NEUROCOGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OVER THE LIFESPAN
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1. Developmental cognitive neuroscience: an emerging field
What is developmental cognitive neuroscience?
Investigates the relations between neural and cognitive development
o Cognitive is very broad (bv emotional processing) (heel anders dan physical development
(growing bones ...)
Investigates typical and atypical development (atypical is bv dyslexie)
o Any type of atypical, or pathological (depends): changes the way our brain functions
o These are both paths of developmental cognitive neuroscience
Lies at the intersection of diverse disciplines and uses multiple methods from different fields
o We also use diversity of measurement
Goals:
Aims at understanding the mechanisms that subserve cognitive processes (perception, attention,
memory, language, action control, etc) at different points in the life cycle
o Bv niet voor een lange tijd kunnen focussen (atypisch) – what are the processes that normally
support this function? → do individuals with ADHD differ with other people, and do their brains
differ
Aims to understand mechanisms of developmental change in behavior and cognitive abilities: changes in
how frontal cortex is connected with other brain regions and how different brain regions are connected
with each other (bv. how well I am able to control problematic behavior (e.g. risk-taking); how interactions
change in course of lifespan to understand change in behavior)
Aims to inform societal interventions (e.g., education)
o bv universiteit van de derde leeftijd (mensen die dingen komen leren voor de fun) → there are
many differences between learning in older/younger adults – how do they relate to differences in
the brain (older adults have an inhibition problem, concentratie problemen)
Aims to inform diagnosis and treatment of developmental disorders (e.g., ADHD)
Children vs adults:
What are the key differenes in cognitive processing? (brainstorm tijdens les)
- Superficial surface structure in de basale ganglia: children are more sensible to deep understanding
- Stronger connections between neurons = myelinisatie → betere myelinisatie geeft actiepotentialen beter
door (doorheen de ontwikkeling)
- Children have more neurons (meest op 2-jarige leeftijd)
- As adults we have formed many more connections, sometimes there are useless connections which
aren’t be able to retrieved
What are the differences at brain level?
- Differences in learning – older adults are quite capable of learning new things → people can still learn
languages at an old age
1
,3 key transitions in the development of cognitive control !! (zie ook later)
From perseverating to overcoming habits when directed
Reactive to proactive control
Externally driven to self-directed cognitive control
Abstraction (x-as)
- Representing working memory, to us a certain toy can be
represented into categories... → we barely think into
concrete objects
- The most abstract type is planning (children aren’t good
at this) – proactive control
Robustness of working memory representations (y-as)
- Distraction is the best method of stopping children from
bv fighting with a sibling
- Children are very easily distracted
Tijdens de adolescentie is de PFC nog niet volledig ontwikkeld →
snel impulsieve beslissingen
Volwassenen gaan directe beloningen terzijde leggen voor langdurige beloningen (bv
naar de les gaan ipv nu netflix kijken)
Development of executive functions
How executive functions develop, during childhood, from adolescence to old age
- From childhood to young adulthood → it gets better (reaction times, so the
lower the better)
- Adult development: not the same trajectory accross different projections
o Why would certain functions stay at the same level and others dont?
Plasticity at late adulthood
2. The developmental story: the parts
Change is multidirectional (improvement, declined, changed...) (bv je niet zorgen maken over alles kan slecht zijn
op jonge leeftijd, maar maakt niet uit op latere leeftijd (bv zorgen maken over aantal vrienden, terwijl het later gaat
over de kwaliteit)
A. Developmental (Psychology)
= the study of how and why humans change over the course of their life
• Intra-individual change, how a human organism changes throughout their life
• Via a category system
• The lifespan perspective: development is
2
, o Lifelong
o Multidimensional and multidirectional (even at the same time!)
o Learning: highly plastic (at the level of the brain)
o Contextualism: influenced by multiple, interacting forces
• Development as a co-orchestration: brain x culture x individual & social cognition
o Brain development dependant on SES
B. (Cognitive) Psychology
• Mental states (thoughts, experiences, emotions)
o We do not directly perceive or act in the world. Rather perception, thinking, and actions depend
on internal transformations (information processing).
▪ Human information processing amounts to transformations of mental representations.
▪ Experimental paradigms are designed to understand the nature of mental
representations, their transformations (operations), and the constraints on processing.
• Mensen hebben een mentale representatie van de US en maken daarom een
fout bij de vraag over San Diego → Knowledge based on how you represent
something
• Representations
o Posner: letter matching task – what process underlies decision making?
▪ Are the letters the same or different? They varied the way letters were presented
▪ Using RT (mental chronometry)
▪ Bv langer voor consonants then for vowels → better representation of vowels
• Information processing
o Donders: mental chronometry – uses RT and subtraction logic to infer mental processes
o Sternbergs memory scanning task: pp first memorises a set (letters) that
afterwards dissapears, then a letter dissapears that was part of the set or not
▪ Do we search memory sets serial or parallel?
▪ Lineair relation between the number of components and RT = serial
▪ The longer, the more
▪ Als we tegelijk naar alle 4 zouden kijken (parallel) is de lijn
horizontaal
▪ Even if a letter isnt part of a set, we search the set exhaustive
o Demonstrating parallel processing – word superiority effect
▪ To identify if something contains an ‘a’ or an ‘e’
▪ We detect the tartget letter faster in a pronouncable word
▪ Suggests that all of the letter are activated in parallel
o Parallel processing: How 2 letters suffice: only 2 letters per word are at the proper positions – all
of the letters are bottom up activated in parallel processing
▪ Our brain can do serial and parallel processing
o The stroop task: identifying processing constraints
▪ Interaction of culture and cognitive processing
▪ If we give the color task to a child, there is a less interference effect → adults are more
likely to make the mistake
o You need a theory before doing the measurements/experiments!
▪ Parallel: set size doesn’t matter
▪ Serial: set size matters
▪ The larger the set, the longer the search time
3
, • Learning (habits, strategies, knowledge)
o Action hierarchy for cognitive control: complex task planning
C. Neuroscience
= the study of how the nervous system is organized and functions
= the brain: structure (anatomy) & function (e.g. fMRI)
One starting point of neurology
• Thomas Willis
o Coined the term ‘neurology’
o Post-mortem autopsies
o Named many brain regions and created accurate drawings
o First to link brain damage or changes in brain structure to abnormal behavior
• Early theories
o Phrenology (Gall & Spurzheim): brain divided into sections, mental abilities localized in specific
‘sections’ of the brain
o Early clinical observations lead to localizationist or narrow localization approach (Broca and
Wernicke)
▪ Focal brain damage causes specific behavioral deficits
o The neurone doctrine (Santiago Ramon y Cajal): focus on the neuron as the relevant level of
processing – focus of research was reoriented
• Later theories:
o Anti localization approach (Monakow): brain damage in one area can cause functional
impairments in distant but connected) → challenges strict localization, more dynamic and
interconnected brain
▪ The idea of networks came up
o Alexander Luria: functional groups (groups of brain areas working together)
o The rise of neuroimaging
- How psychological research changed over time
o Neuron doctrine (each neuron is a basic unit of function in the brain) vs neuronal ensembles
(Rafael Yuste) (brain function emerges from groups of neurons firing together – coordinated and
dynamic networks)
- Electrical current as medium of information transfer
Cognitive neuroscience: how the brain enables the mind
- What are the neural underpinnings of cognitive processes?
- How much is wired into the brain and how much is the brain shaped by experience (the nature-nurture
debate)
- Benefitted enormously from advances in imaging technology
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT THE BIG PICTURE I
What develops at the neuronal level and why?
- Neurons (the numbers, types, position)
o All neurons that you will ever have, are in place when you’re born or immediately thereafter, think
of taking drugs/drinking, but also normal as we age: we lose neurons!
o The most neurons we lose, are in the first 2 years of life
o Why is it so difficult to birth a baby? Because it has a bloody big head!
o What accounts for these head sizes in newborns, is that the brain is structurally very far
developed, that’s why they got huge heads
- Neural connections and the quality of neural transmission
4
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1. Developmental cognitive neuroscience: an emerging field
What is developmental cognitive neuroscience?
Investigates the relations between neural and cognitive development
o Cognitive is very broad (bv emotional processing) (heel anders dan physical development
(growing bones ...)
Investigates typical and atypical development (atypical is bv dyslexie)
o Any type of atypical, or pathological (depends): changes the way our brain functions
o These are both paths of developmental cognitive neuroscience
Lies at the intersection of diverse disciplines and uses multiple methods from different fields
o We also use diversity of measurement
Goals:
Aims at understanding the mechanisms that subserve cognitive processes (perception, attention,
memory, language, action control, etc) at different points in the life cycle
o Bv niet voor een lange tijd kunnen focussen (atypisch) – what are the processes that normally
support this function? → do individuals with ADHD differ with other people, and do their brains
differ
Aims to understand mechanisms of developmental change in behavior and cognitive abilities: changes in
how frontal cortex is connected with other brain regions and how different brain regions are connected
with each other (bv. how well I am able to control problematic behavior (e.g. risk-taking); how interactions
change in course of lifespan to understand change in behavior)
Aims to inform societal interventions (e.g., education)
o bv universiteit van de derde leeftijd (mensen die dingen komen leren voor de fun) → there are
many differences between learning in older/younger adults – how do they relate to differences in
the brain (older adults have an inhibition problem, concentratie problemen)
Aims to inform diagnosis and treatment of developmental disorders (e.g., ADHD)
Children vs adults:
What are the key differenes in cognitive processing? (brainstorm tijdens les)
- Superficial surface structure in de basale ganglia: children are more sensible to deep understanding
- Stronger connections between neurons = myelinisatie → betere myelinisatie geeft actiepotentialen beter
door (doorheen de ontwikkeling)
- Children have more neurons (meest op 2-jarige leeftijd)
- As adults we have formed many more connections, sometimes there are useless connections which
aren’t be able to retrieved
What are the differences at brain level?
- Differences in learning – older adults are quite capable of learning new things → people can still learn
languages at an old age
1
,3 key transitions in the development of cognitive control !! (zie ook later)
From perseverating to overcoming habits when directed
Reactive to proactive control
Externally driven to self-directed cognitive control
Abstraction (x-as)
- Representing working memory, to us a certain toy can be
represented into categories... → we barely think into
concrete objects
- The most abstract type is planning (children aren’t good
at this) – proactive control
Robustness of working memory representations (y-as)
- Distraction is the best method of stopping children from
bv fighting with a sibling
- Children are very easily distracted
Tijdens de adolescentie is de PFC nog niet volledig ontwikkeld →
snel impulsieve beslissingen
Volwassenen gaan directe beloningen terzijde leggen voor langdurige beloningen (bv
naar de les gaan ipv nu netflix kijken)
Development of executive functions
How executive functions develop, during childhood, from adolescence to old age
- From childhood to young adulthood → it gets better (reaction times, so the
lower the better)
- Adult development: not the same trajectory accross different projections
o Why would certain functions stay at the same level and others dont?
Plasticity at late adulthood
2. The developmental story: the parts
Change is multidirectional (improvement, declined, changed...) (bv je niet zorgen maken over alles kan slecht zijn
op jonge leeftijd, maar maakt niet uit op latere leeftijd (bv zorgen maken over aantal vrienden, terwijl het later gaat
over de kwaliteit)
A. Developmental (Psychology)
= the study of how and why humans change over the course of their life
• Intra-individual change, how a human organism changes throughout their life
• Via a category system
• The lifespan perspective: development is
2
, o Lifelong
o Multidimensional and multidirectional (even at the same time!)
o Learning: highly plastic (at the level of the brain)
o Contextualism: influenced by multiple, interacting forces
• Development as a co-orchestration: brain x culture x individual & social cognition
o Brain development dependant on SES
B. (Cognitive) Psychology
• Mental states (thoughts, experiences, emotions)
o We do not directly perceive or act in the world. Rather perception, thinking, and actions depend
on internal transformations (information processing).
▪ Human information processing amounts to transformations of mental representations.
▪ Experimental paradigms are designed to understand the nature of mental
representations, their transformations (operations), and the constraints on processing.
• Mensen hebben een mentale representatie van de US en maken daarom een
fout bij de vraag over San Diego → Knowledge based on how you represent
something
• Representations
o Posner: letter matching task – what process underlies decision making?
▪ Are the letters the same or different? They varied the way letters were presented
▪ Using RT (mental chronometry)
▪ Bv langer voor consonants then for vowels → better representation of vowels
• Information processing
o Donders: mental chronometry – uses RT and subtraction logic to infer mental processes
o Sternbergs memory scanning task: pp first memorises a set (letters) that
afterwards dissapears, then a letter dissapears that was part of the set or not
▪ Do we search memory sets serial or parallel?
▪ Lineair relation between the number of components and RT = serial
▪ The longer, the more
▪ Als we tegelijk naar alle 4 zouden kijken (parallel) is de lijn
horizontaal
▪ Even if a letter isnt part of a set, we search the set exhaustive
o Demonstrating parallel processing – word superiority effect
▪ To identify if something contains an ‘a’ or an ‘e’
▪ We detect the tartget letter faster in a pronouncable word
▪ Suggests that all of the letter are activated in parallel
o Parallel processing: How 2 letters suffice: only 2 letters per word are at the proper positions – all
of the letters are bottom up activated in parallel processing
▪ Our brain can do serial and parallel processing
o The stroop task: identifying processing constraints
▪ Interaction of culture and cognitive processing
▪ If we give the color task to a child, there is a less interference effect → adults are more
likely to make the mistake
o You need a theory before doing the measurements/experiments!
▪ Parallel: set size doesn’t matter
▪ Serial: set size matters
▪ The larger the set, the longer the search time
3
, • Learning (habits, strategies, knowledge)
o Action hierarchy for cognitive control: complex task planning
C. Neuroscience
= the study of how the nervous system is organized and functions
= the brain: structure (anatomy) & function (e.g. fMRI)
One starting point of neurology
• Thomas Willis
o Coined the term ‘neurology’
o Post-mortem autopsies
o Named many brain regions and created accurate drawings
o First to link brain damage or changes in brain structure to abnormal behavior
• Early theories
o Phrenology (Gall & Spurzheim): brain divided into sections, mental abilities localized in specific
‘sections’ of the brain
o Early clinical observations lead to localizationist or narrow localization approach (Broca and
Wernicke)
▪ Focal brain damage causes specific behavioral deficits
o The neurone doctrine (Santiago Ramon y Cajal): focus on the neuron as the relevant level of
processing – focus of research was reoriented
• Later theories:
o Anti localization approach (Monakow): brain damage in one area can cause functional
impairments in distant but connected) → challenges strict localization, more dynamic and
interconnected brain
▪ The idea of networks came up
o Alexander Luria: functional groups (groups of brain areas working together)
o The rise of neuroimaging
- How psychological research changed over time
o Neuron doctrine (each neuron is a basic unit of function in the brain) vs neuronal ensembles
(Rafael Yuste) (brain function emerges from groups of neurons firing together – coordinated and
dynamic networks)
- Electrical current as medium of information transfer
Cognitive neuroscience: how the brain enables the mind
- What are the neural underpinnings of cognitive processes?
- How much is wired into the brain and how much is the brain shaped by experience (the nature-nurture
debate)
- Benefitted enormously from advances in imaging technology
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT THE BIG PICTURE I
What develops at the neuronal level and why?
- Neurons (the numbers, types, position)
o All neurons that you will ever have, are in place when you’re born or immediately thereafter, think
of taking drugs/drinking, but also normal as we age: we lose neurons!
o The most neurons we lose, are in the first 2 years of life
o Why is it so difficult to birth a baby? Because it has a bloody big head!
o What accounts for these head sizes in newborns, is that the brain is structurally very far
developed, that’s why they got huge heads
- Neural connections and the quality of neural transmission
4
