Child psychology Preadult brain development Biological OCR Psychology

Child psychology Pre-adult brain development (Biological) OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Background: Brain development OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology What is brain development? • Brain development is the process of how the brain grows from conception to old age. • It consists of the process of nerve cells (neurons) forming connections around different areas of the brain. • This generally happens during conception, development in the womb and from birth until around the age of 25 (although the brain continues to change into old age). OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Why is brain development difficult to study? • It would be practically very difficult and ethically completely wrong to artificially manipulate the brain development of a person for research purposes. • Instead what researchers can do first is measure how the brain develops naturally (through the use of brain scans like MRI) and then observe behaviour at the same time. • Researchers can then infer and hypothesise how the development of the brain can have an effect on behaviour. • This allows psychologists to explain the biological cause of different behaviours. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Brain disorders • Another method for finding the link between brain development and behaviour is to look at brain damage or disorders. • For example, Maguire (2000) found that a lack of development in certain areas of the hippocampus (due to plasticity) can change the level of ability of people’s spatial awareness. • Brain damage in children can also reveal how certain areas of the brain relate to behaviour and also how this will affect the later development of the child. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology The nervous system • Another way to understand brain growth is by studying how the brain relates to the whole nervous system and researching the brain’s relationship with the rest of the body. • Neurons send electrical signals that connect the brain to certain regions. For example, Wernicke and Broca’s areas of the brain send information to the mouth, tongue and larynx indicating that it is active in controlling our language and speech abilities. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Motor development • In your brain there are two types of matter: grey and white. • Grey matter makes up around 40% of your brain and is involved with processing information. • White matter is made up of long neurons that carry messages between the grey matter and other parts of the body. • It is the myelin sheath in the neurons that allows the white matter to effectively communicate messages. However, problems occur when the myelin sheath isn’t fully developed. • Disorders like multiple sclerosis are also associated with damaged myelin sheaths that hinder motor movement. • Babies do not have fully myelinated neurons which could explain why their early movements are awkward and unco-ordinated. • Kolb and Whishaw (1996) are among some researchers who have shown that myelin formation in children relates to their development of movement (from crawling to toddling to walking). OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Language development • Language development relies on not only the physical skill of using your mouth to talk but also the cognitive understanding of words and grammar. • The frontal and temporal lobes of the brain have shown in scans to relate to language. • However, even though everyone biologically develops in the same way, there are of course individual differences in how quickly each person picks up language. • Can you identify any other factors that could influence language development? OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Background: Risk-taking behaviour and the brain OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Risk-taking behaviour and adolescents • Why is car insurance more expensive for teenagers than it is for 50 year-olds? • There is a common belief that the youth are more daring and likely to take risks in behaviour than adults. • What social reasons can you think of that could explain why adolescent people are more prone to risky behaviour? • Is there any biological reason why adolescents are more likely to take risks? Is there some part of the brain that develops with age that reduces risk-taking behaviour? OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Biological explanations of risk-taking behaviour • The prefrontal cortex area of the brain has been associated with high level reasoning and decisions. An underdeveloped prefrontal cortex could therefore explain impulsive and sudden risky actions. • As this area of the brain does not fully develop until the mid twenties, it could explain why adolescents are more likely to want to take an action immediately rather than weigh up the consequences of it. • In addition to the consumption of alcohol (more likely to be taken by adolescents), a lack of experience in dealing with certain situations could explain why adolescents might be more risky in their behaviour. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Other explanations • Is it fair to say that ONLY adolescents take risks? • Individual differences could account for some risk-taking behaviour. • In addition, a lack of serotonin in the body (which some studies have suggested is caused by stress at a young age) has been observed to lead to impulsivity in animals. • What stresses could little children face in the human world? Would you think that this would cause them to be more risky later in life? • Chambers (2003) also suggests that dopamine in the ventral striatum part of the brain causes animals to leave home more quickly (and take more risks on their own). OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Child psychology Intelligence and risk taking • However, research suggests that rather than lacking something, it is actually having higher IQ that leads to risk taking. • Some research has shown that individuals with high IQ (better memory performance) often have high sensation-seeking behaviour (e. g. an adrenaline rush). • Zuckerman (1994) states that individuals who have high IQ and sensationseeking are able to exert less self-control over their behaviour. • Eshel et al. (2007) carried out a study where participants had to choose between two options. One was a choice where they would probably receive a small financial reward and the other was a choice where they would be unlikely to receive a high financial reward (the risky choice). • Those who chose the risky option did not have a fully developed occipital frontal cortex – another possible explanation for their risky behaviour. OCR Psychology for A level Year 2 2016 © Hodder & Stoughton Limited