- IQ
- To predict school success
- Good predictor but not perfect
- Not a measure of ability
- Measure school skills
- Ability to sit still
- Language skills
- Doesn’t underestimate academic performance of ethnic subjects
- Folks generally believe indicates
- 1. genetic differences
- 2. fundamental brain characteristics
- Efficiency, neural speed
- IQ does correlate with socio-econ level
- Sometimes
- To predict school success
- Race & Intelligence
- Some studies show IQ dif in
- Asian
- White
- Black
- Racial IQ Gap
- Only as group data
- Lots of overlap
- Individuals from all levels
- Options
- 1. differences caused by ability
- genetics+
- 2. differences caused social-econ-environ
- 3. differences don’t exist
- Wrong use of test
- 4. race & intel. poorly defined
- Differences are meaningless
- 1. differences caused by ability
- Define populations by
- 1. Race
- Races are not sub-species
- Not evolutionary lineages
- Heritability only within groups
- Can’t compare across groups
- 2. Gene frequency
- Polygenic trait
- Hundreds of genes, possibly thousands
- Variations account for 1% of the variance in IQ (prediction)
- 3. Geographical proximity
- Look for correlation between geographic ancestry and cognitive abilities
- No evidence true
- 1. Race
- No gene linked to intelligence
- No genetic link of race & intelligence
- Some studies show IQ dif in
- Environmental Enrichment
- Deprivation isn’t good
- During development
- Thicker cerebrum
- Dendrite arbors
- Infancy
- Games that increase IQ
- Attention
- Attention & Arousal
- Reticular formation
- Extends from medulla
- Into forebrain
- Regulates sleep-wake
- Filters incoming irrelevant $
- Damage decrease arousal
- 1. Somatic Motor Control
- Connect M1 to spine
- Maintain tone, balance, posture
- Relays eye & ear signals to cerebellum
- 2. Cardiovascular Control
- 3. Pain Modulation
- Regulates which pain signals from lower body reach cortex
- Descending analgesic paths
- 4. Sleep & Consciousness
- Sends signals to thalamus
- Regulates input to cerebrum
- Alertness
- 5. Habituation
- Steady state information
- Ignore repetitive $
- Part of reticular activation system
- Damage
- Irreversible coma
- Pontomesencephalon
- Cortical arousal
- Awakens sleeping person
- Increases alertness if already awake
- Locus coeruleus
- Structure in pons
- Inactive at most times
- Meaningful event comes in
- Emits impulse
- Releases norepinephrine
- Important for storing information
- Inactive when you sleep
- Basal forebrain
- Anterior & dorsal to hypothal.
- Essential for sleep
- Release GABA
- Consciousness
- About the same as attention
- All or nothing, at least reporting is
- Don’t say “partially see that”
- Reporting
- Present two $
- Report A = conscious of it
- Not report B = unconscious of it
- Impacted by:
- $ brightness
- Motion
- Relative size
- “Top-down” processes
- Inattention blindness
- Don’t notice change
- Person behind counter
- Basketball & gorilla
- Giant mirror
- Language & Dyslexia
- Language
- Chimpanzees
- Use some sign language
- Seldom use symbols in new original combinations
- No productivity
- Almost always make requests
- Rarely use to describe
- What & Who questions
- Moderate understanding
- Can answer
- Baboon language
- Resembles humans more
- Understand more than produce
- Use symbols to name & describe, even when not requesting
- Request items don’t see
- Occasionally describe past event
- Frequently make original, creative requests
- Why better than chimps:
- More language potential
- Younger than chimp studies
- Observational learning
- imitation not formal training
- Alex
- Could say words for objects
- Humans
- Is language genetic?
- Maybe
- Poverty of stimuli
- Children learn it easily
- Don’t hear enough examples
- Yet learn grammatical structure
- Byproduct of Intelligence?
- Normal IQ, impaired language
- Study of 30 in a family
- All have normal IQ
- 16 of 30 had severe lang. prob.
- Presumably a dominant gene
- Some genetic conditions can hurt language
- But not other aspects of IQ
- Williams Syndrome
- Mental retarded but OK language
- Rare disorder
- Mentally retarded; skillful use of language
- Caused by deletion of several genes from chromosome 7
- Not Evolution?
- Language as a Specialization
- Alternate theory
- Brain has built-in devise
- Specialized processor
- Children do learn easily
- Don’t hear enough examples
- Grammar
- “poverty of stimulus”
- Genetic?
- FOXP2 gene
- Impacts jaw development
- Impacts throat development
- Essentials for speech
- Is language genetic?
- Critical Period
- Why younger better
- Adults memorize vocab. better
- Children better at pronunciation
- Children better at grammar
- Not true native speaker after 12
- Bilingual home
- substantial bilateral brain activity during speech
- for both languages
- Thicker temporal & frontal lobe
- Time sensitive
- Sensitive Period for Learning?
- Adults better memorizing vocab
- Children better at pronunciation and grammar
- Better off the younger you start
- Never fully fluent if start after 12
- Grow up in bilingual home
- More bilateral brain activity during speech
- For both languages
- Temporal & frontal cortex are thicker than average
- Aphasia
- Wernicke = not understandable
- Broca = can’t articulate
- Broca’s Aphasia
- Small part of frontal lobe
- Left cerebral cortex
- When damaged
- Can understand language
- Can’t produce it
- Production problem
- Not a muscle problem
- Omit pronouns, prepositions & conjunctions
- Also can’t understand them
- Dyslexia
- More common in boys
- Inability to read
- Adequate vision
- Adequate intelligence
- Linked to at least four genes
- deficits in hearing or cognition
- Likely bilaterally symmetrical cerebral cortex
- Theories of Dyslexia
- Subtle hearing impairment
- Attentional differences
- Problem detecting temporal order of sounds
- Problem converting vision to sound or vice versa
- Music & Language
- Musicians better than average learning 2nd language
- Both language and music
- Alter timing and volume
- Add emphasis, express emotion
- English =.5 to .7 sec. between stressed syllables
- Prefer music with.5 to .7 seconds between beats
- Greek and Balkan languages
- Less regular rhythms than English
- Their music has irregularly spaced beats
- ADHD
- Developmental Disability
- 3-5 % of children (worldwide)
- 8-10% of school children
- Chronic disability
- 30% have problems as adults
- 2-3x more likely in boys
- Genetics or bias of teachers?
- Pathophysiology
- Unclear
- Reduction of brain volume
- Particularly in left prefrontal cortex
- Also cerebellum?
- 4 regions (interconnected)
- Lateral prefontal cortex
- Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
- Caudate
- Putamen
- Delay in development of frontal and temporal lobes
- Up to 3 years delay
- More mature motor development
- Dopamine D4 receptor
- “7-repeat” variant
- Accounts for 30 percent of genetic risk
- Unusual thin in right cortex
- Normal by time were teens
- Reduced blood circulation
- Significantly higher concentration of dopamine transporters
- Might not be excess transmitter
- Maybe low levels of dopamine
- “reward” mechanism only works for ADHD folk when task is inherently motivating
- Might be lower levels of glucose metabolism
- Symptoms
- difficulty staying focused
- paying attention
- difficulty controlling behavior
- hyperactivity (over-activity)
- Subtypes
- 1. Hyperactive-impulsive
- 6+ hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms
- <6 inattention symptoms
- 2. Predominantly inattentive
- 6+ inattentive symptoms
- >6 hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms
- less likely to act out (probs. with children)
- sit quietly, not pay attention
- may not notice has ADHD
- 3. Hyperactive-impulsive & inattentive
- 6+ inattention
- 6+ hyperactivity-impulsivity
- Most common type in children
- No cure
- Treat symptoms
- Can be successful in school & life
- 1. Hyperactive-impulsive
- Diagnosis
- Must have symptoms for 6 or more months
- Inattention:
- Easily bored unless doing something enjoyable
- Trouble completing homework assignments
- Frequently switch from activities
- Difficulty focusing on one thing
- Difficulty following instructions
- Difficulty completing tasks
- Difficulty organizing
- Often losing things
- Easily distracted
- Easily confused
- Daydreaming
- Forget things
- Miss details
- Hyperactivity:
- Run around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight
- Hard to sit still (dinner, school, story time)
- Difficulty doing quiet tasks or activities
- Fidget and squirm in their seats
- Constantly in motion
- Talk nonstop
- Impulsivity
- Blurt out comments, emotions
- No regard for consequences
- Can’t wait turns in games
- Interrupt conversations
- Want everything now
- Impatient
- Diagnosis Difficulties
- Can think hyperactive and impulsive have emotional or disciplinary problems
- Can miss inattentive symptoms because quiet and less likely to act out
- Get along better than other ADHD kids
- Sit quietly and seem to work
- Causes
- Genetics
- Thinner brain tissue
- Not permanent
- Grows thick as get older
- Environmental factors
- Smoking & alcohol during pregnancy
- Exposure to high levels of lead
- Brain injuries
- Similar symptoms to ADHD
- Brain injuries are not common in ADHD kids
- Sugar
- Popular belief
- Not supported by research
- But if told kids had sugar, rated higher
- Artificial Coloring
- Preservatives
- Symptoms appear early in life
- Often between 3 and 6
- Often noticed in school
- Not follow directions
- “Spaced out”
- No single test
- Treatment
- Reduce symptoms
- Medications
- Stimulants
- What works for one child might not work for another
- Side effects
- Dosage levels
- Autism
- Developmental disorder
- Symptoms 1-3 years old
- Symptoms by 18 months
- Seek help about 24 months
- Social & communication skills
- Symptoms
- Boys more than girls
- Difficulty with pretend play
- Poor social interactions
- Poor verbal & nonverbal skills
- Lack of empathy
- Overly sensitive to $
- Refuse to wear “itchy” clothes
- Distress if routines changed
- Repeated body movements
- Unusual attachment to objects
- Vary from moderate to severe
- Not startle at loud noises
- Heightened response to sounds
- Miss language milestones:
- Babbling by 12 months
- Wave bye-bye by 12 months
- Say single words by 16 months
- 2-word phrases by 24 months (not just echoing)
- Some parents try:
- Gluten-free diet
- Casein-free diet (milk-cheese)
- Causes
- Unknown
- Genetics
- Identical twins are much more likely than fraternal twins
- Relatives more like to have:
- Language abnormalities
- Chromosomal abnormalities
- Diet?
- Mercury poisoning?
- Inability to properly use vitamins and minerals?
- Vaccines
- Not the cause
- Can take single-dose forms
- Don’t contain added mercury
- Mirror Neurons in Autism
- No empathy
- Generally includes:
- Asperger’s (good language skills)
- Rett syndome (for girls)
- Childhood disintegrative disorder
- Learn and then lose skills
- Atypical (misc.)
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