Let's put the research in the context of other cognitive findings. Here's what I would speculate.
1) Abstracting the experience: A three year old's brain is learning to abstract elements of the experience.
2) Associative modeling: It then uses that associative "this is like / not-like" comparison of a new situation to the stored model.
3) Time: The kid's sense of present-versus-future is still developing; this goes back to babies enjoying presence-absence a.k.a. peek-a-boo play.
4) Linear sense of time - I'm sure you know adults who can't order things into a linear time sequence. Planning is a learned, not an innate, ability that is best learned before the teen years.
5) Models - How well a kid uses models from the prefrontal cortex is also critical to that kid's control of impulsivity. Thoughtful kids may seem to be hesitant with new situations, and probably easily overwhelmed (overstimulated)with sensory input, compared to the kids we call impulsive (or worse).
6) Decisions: The kid's ability to make logical (causal) predictions (decisions) depends on its yet developing sophistication to decide if the stored model fits the situation.
7) Creativity: The child's mind wants to explore and learn - i.e., test its models, change the models, create new models, or go out into the cold without that prescribed coat.
8) Our role: We should encourage play and provide an emotionally safe environment for the experimentation - i.e., the child's intellect to develop.
9) Under the hood: The brain's prefrontal cortex abstracts experiences and constructs a logical model: If this, then this. Alternatively, the amygdala might create an emotional model - especially from traumatic situations - for a more visceral or instantaneous reaction.
10) "Intuition" is the sophisticated ability to make a decision by quickly retrieving the best-fit model for that situation; BTW, consider how your sensibility might change if the English language did not have a future verb tense: then, consider that the Japanese language doesn't!
I've found it fun and useful (www.matrixed.org) to track these studies on cognitive development.
Let's put the research in the context of other cognitive findings. Here's what I would speculate.
1) Abstracting the experience: A three year old's brain is learning to abstract elements of the experience. 2) Associative modeling: It then uses that associative "this is like / not-like" comparison of a new situation to the stored model. 3) Time: The kid's sense of present-versus-future is still developing; this goes back to babies enjoying presence-absence a.k.a. peek-a-boo play. 4) Linear sense of time - I'm sure you know adults who can't order things into a linear time sequence. Planning is a learned, not an innate, ability that is best learned before the teen years. 5) Models - How well a kid uses models from the prefrontal cortex is also critical to that kid's control of impulsivity. Thoughtful kids may seem to be hesitant with new situations, and probably easily overwhelmed (overstimulated)with sensory input, compared to the kids we call impulsive (or worse). 6) Decisions: The kid's ability to make logical (causal) predictions (decisions) depends on its yet developing sophistication to decide if the stored model fits the situation. 7) Creativity: The child's mind wants to explore and learn - i.e., test its models, change the models, create new models, or go out into the cold without that prescribed coat. 8) Our role: We should encourage play and provide an emotionally safe environment for the experimentation - i.e., the child's intellect to develop. 9) Under the hood: The brain's prefrontal cortex abstracts experiences and constructs a logical model: If this, then this. Alternatively, the amygdala might create an emotional model - especially from traumatic situations - for a more visceral or instantaneous reaction. 10) "Intuition" is the sophisticated ability to make a decision by quickly retrieving the best-fit model for that situation; BTW, consider how your sensibility might change if the English language did not have a future verb tense: then, consider that the Japanese language doesn't!
It's fun keeping tabs on these studies and they've been useful to understanding adult decision making processes (see www.matrixed.org ).
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Let's put the research in the context of other cognitive findings. Here's what I would speculate.
1) Abstracting the experience: A three year old's brain is learning to abstract elements of the experience.
2) Associative modeling: It then uses that associative "this is like / not-like" comparison of a new situation to the stored model.
3) Time: The kid's sense of present-versus-future is still developing; this goes back to babies enjoying presence-absence a.k.a. peek-a-boo play.
4) Linear sense of time - I'm sure you know adults who can't order things into a linear time sequence. Planning is a learned, not an innate, ability that is best learned before the teen years.
5) Models - How well a kid uses models from the prefrontal cortex is also critical to that kid's control of impulsivity. Thoughtful kids may seem to be hesitant with new situations, and probably easily overwhelmed (overstimulated)with sensory input, compared to the kids we call impulsive (or worse).
6) Decisions: The kid's ability to make logical (causal) predictions (decisions) depends on its yet developing sophistication to decide if the stored model fits the situation.
7) Creativity: The child's mind wants to explore and learn - i.e., test its models, change the models, create new models, or go out into the cold without that prescribed coat.
8) Our role: We should encourage play and provide an emotionally safe environment for the experimentation - i.e., the child's intellect to develop.
9) Under the hood: The brain's prefrontal cortex abstracts experiences and constructs a logical model: If this, then this. Alternatively, the amygdala might create an emotional model - especially from traumatic situations - for a more visceral or instantaneous reaction.
10) "Intuition" is the sophisticated ability to make a decision by quickly retrieving the best-fit model for that situation; BTW, consider how your sensibility might change if the English language did not have a future verb tense: then, consider that the Japanese language doesn't!
I've found it fun and useful (www.matrixed.org) to track these studies on cognitive development.
Let's put the research in the context of other cognitive findings. Here's what I would speculate.
1) Abstracting the experience: A three year old's brain is learning to abstract elements of the experience.
2) Associative modeling: It then uses that associative "this is like / not-like" comparison of a new situation to the stored model.
3) Time: The kid's sense of present-versus-future is still developing; this goes back to babies enjoying presence-absence a.k.a. peek-a-boo play.
4) Linear sense of time - I'm sure you know adults who can't order things into a linear time sequence. Planning is a learned, not an innate, ability that is best learned before the teen years.
5) Models - How well a kid uses models from the prefrontal cortex is also critical to that kid's control of impulsivity. Thoughtful kids may seem to be hesitant with new situations, and probably easily overwhelmed (overstimulated)with sensory input, compared to the kids we call impulsive (or worse).
6) Decisions: The kid's ability to make logical (causal) predictions (decisions) depends on its yet developing sophistication to decide if the stored model fits the situation.
7) Creativity: The child's mind wants to explore and learn - i.e., test its models, change the models, create new models, or go out into the cold without that prescribed coat.
8) Our role: We should encourage play and provide an emotionally safe environment for the experimentation - i.e., the child's intellect to develop.
9) Under the hood: The brain's prefrontal cortex abstracts experiences and constructs a logical model: If this, then this. Alternatively, the amygdala might create an emotional model - especially from traumatic situations - for a more visceral or instantaneous reaction.
10) "Intuition" is the sophisticated ability to make a decision by quickly retrieving the best-fit model for that situation; BTW, consider how your sensibility might change if the English language did not have a future verb tense: then, consider that the Japanese language doesn't!
It's fun keeping tabs on these studies and they've been useful to understanding adult decision making processes (see www.matrixed.org ).