Losing weight due to exercise
C) Losing weight during a brief illness
D) Learning which foods produce the most weight

Question 20

What facts about brain development during adolescence explain their risk-taking impulsivity?

A) The right hemisphere develops earlier than the left hemisphere.
B) The left hemisphere develops earlier than the right hemisphere.
C) The limbic system develops more slowly than the prefrontal lobe.
D) The limbic system develops earlier than the prefrontal lobe.

Question 21

Jeannie observed rocks sinking in water and said, "I already knew that. All rocks sink." Then she saw a piece of pumice floating on water and was told that pumice is rock. Several days later, she was asked again if rocks sink in water. She replied, "Well, most do." In Piaget's terms, what process did Jeannie use to draw this conclusion?

A) Accommodation
B) Assimilation
C) Classification
D) Conservation

Question 22

A preoperational child's belief that a tall, narrow glass contains more liquid than a short, wide glass is probably due to difficulties in

A) decentring.
B) egocentrism.
C) serration.
D) object permanence.

Question 23

Janie was having some difficulty deciding how to organize her defense for the debate competition. She prepared several hypothetical arguments that her opponents might raise, and how she might reply. What cognitive stage of Piaget's theory does this account best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations
B) Formal operations
C) Preoperational thought
D) Sensorimotor

Question 24

Sierra walked into class late and felt quite embarrassed. To make matters worse, she was having a bad hair day and felt like all eyes were on her, judging her, and rejecting her. Sierra's thinking can be described as

A) adolescent egocentrism
B) adaptation by assimilation
C) reversible thinking
D) disequilibrium

Question 25

Corinne has mastered this type of problem: "If the white house is bigger than the blue house, and the blue house is bigger than the red house, is the white house bigger or smaller than the red house?" What stage of Piaget's cognitive theory does this situation best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations
B) Formal operations
C) Preoperational thought
D) Sensorimotor

Question 26

Michelle covers her own eyes, because she thinks her parents will not see her when they are playing a game of peek-a-boo. What stage of Piaget's cognitive theory does this account best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations
B) Formal operations
C) Preoperational thought
D) Sensorimotor

Question 27

David has just purchased a car and is intensely interested in it. When the car has engine trouble, he is able systematically to locate the problem. What cognitive stage of Piaget's theory does this situation best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations
B) Formal operations
C) Preoperational thought
D) Sensorimotor

Question 28

Which one of the following statements best reflects Piaget's position on the question of speeding up cognitive development?

A) Acceleration is both inefficient and useless.
B) Acceleration is effective for only the brightest students.
C) Keeping cognitive development "on track" is a teacher's role.
D) Speeding up cognitive development is a teacher's role.

Question 29

In Piaget's theory, an understanding of object permanence is acquired during what period of development?

A) Early preoperational
B) Operational
C) Formal operational
D) Sensorimotor

Question 30

What is the hallmark of Piaget's stage of formal operations?

A) Semiotic function
B) Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
C) Organized thinking of dependent elements
D) Reversible thinking

Question 31

According to Piaget, the process of searching for a balance between cognitive schemes and environmental information is called

A) accommodation.
B) adaptation.
C) assimilation.
D) equilibration.

Question 32

In the sensorimotor stage of development, a child begins to develop

A) goal-directed actions.
B) mental operations.
C) preoperational thought.
D) semiotic functions.

Question 33

Billy refuses to drink his orange juice from the 1/2 full glass that his mother gives to him. He wants her to pour the juice into his favourite cup and watches his mother fill it to the brim. Billy likes his cup better because he gets more juice in it. With what cognitive concept in Piaget's theory is Billy having trouble?

A) Accommodation
B) Assimilation
C) Conservation
D) Semiotic function

Question 34

A teacher pours juice from a larger glass into two tiny glasses, and the child beams, happy now that he has "more juice." What cognitive stage (Piaget's theory) does the account best illustrate?

A) Concrete operations
B) Formal operational thought
C) Preoperational thought
D) Sensorimotor

Question 35

Nathan is shown two balls of clay that he identifies as equal in quantity. When one of the balls is then rolled into a sausage, Nathan says that piece (i.e., sausage) now has more clay. In what stage of development is he likely to be?

A) Concrete operations
B) Goal-directed operations
C) Preoperational thought
D) Sensorimotor

Question 36

best conveys a child's thinking What of the following sayings best conveys a child's thinking before the notion of object permanence is acquired?

A) "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
B) "A penny saved is a penny earned."
C) "A stitch in time saves nine."
D) "Out of sight, out of mind."

Question 37

When we try a particular strategy and it does not work, the discomfort we experience is called

A) assimilation.
B) centration.
C) disequilibrium.
D) non-adaptation.

Question 38

After stringing beads from a large necklace onto a smaller empty string, a child states that there are now more beads on the small string than there were on the larger string. What cognitive concept (Piaget's theory) does this behaviour best illustrate?

A) Accommodation
B) Assimilation
C) Conservation
D) Equilibration

Question 39

According to Piaget, people pass through the four stages of cognitive development

A) at the same levels of competence.
B) at the same rates, adjusted for intelligence.
C) in specifically determined ages.
D) in the same sequence.

Question 40

Which one of the following is the clearest example of Piaget's concept of assimilation?

A) Learning that a green light means "go" and a red light means "stop."
B) Learning to paint with a new type of brush.
C) Looking at teachers as they lecture.
D) Looking at a worm and thinking that it is a snake.

Question 41

The brains of young children show more plasticity than the brains of adults.

Question 42

For Vygotsky, the role of cultural tools in cognitive development involves

A) both real and psychological tools.
B) essentially real tools.
C) predominantly symbolic tools.
D) primarily psychological tools.

Question 43

The "Magic Middle" refers to

A) a learning environment that support the average or "mid-level" learner.
B) the knowledge of a middle child in a given family.
C) a place of "match" where students are neither bored nor frustrated by a task.
D) a learning activity that require the use of a computer to scaffold learning.

Question 44

Understanding of object permanence occurs during the sensorimotor stage.

Question 45

Current views about the limitations of Piaget's theory generally support the idea that

A) Piaget's tasks appear to have been invalid for judging cognitive ability.
B) Piaget's tasks appear to have generally been too easy for subjects.
C) Piaget tended to overestimate children's abilities and underestimate their social differences.
D) Piaget tended to underestimate children's abilities and overlook the social and cultural issues.

Question 46

Assimilation takes place when a person uses existing schemes to make sense of events in their world.

Question 47

One explanation for the strong emotions and reward-seeking behaviour amongst adolescents is the faster development of the right cortex over the left.

Question 48

According to Vygotsky, scaffolding represents

A) a barrier or a block to solving a problem.
B) a plateau that children reach before progressing to a new stage.
C) artificial support, such as notes, on which children can rely while learning.
D) external support for helping children solve problems on their own.

Question 49

The role of "private speech" in Vygotsky's view is to

A) call attention to oneself during play.
B) guide children toward self-regulation.
C) encourage children to learn new words.
D) stimulate the development of language from simple words to full sentences.

Question 50

Active learning environments and flexible instruction support cognitive development as a result of the relative plasticity of the brain.

Question 51

The development of language is associated with the concrete operational stage.

Question 52

Developmental changes are genetically determined rather than environmentally determined.

Question 53

A young child's brain can only manage to learn one language a time.

Question 54

Positron emission is the name given to describe the production of new neurons.

Question 55

An increasingly influential view of cognitive development proposed by Vygotsky is based on

A) concrete experiences.
B) creation of complex schemes of thought.
C) sociocultural theory.
D) mastery of scientific thinking

Question 56

The part of the brain directly associated with the coordination of skilled movements is the cerebellum.

Question 57

The zone of proximal development is the area where students may solve a problem

A) by themselves.
B) with no disequilibrium.
C) with support.
D) without frustration.

Question 58

Piaget called children's self-directed talk ________ while Vygotsky called the same behaviour ________.

A) egocentric speech; private speech
B) private speech; egocentric speech
C) private speech; social speech
D) social speech; private speech

Question 59

Which theorist or group of theorists promoted the idea that knowledge is co-constructed during social interactions?

A) Vygotsky
B) Piaget
C) Neo-Piagetian theorists
D) Elkind

Question 60

Seriation refers to the ability to work with symbols.

Question 61

When children are in a zone of proximal development, use of scaffolding is appropriate.

Question 62

One of the major limitations of Vygotsky's theory is that it consists mostly of general ideas.

Question 63

According to Piaget, ________ occurs when new information alters existing schemes or creates new ones.

Question 64

The cognitive stage associated with ability to understand hypothetical situations is formal operations.

Question 65

Having the ability to focus on more than one aspect of a situation at a time is called ________.

Question 66

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is characteristic of adolescent egocentrism.

Question 67

The specialization of the two hemispheres of the brain is called ________.

Question 68

Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is the hallmark of Piaget's stage of _______ operations

Question 69

The principle that some characteristics of an object remain unchanged in spite of changes in appearance is called ________.

Question 70

The process of making an orderly arrangement of objects from large to small or vice versa is called ________.

Question 71

When a scheme produces an unsatisfactory result, a student experiences ________.

Question 72

Kathleen Berger refers to the space between what the learner already knows and what he or she is not yet ready to learn as the ________.

Question 73

Changes in the way an individual relates to others is known as ________ development.

Question 74

Developmental changes that are genetically programmed are a function of ________.

Question 75

The ability to reason abstractly and deductively occurs during the Piagetian stage of ________.

Question 76

Vygotsky viewed children's private speech to be a form of egocentric speech that indicates a child is unable to see the world through the eyes of others.

Question 77

The brain's tendency to remain adaptable and flexible is known as _______.

Question 78

According to Piaget, most adults may be able to use formal operational thought in only a few areas in which they have the greatest interest or experience.

Question 79

Neo-Piagetian theorists are concerned with how attention, memory, and strategy use relate to Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

Question 80

"Out of sight, out of mind" describes the behaviour of children who have not acquired ________.