Facilitating Social Cognitive Development Case Study

cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex and age are all related to each other, studies can use attention to gauge the development of those two structures and vice versa. It is important to know about the prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex and how they affect attention because it can be used to identify ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) earlier than it is now, as ADHD is typically not diagnosed until a child begins school (Reynolds & Richards, 2008). I believe early identification can better improve the child’s education as the proper help can be given earlier. If help is given at an earlier time when the brain structures are still malleable, hopefully the assistance can improve the child’s disorder and put them on the same learning trajectory as their peers. …show more content…
In the previously mentioned study about habituation, the parents held the infants and an important aspect of this is that the parents were blindfolded so they could not see the stimuli being shown to the infants and not influence the infants. This type of attention infants display is called joint attention and it is incredibly important in facilitating social cognitive development. Joint attention allows infants to learn about social cues implicitly. To be clear, joint attention is when an infant and another being attend to the same stimulus. There are two types of joint attention – responding to joint attention (RJA) where the infant is “follow[ing] the direction of the gaze and gestures of others” and initiating joint attention (IJA) where the infant is the one who is trying to obtain and direct another person’s attention to the stimulus (Mundy & Newwll, 2007). Out of the two types, RJA occurs