Over the years, the nature and development of memory and cognition from childhood to adulthood has interested psychologists in an attempt to unravel the mental processes, functions, and effects especially in regard to children. In this way, cognition refers to mental actions of knowledge acquisition and understanding through senses and experience while the memory is the ability of the brain to encode, store and remember information (Sternberg, Robert and Karin, 2016). In this paper, an evaluation of the mental processes, memory types and lifelong developments is presented as well as the associated illnesses, differences and functions.
4.1
There are four major processes that are involved in memory, namely; encoding, consolidating, storing and recalling respectively (Sternberg, Robert and Karin, 2016). Accordingly, the brain has first to biologically encode information in its accomplishment of memory creation. This involves a conversion of the perceived object from the senses to a construct that the brain can store in either the long-term or the short-term memory. With respect to human perceptions, encoding can be acoustic, visual, semantic or tactile. Acoustic encoding processes only auditory input while visual encoding deals with visual images. Additionally, semantic encoding applies to meanings and contexts while tactile is concerned with feelings of touch. Essentially, the entire process of encoding is carried out in the short-term memory and precedes consolidation, which involves the stabilization of acquired memories through strengthening, maintenance and modification in preparation for storage. Notably, consolidation may happen in two ways; through short-term synaptic or long-term systemic processes.
Consequently, storage and recalling constitute the last two respective memory processes. Storage entails the retention of information in the short-term, sensory or long-term memory in line with priority or repetition. These levels of storage help to sieve incoming information to prevent overload. Moreover, the encoded message and its respective retrieval cues are important during this stage to prevent forgetting as supported by psychological theories and the practice of psychotherapy and hypnosis. Therefore, during the process of retrieval, recollection and reaccessing of encoded and stored events and information helps to rerun the respective neural activity to relive the original experience (Sternberg, Robert and Karin, 2016). This may be through the contentiously superior recognition criteria or recall methods, which utilize association or remembrance processes respectively.
4.2
Short-term memory holds active information for processing and remembrance lasting up to a minute while long-term memory stores information for an almost indefinite amount of time. Whereas this only happens under normal circumstances, these two kinds of storage can be affected by various illnesses that limit the reliability and efficiency of performing their functions (Sternberg, Robert and Karin, 2016). For instance, short-term memory can be affected by illnesses such as epilepsy, amnesia, depression, trauma, stroke and infections such as syphilis and tuberculosis. Long-term memory, on the other hand, may be hampered by dementia, hypothyroidism, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and head trauma. These illnesses affect the cognition and memory in a variety of ways and can be treated, although some, such as Alzheimer's and stroke can only be controlled.
4.3
Additionally, psychologists have established that the development of a child's mental cognition can be influenced by prenatal experiences (Shaffer, David and Katherine, 2013). Previously, it was believed that children were not capable of learning and keeping memories until they were around three years. Recently, infants were observed to keep memories of prenatal experiences and learn from them. In this way, prenatal learning and memory affect a child's development in a number of ways.
According to experimental research studies, children can mimic and respond to stimuli experienced during pregnancy such as sounds and play. Likewise, a mother's feelings and moods have been observed to affect the mental states of unborn children (Shaffer, David and Katherine, 2013). Therefore, the early pre-natal experiences affect the structure of the child's mind which consequently impacts on the intelligence, personality and sense of well-being later in life. Owing to the pivotal nature of such factors in the lifespan development of the child, pre-natal experiences such as maternal depression, stress, anxiety, happiness and environment affect the child directly through perceived stimuli and indirectly through maternal hormones and neurotransmitters which affect the development of the brain and consequently overall wellbeing. In this way, a child's development is highly affected by their pre-natal experiences.
4.4
Moreover, a child's brain has been studied to be different from an adult's in their organization and operation (Shaffer, David and Katherine, 2013). In regard to the brain's structure, children's neural connections are more reliant on their proximity to each other as opposed to adults. Consequently, the brain is underdeveloped at birth and continues to form numerous connections throughout childhood until adolescence. At this stage, synaptic pruning occurs which results in the elimination of connections that are deemed not necessary. This is not the case in adults who have fully formed brains and whose structural organization cannot be changed. These organizational differences account for the likelihood of psychological disorders in adolescent children due to inaccurate synaptic pruning.
Also, the operation of the adult brain is different from a child's. According to research, a child's working memory has a capacity of retaining 1.3 objects as opposed to 3 to 4 objects in adults. This is due to operational differences where a child's brain easily learns but is not able to carry out complex mental processes as opposed to an adult's brain. In this way, the cognitive powers such as multi-tasking and empathy of an adult are higher although a child is more capable of recovering from brain injury through reassignment of functions as opposed to an adult (Shaffer, David and Katherine, 2013). This can be used to explain why its easier for children to learn new languages without an accent unlike adults while adults can process multiple packets of information.
4.5
Child psychology deals with the mind and behaviour in relation to social, emotional, physical and mental development in children (Shaffer, David and Katherine, 2013). It is therefore highly reliant on the memory and brain function in various ways. For instance, memory is important in the construction of gender roles, rational behaviour, social growth and language. On the other hand, brain function affects cognitive development, personality development and mental health which directly influences the psychology of children. In this way, children need to be mentally competent as well as exercise optimal remembrance so as to exhibit high psychological outcomes in regard to society, religion, emotions, physical and mental activity.
In conclusion, cognition and memory are essential not only to the development and competency of children and adults, but also the understanding of mental processes for illnesses therapy and remediation. Furthermore, the various types of memory give insight for the betterment of learning processes and reinforcement of programs such as education. Also, the various influences and differences help psychologists and society to optimize gains in regard to mental states for better development. In this way, insight into memory and cognition is critical to the evaluation of psychology in children as well as adults.
Works Cited
Shaffer, David R., and Katherine Kipp. Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. Cengage Learning, 2013.
Sternberg, Robert J., and Karin Sternberg. Cognitive psychology. Nelson Education, 2016.
