Blog #2

 1. Language plays a huge role in a young child’s life especially with memory. One major example of how language affects memory would be when looking at Mnemonic strategies. These strategies are viewed as a special kind of transformational strategy that applies specific language to learning, and connect information learned with key words or letters. An example of this would be the A-B-C song. This song uses repetition when looking at the flow of the song and the parts of the song that they increase emphasis or base on to help stick in the child’s brain throughout their entire life. Another example of this would be the song head, shoulders, knees, and toes. This can be seen as a mnemonic strategy that adds emphasis to the significance of language and memory because throughout this song we see examples of chunking. The song chunks three terms together and also provides visuals to children by pointing to the body parts as they sing the song. This can also be connected to Wang & Ross with the viewpoint presented within the reading of memory “Throughout socialization, individuals acquire knowledge and competencies that serve culturally prescribed goals. (Wang, Q., & Ross, M. 2007)” 

                        

2. Culture also has a significant impact on memory. Culture is viewed as both a system and princess of symbols mediation. Culture helps to regulate intrapersonal and interpersonal psychological functions. One example of how culture affects memory would be within Autobiographical memories which are personal experiences. One of the main purposes of memory according to Neisser (1982) is understanding how people use their own past experiences to shape their present and future viewpoints. Specifically, if someone has experienced adversity  in life they are more likely to have a harder drive and work ethic due to those experiences being so severe and something they never want to have to relive. Another example of how culture affects memory would be relating to how people become skilled at remembering information important to their everyday activities. When looking at Western school systems we see how children learn songs and poems that help structure their learning. When looking at the Buddhist conception of memory we see how some cultures have complete opposite structures of memory. This conception of memory includes awareness on encoding, recall, and recognition. They describe memory during the waking states as a creation of God, along with their viewpoints that meditation allows individuals to remember everything, even memories from their past life. 

3. I believe my culture had a substantial effect on my own personal perception of memory. My earliest memory would be from preschool at the age of 4 years old going on a field trip to Krispy Kreme Donuts with my brother and my father. Language was involved in the development of that memory because I was only excited because of how excited my father was to be able to be a part of something within our school. He often used language that caught my attention because of the way he was describing the highly anticipated day. I believe culture did play a part in the event I remember only because at the time I was going to a low income school and this was the only field trip we went on the entire year, but because my father also knew this I believe that’s why we all were mutually excited to go on the field trip. It was to where we didn’t even care about the donuts. We were just excited to be able to go share this memory together. I believe my culture has an influence on the way I remember this event because of the school and financial factors that had directly affected the school’s ability to be able to have field trips for the youth. Even though it was something rare I personally feel like that's partially why I remember it because of the experience and making those memories with my family. Another way this can connect to culture would be because my brother and I have different mother’s and this time of my life was one of the few moments I had the opportunity to share a memory with my father and brother which had never happened again until high school due to my parents and his mother having a custody battle that separated us. This allowed for us to value the memories we have as children more than we had prior.

Wang, Q., & Ross, M. (2007). Culture and memory. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (p. 645–667). The Guilford Press.

BLOG #1

 

• When looking at brain development there are a plethora of factors that can contribute to brain development. One of the main beginnings that have a major effect on brain development within the child begin during the first six weeks of pregnancy. This is seen as a very vital time during the stage of development because during this time the child’s brain is developing and if there are any disabilities seen within the child, during this stage is when they are first developing. One of the first and most vital moments of development would be in regards to synaptogenesis. During this stage from birth to a year a child’s dendrites are growing and they are being exposed to many different environments that teach auditory and visual stimulation, this is causing the child to experience a rapid pattern of synapse generation. Another key factor within brain development would be the cerebral cortex, a very important part of brain development because it controls conscious thoughts, feelings, memory, and voluntary actions. It also produces the majority of its synaptic connections after birth. This is very important because over two million synapses are being developed in seconds, by two years old the cerebral cortex contains well over 100 trillion synapses. “Once cells reach their final destination they begin to mature by 1 growing dendrites to provide surface area for synapses with other cells; and extending axons to appropriate targets to initiate synapse formation (Kolb & Gibb, 2011). 

            

• In my opinion epigenetics basically means changes that can occur within DNA processing that do not directly involve changes within the DNA sequence. To further explain epigenetics can be traits or genes that a child or individual may be a carrier of but is not necessarily seen in that person. An example of this could be a carrier of autism trait but does not have a clinical evaluation to be determined autistic. This helps to promote positive development and erases the separation of nature and nurture within science and environments. In this case genes acts as followers not prime movers and requires signals to determine which processes are carried out, this causes a biological process through ecology of relationships and perceptions to influence lifelong learning behaviors and integrations. “Chemical signals derived from environmental influence epigenetic signatures affect when and how genes are switched on and off and whether the change is temporary or permanent. (Cantor, 2019). 

• In my opinion, it is very important for children to have educators who understand the development of the brain because it allows them to be able to identify the antecedents of disabilities that may be overlooked by parents or often misunderstood due to the lack of awareness. I believe there also has been an increase overtime in the importance of educators to have an understanding of the brain prior to having a career in education due to the increase in scientific study surrounding the human brain within the past 15 years. “Such research has generated great hopes amongst some for a revolution in education in which results from the neuroscience laboratory positively transform the classroom (Ansari, 2011).” This has shown the increase in the demand to help transform the educational structure within school systems to help promote healthy youth transforming into adults.  

                

             
            

            

• A topic I hope to learn about throughout this course would be how mental health affects the brain’s development and capabilities. I would like to learn about this from more of a science aspect to understand what mental health disorders look like in the brain and what it does to the daily functions of the brain. This topic really interests me because I would like to be able to identify these antecedents within children more commonly in my career, so that mental health can be embraced more throughout society. 

References: 

1. Ansari, D., Coch, D., & De Smedt, B. (2011, January). Connecting Education and Cognitive Neuroscience: Where will the journey take us? Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(1), 37–42. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00705.x

2. Cantor, P., Osher, D., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2018, January 24). Malleability, plasticity, and individuality: How children learn and develop in context1. Applied Developmental Science, 23(4), 307–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398649

                    3. Kolb B, Gibb R. Brain plasticity and behavior in the developing brain. J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011 Nov;20(4):265-76. PMID: 22114608; PMCID: PMC3222570.