Developmental

Psychology B
Session 4:
Cognitive Development
SACAP Online Flexi campus
(Term 1, 2024)
Educator: Tamarin Epstein
 Basic cognitive functions:
1. Information processing
2. Memory
Information Processing
 Information processing theory
• This theory emphasises that individuals manipulate info, monitor it, & strategize
about it.
• Thinking = information processing: when individuals perceive, encode, represent,
store & retrieve information, they are thinking.
• An individual’s development is a gradually increasing capacity for processing info,
which allows them to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills.
• Cognitive development is not stage-like (it is continuous).
• It is important to learn good strategies for processing information (e.g. becoming a
better reader might involve learning to monitor key themes of the material).
Sensory input
• The first step in information processing is sensory
input.
• The quality of sensory input correlates with the
quality of cognitive processing.
• The general ageing effect links decline in cognitive
processing with the ageing process.
• Large amounts of information enter the sensory
register (the sense organs), but many processes are
involved in attention.
Attention
• Large amounts of information enter the sensory register (the
sense organs), but many processes are involved in attention.
• Sustained attention: focusing and engaging for an extended
time on some aspect of the environment (e.g an
object/task/event).
o Age differences tend to be minimal or non-existent, on
reasonably simple (less demanding) tasks; and more
noticeable on complex tasks involving vigilance.
o The experience and wisdom of older adults may
compensate for some declines in vigilance.
 Selective Attention
• Selective attention: focusing on a specific, relevant aspect of
experience, while ignoring other (irrelevant) aspects, e.g.:
➢Being able to focus on one voice in a crowded, noisy room
➢Being able to decide which stimuli to attend to, when turning
left at an intersection

o Older adults usually have less capacity to selectively attend,

than younger adults.
o Age differences tend to be minimal on simple tasks involving
searching for a feature (e.g. determining whether a target
item is present on a computer screen), when people have
enough practice.
 Divided Attention
• Divided attention: focusing on competing activities (more than
one) at a time.
o Age differences tend to be minimal or non-existent, on
reasonably simple (less demanding) tasks, but less effective
performance is seen in older adults on more difficult tasks.

SWITCHING ATTENTION
• Older adults are slower, but not less accurate, at switching attention,
than younger adults.
 Executive Attention
• Executive attention involves:
➢ planning actions
➢ allocating attention to goals
➢ detecting errors and compensating
➢ monitoring progress on tasks
➢ dealing with new/difficult situations.
Why does executive attention decline with ageing?
1. According to neurological theory, older adults have deficient executive
attention, due to low blood pressure (reducing blood flow to the brain’s
frontal lobes).
2. According to attentional resources theory, ageing causes a decline in
attentional capacity and efficient distribution of attentional resources.
3. The inhibitory deficit theory proposes that older adults have less ability to
filter out irrelevant stimuli (they are more distractible).
 The Cognitive resource of Perceptual Speed
• Perceptual speed: allows us to perform simple perceptual-motor
tasks.
o Perceptual speed declines considerably in late adulthood,
and is associated with the decline in working memory.
o Ageing results in a decline in perceptual speed, which - in
turn - results in a slower information processing speed and
slower reaction time in response to stimuli.
Memory
 Source memory
• Source memory: ability to remember where one learned
something (the source).
o Source memory declines with aging.
o Older people are more selective about how they use their
(more limited) mental resources, than younger people (i.e.
more likely to remember more important information, and
forget less significant information).
 Remote memory
• Remote memory: ability to remember information from the
distant past
o Older people may think they have a good remote memory,
because remote events are more likely to have been
rehearsed and recounted frequently; and may be subject to
unconscious distortion and embellishment.
 Autobiographical memory
• Autobiographical memory: ability to remember information from
one’s own life experiences
o This is a form of episodic memory, which also involves semantic
memory.
o Childhood amnesia refers to memories of our very early years
(before age 3), which we usually can’t recall.
o Reminiscence peak/bump: the phenomenon that most
autobiographical memories seem to come from when the person
was aged between 10 and 30 years.
o Flashbulb memories: memories for personally traumatic or
unexpected events.
 What is “Highly Superior autobiographical
memory”?
YouTube videos:
• People who remember every second of their life | 60 Minutes
Australia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpTCZ-hO6iI

• More people have "Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory"

than originally thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0-
mv26szJk
 Prospective Memory
• Prospective memory: remembering to remember – the ability to
remember to do something in the future, e.g. take one’s
medicine.
o Research indicates that prospective memory may decline
with aging.
o Factors may affect whether or not there is a decline, e.g.:
➢nature of the task
➢what is being assessed
➢context of the assessment
o Time-based prospective memory is more likely to decline
with age, than event-based prospective memory.
 Explicit (declarative) Memory
• Explicit memory: memory of facts and experiences that we
consciously know and can state, e.g.:
▪ Remembering what you wanted to buy when you are in
the supermarket
▪ Being able to name the capital of South Africa
▪ Remembering the events in a movie you have just seen
o Explicit memory declines with aging.
 Implicit Memory
• Implicit memory: memory without conscious recollection
(involves skills and routine procedures that are done
automatically - without conscious thought), e.g.:
➢Driving a car
➢Swinging a golf club
➢Typing on a computer keyboard

o Implicit memory is less likely to decline with aging.

 Episodic Memory
• Episodic memory: retention of information relating to where and
when things happened.
o Younger adults have better episodic memory, than older
adults.
o Research consistently shows that older adults tend to
remember older information less accurately, than newer
information (although they self-report/perceive themselves
as remembering older information better).
o Episodic memory usually declines more than semantic
memory, with aging.
 Semantic Memory
• Semantic memory: knowledge about the world, e.g.:
➢knowledge in one’s field of expertise
➢academic knowledge
➢everyday/general knowledge
➢vocabulary.

o Many aspects of semantic memory are retained by older adults,

but they take longer to access and retrieve semantic
information, than younger adults.
o Older adults are usually less able to retrieve very specific
semantic information (e.g. names), than younger adults.
o Older adults are more likely to experience the tip-of-the-tongue
(TOT) phenomenon/state, than younger adults.
Executive Function
Aspects of working memory that typically decline in late
adulthood:
1. Updating memory representations that are relevant for tasks
at hand
2. Replacing old information that is no longer relevant.

• Older adults have less cognitive control, than younger adults,

e.g. less cognitive flexibility and less cognitive inhibition (less
ability to inhibit dominant/automatic responses).
• In general aspects of executive function decline, there is great
variability among older adults.
 Processing Speed
• Perceptual speed: allows us to perform simple perceptual-motor tasks.
o Perceptual speed declines considerably in late adulthood, and is
associated with the decline in working memory.

• The brain’s cognitive processing speed declines in late adulthood, due

to declining functioning of the brain and central nervous system.
• There is much individual variation in processing speed decline.
• Accumulated knowledge may compensate for slower processing in
older adults, to some extent.
• Good health and exercise (especially aerobic exercise) may improve
reaction times on tasks.
 The Cognitive resource of Working Memory
• Working memory: a ‘mental workbench’, closely related to
short-term memory, which allows information to be mentally
manipulated and assembled.
o Working memory is used in decision-making, problem-
solving, and understanding written and spoken language.
o Working memory declines in late adulthood, especially when
multitasking, due to greater distractibility and less efficient
inhibition of irrelevant information from entering working
memory.
 Conclusions about Memory and Aging
• During late adulthood, most (but not all) aspects of memory
decline.
• Declining perceptual speed is associated with decline in
memory.

Aspects that decline:

• Explicit memory (declarative memory): conscious, intentional
retrieval of information that was stored or deliberately learned
• Episodic memory (memories for events of personal experiences)
• Working memory
 Conclusions about Memory and Aging
Aspects that do not decline:
• Semantic memory (facts, e.g. general knowledge and
academic learning)
• Implicit memory (non-declarative memory: retrieving
information without conscious/intentional recollection, e.g.
remembering how to brush our teeth, making judgements and
forming opinions, understanding language)
• Procedural memory (e.g. walking, driving, reading, typing)

Successful aging involves reducing the decline in memory,

and adapting to it.
 A higher-order cognitive function:

• Intelligence
 Sternberg’s Triarchic theory of
intelligence (1985)
• An information processing approach
• A cognitive psychology approach.
• Intelligence is result of specific cognitive processes, involved in intelligent
behaviour.
• Intelligence is multifaceted (multi-dimensional), there are different kinds
of intelligence.

3 different kinds of ability:

o ANALYTICAL (COMPONENTIAL) intelligence: how one processes
and analyses information (abstract thinking, logical reasoning)
o Creative (EXPERIENTIAL) intelligence: ability to generate new
ideas and solve problems
o Practical (CONTEXTUAL/tacit) intelligence: how one reacts to the
environment: adapting to and shaping the environment
 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence
• Intelligence is multi-dimensional, different kinds of intelligence, dimensions
work independently & interact.
• We all have some amount of each kind, genetics & training determines how
much.

8 different kinds of intelligence:

1. LINGUISTIC (communication via language)
2. LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL (logical, analytical problem-solving)
3. SPATIAL (mental manipulation & accurate evaluation of objects)
4. MUSICAL (evaluate, analyse & compose music)
5. BODILY-KINAESTHETIC (control body movements)
6. INTRAPERSONAL (self-knowledge, self-understanding)
7. INTERPERSONAL (understanding, sensitivity in relationships with others)
8. NATURALISTIC (Understanding patterns in the natural world of animals and
plants)
 Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence
• Intelligence tests only measure LINGUISTIC, LOGICAL-
MATHEMATICAL & SPATIAL intelligence.
• The other 4 types are equally important.
• Each type of intelligence depends on activity in an area of brain.
• Acknowledged cultural aspects of intelligence.
 Intelligence and Creativity
• Psychologists traditionally paid more attention to studying intelligence:
o Intelligence is highly valued in Western society – enabling people to
function in modern technological society.
o Creativity is more difficult to define & measure.
o Lack of clarity on whether creativity forms part of intelligence…
o Creativity exists over many domains
o Much research is done on divergent thinking (creative thinking): a
valuable ability (the ability to generate many ideas, including unique
and useful ones)
o Typical age curve: Maximum creative output is reached in our late
30’s/early 40’s, and gradually declines from age 60; although there is
much individual variation in the age-creativity paradigm. Talent,
drive and continuity are the best predictors of creative productivity.
Psychometric approaches to testing intelligence
• Raymond Cattell (1971): 2 kinds of factors are involved in
intelligence:

1. FLUID intelligence (genetic factors): creating new knowledge by

reasoning & problem-solving
- Tends to lower after age of 40

2. CRYSTALLISED intelligence (cultural & environmental factors):

ability to apply our knowledge to problem-solving
- Tends to increase with age
 References

• Louw, D. & Louw, A. (2019). Adult development and ageing (2nd ed. Ch.
3). South Africa: Haga Haga: Psychology Publications.
• Santrock, J. W. (2017). A topical approach to lifespan development (9th
ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
• ‘neuropsychology’ image (Slide 2 & 26): https://uploads-
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