focus on relevant
stimuli. The next two are called
Simultaneous and Successive processing
and they involve encoding, transforming, and retaining
information. Simultaneous processing
is engaged when the relationship between items and their integration into
whole units of information is required.
Examples of this include recognizing
figures, such as a triangle within a circle vs. a circle within a triangle, or
the difference between 'he had a shower before breakfast' and 'he had breakfast before a shower.'
Successive processing is required for organizing separate items in a sequence such as remembering a sequence of words
or actions
exactly in the order in which they had just been presented.
These four processes are functions of four areas of the brain.
"Children between 2 years, 6 months old and 3 years, 2 months old correctly discriminate the relative number of objects in two rows; between 3 years, 2 months and 4 years, 6 months they indicate a longer row with fewer objects to have "more"; after 4 years, 6 months they again discriminate correctly"
Initially younger children were not studied, because if at the age of four years a child could not conserve quantity, then a younger child presumably could not either.
The results show however that children that are younger than three years and two months have quantity conservation,
but as they get older they lose this quality, and do not recover it until four and a half years old. This attribute may be lost temporarily because of an overdependence on perceptual strategies,
which correlates more candy with a longer line of candy, or because of the inability for a four-year-old to reverse situations.
By the end of this experiment several results were found. First, younger children have a discriminative ability that shows the logical capacity for cognitive
operations exists earlier than acknowledged. This study also reveals that young children can be equipped with certain qualities for cognitive operations, depending on how logical the structure of the task is.
Research also shows that children develop explicit understanding at age 5 and as a result, the child will count the sweets to decide which has more.
Finally the study found that overall quantity conservation is not a basic characteristic of humans' native inheritance
Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development expand Piaget's theory in various ways such as also considering psychometric-like factors such as processing speed and working memory, "hypercognitive" factors like self-monitoring, more stages, and more consideration on how progress may vary in different domains such as spatial or social
Intelligence across cultures
Psychologists have shown that the definition of human intelligence is unique to the culture that one is studying
. Robert Sternberg is among the researchers who have discussed how one's culture affects
the person's interpretation of intelligence, and he further believes that to define intelligence in only one way without considering different meanings in cultural contexts may cast an investigative and unintentionally egocentric view on the world.
To negate this, psychologists offer the following definitions of intelligence:
Successful intelligence is the skills and knowledge needed for success in life, according to one's own definition of success, within one's sociocultural context.
Analytical intelligence is the result of intelligence's components applied to fairly abstract but familiar kinds of problems.
Creative intelligence is the result of intelligence's components applied to relatively novel tasks and situations.
Practical intelligence is the result of intelligence's components applied to experience for purposes of adaption, shaping and selection.
Although typically identified by its western definition, multiple studies support the idea that human intelligence carries different meanings
across cultures around the world.
In many Eastern cultures, intelligence is mainly related with one's social roles and responsibilities. A Chinese conception of intelligence would define it as the ability to empathize with and understand others
— although this is by no means the only way that intelligence is defined in China. In several African communities, intelligence is shown similarly through a social lens.
However, rather than through social roles, as in many Eastern cultures, it is exemplified through social responsibilities. For example, in the language of Chi-Chewa, which is spoken by some ten million people across central Africa, the equivalent term for intelligence implies not only cleverness but also the ability to take on responsibility.
Furthermore, within American culture there are a variety of interpretations of intelligence present as well. One of the most common views on intelligence within American societies defines it as a
combination of problem-solving skills, deductive reasoning skills, and Intelligence quotient (IQ),
while other American societies point out that intelligent people should have a social conscience, accept others for who they are, and be able to give advice or wisdom.
