Developmental Psychology Notes

Babies grow and change so much in the first two years of life, and many of those growth are directly related to the brain. Brain grows so rapidly than any other organ and reaches 75% by the age of 2. Communication within the central nervous system and spinal cord begins with neurons. The final part of the brain prefrontal cortex matures.

A child 's brain development is one of the first organs which develops whilst in the mother 's womb and throughout a child 's whole life it will carry on to change and develop when learning new things from different people and in different environments. There are 1 Billion nerve cells that are currently present in an adults brain which were created when a baby reaches six months old. At this stage all of the neurons are not connected to each other but with maturity, age and education then this is when the brain starts to increase and

The size of the brain increases due to the maturation of the brain which includes the forming of connections of neurons and increased cognitive development. (Lumen Learning, 2014)

Brain growth continues at a slowing pace postnatally until the fifteenth year, when the average adult female brain weighs 1230 to 1275 g. and the average adult male brain weighs 1350 to 1410 g. Myelination continues throughout the period, also at a declining rate. Studies of ontogenic myelination demonstrate different rates of

Development for the brain starts in the womb, and it “[forms] nerve cells at the explosive rate of nearly one-quarter million per minutes” (Myers 2014). On the day of birth, one have developed all the brain cell that one have ever

Cognitive development- In this phase, changes and continuities in perceptions and language, learning, development of memory and problem solving as well other mental processes (Sigelman & Rider, 2015, p. 5).

From infancy to around the age of six years old not only does the body dramatically change and mature but also does the brain. The growth of the brain is so fast, that a six- year-olds brain already is about the same weight of an adults (Berger, 2014). The majority of the brains weight comes from myelination, which is the process of myelin coating on the axons which helps speed up the signals between neurons (Berger, 2014). Although this rapid growth is occurring, this doesn’t mean the fine tuning of motor skills, emotional behavior, and thought processing is developed of that of which an adults are. Due to the fact that axons are not as coated with

Firstly, looking at two theorists who focused on cognitive development. Piaget, who believed that it is mainly nature that influences

There are three areas of brain development that occurs during early childhood. These three areas of development include myelination, growth of the corpus callsum and lateralization. Myelination is the process by which axons become coated with myelin. Myelin is a fatty coating on the axons that speed signals between neurons. Myelination plays an important role during early childhood. During early childhood most increased brain weight occurs because of myelination. Effects of myelinataion becomes notable in the motor and sensory ares of the brain, children begin to think at greater speeds and their thoughts occur with rapid succession. By early childhood most children are able to immideately name objects, catch, throw and write in proper sequences

Based on the information we discuss above, now we look deeply into the property of plasticity of the brain. David conveyed a conclusion that: “New brain cells are made throughout life and some new cells are incorporated into existing networks, especially those concerned with memory and learning. “(p18) Stepping further, the brain has capacity to mould itself by environment and experiences someone encountered with. These illustrate that the brain is plastic and malleable. So, what is the benefit of this specific feature? This is very important and inspiring. It allows the brain to change and modified in different ways by redirecting neuronal pathways, even though the brain was damaged in certain levels. In another hand, plasticity is necessary

Piaget referred the cognitive development between age two and seven a preoperational stage. At this stage, children increasingly use language, imitate adult behaviors, and nurture imaginary friends. At this stage the children have cognitive limitations, they may experience challenges such as controlling memory functions and focusing on a single aspect. Piaget believed that these children do not have the ability to classify, cannot group by logical progression and cannot comprehend

The development of the brain during infancy and toddlerhood concerns the formation of neurons and how the neurons send messages through neurotransmitters across a synapse. During this period, neural fibers and synapses are produced quickly. Because neurons create connections between one another, stimulation is necessary. When stimulated by the environment, the neurons continue to form synapses, which allows for more complex modes of communication. Stimulation, at first, causes an excess of synapses, allowing the child to have the necessary skills needed for survival. However, through synaptic pruning, neurons that are not frequently stimulated lose their synapses. The great increase of brain size during the first two years of life is attributed

Piaget is a theorist who believes strongly that children develop cognitively in age stages. In his stages of cognitive development, ages 2 to 6 is the preoperational stage. This means that children can represent reality to themselves through the use of symbols, mental images, words and gestures. To these children, objects no longer have to be present for them to be able to think about them. Children also may fail to see through the point of view of others and may be confused with appearances and their relations. Other characteristics of this stage include how children tend to talk in collective monologues rather than in dialogues in the presence of others. They also may confuse height and width in relation to volume and confuses classes with subclasses. These characteristics are something Piaget found similar for this specific age group in regards to their cognitive development.

Although it was thought that brain growth was determined primarily by genetics, we now know that new experiences are particularly important for infants in the first year of their life; this is because before birth the cells in the brain are not connected, and each new experience helps to connect them. These experiences include things such as smell, taste, sight and sound, and they can

There are many different theories when it comes to how children learn best, but when bits and pieces are taken from each a strong theory can be crafted for each individual child. These theories come from information processing, Jean Piaget, Lev Vgotsky, and Maria Montessori. Information processing looks at children’s scripts and how long-term memory works to help children learn, Piaget uses the concepts of object permanence and egocentrism to explain the ways children view different things, Vygotsky focuses on the zone of proximal development and scaffolding to give children the best environment to lean, and lastly, Montessori uses a trained adult and self-directed play to enhance learning in young children. These concepts combined are great ways to help a child develop cognitively and it is important to understand each one.