Charles A. Nelson - Böcker

A new understanding of cognitive development from the perspective of neuroscience This book provides a state-of-the-art understanding of the neural bases of cognitive development. Although the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience is still in its infancy, the authors effectively demonstrate that our understanding of cognitive development is and will be vastly improved as the mechanisms underlying development are elucidated. The authors begin by establishing the value of considering neuroscience in order to understand child development and then provide an overview of brain development. They include a critical discussion of experience-dependent changes in the brain. The authors explore whether the mechanisms underlying developmental plasticity differ from those underlying adult plasticity, and more fundamentally, what distinguishes plasticity from development. Having armed the reader with key neuroscience basics, the book begins its examination of the neural bases of cognitive development by examining the methods employed by professionals in developmental cognitive neuroscience. Following a brief historical overview, the authors discuss behavioral, anatomic, metabolic, and electrophysiological methods. Finally, the book explores specific content areas, focusing on those areas where there is a significant body of knowledge on the neural underpinnings of cognitive development, including:* Declarative and non-declarative memory and learning* Spatial cognition* Object recognition* Social cognition* Speech and language development* Attention development For cognitive and developmental psychologists, as well as students in developmental psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive development, the authors' view of behavioral development from the perspective of neuroscience sheds new light on the mechanisms that underlie how the brain functions and how a child learns and behaves.

The implications of early experience for children’s brain development, behavior, and psychological functioning have long absorbed caregivers, researchers, and clinicians. The 1989 fall of Romania’s Ceausescu regime left approximately 170,000 children in 700 overcrowded, impoverished institutions across Romania, and prompted the most comprehensive study to date on the effects of institutionalization on children’s wellbeing. Romania’s Abandoned Children, the authoritative account of this landmark study, documents the devastating toll paid by children who are deprived of responsive care, social interaction, stimulation, and psychological comfort.Launched in 2000, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) was a rigorously controlled investigation of foster care as an alternative to institutionalization. Researchers included 136 abandoned infants and toddlers in the study and randomly assigned half of them to foster care created specifically for the project. The other half stayed in Romanian institutions, where conditions remained substandard. Over a twelve-year span, both groups were assessed for physical growth, cognitive functioning, brain development, and social behavior. Data from a third group of children raised by their birth families were collected for comparison.The study found that the institutionalized children were severely impaired in IQ and manifested a variety of social and emotional disorders, as well as changes in brain development. However, the earlier an institutionalized child was placed into foster care, the better the recovery. Combining scientific, historical, and personal narratives in a gripping, often heartbreaking, account, Romania’s Abandoned Children highlights the urgency of efforts to help the millions of parentless children living in institutions throughout the world.

This volume provides an introduction to current research on the relation between brain development and the development of cognitive, linguistic, motor, and emotional behavior. At least two audiences will benefit from this book: psychologists interested in brain development, and neuroscientists interested in behavioral development. Although each chapter is content-oriented, the volume as a whole provides a well integrated summary of the latest findings from developmental behavioral neuroscience.

As in recent years, a thematic concept was selected over a general one for the 26th annual Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology. In this case the relation between memory and affect was targeted for two reasons. The first concerned the a priori theoretical relation between these content areas. The second concerned the observation that memory and affect have historically been studied as separate content areas--an unfortunate decision considering the potential of each area to inform the other. To redress this, investigators working on the relation between memory and affect were identified. Their presentations are also anchored by one or two presentations on either memory or affect. Those familiar with the broader domain of developmental psychology will readily identify this volume in the series as filling the void left by the lack of integration across domains of study.

Psychology's recent immersion in risk research has introduced a new variant in which the focus is not solely on disease, but also on the effects and consequences produced by the multiple aspects of risk on individual adaptation. Variations in such patterns of adaptation signal the entrance of protective factors as an added element to the clinical and research focus in the prediction of positive versus negative outcomes under the duress of stressful experiences. Given psychology's investment in the entire range of human adaptation--embracing severe disorder at one extreme and strong positive adaptations at the other--it is not surprising to find this new element of compensatory protective factors as a reshaping factor in the field of risk research. It is one that recognizes and studies the relevance of risk influences on disorder, but also focuses on recovery from disorder or the absence of disorder despite the presence of risk. This latter element implicates the notion of "resilience." It is this opening of the field of risk research that seems to bear the heavy and welcome imprint of psychology. Fundamental to the study of protective factors in development, however, is a broad knowledge base focused on risk factors that often contain the healthy development of infants and children. This volume reflects a continuation of the concerns of the Institute of Child Development with the nature and content of development in multiple contexts. It comes at a most welcome point since the Institute--in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Department of Psychology--now participates in a jointly shared graduate training program in clinical psychology which stimulates and supports the growth of a newly emergent developmental psychopathology. For this field to advance will require a broad perspective and acceptance of the significance of the diversity of risk factors that extends throughout the life span and results in developmental trajectories that implicate various biological, psychological, and sociocultural risk elements.

Although current views of cognitive development owe a great deal to Jean Piaget, this field has undergone profound change in the years since Piaget's death. This can be witnessed both in the influence connectionist and dynamical system models have exerted on theories of cognition and language, and in how basic work in cognitive development has begun to influence those who work in applied (e.g., educational) settings. This volume brings together an eclectic group of distinguished experts who collectively represent the full spectrum of basic to applied aspects of cognitive development. This book begins with chapters on cognition and language that represent the current Zeitgeist in cognitive science approaches to cognitive development broadly defined. Following a brief commentary on this work, the next section turns to more applied issues. Although the focus here is on arithmetic learning, the research programs described have profound implications for virtually all aspects of education and learning. The last chapter views cognitive development from the perspective of ethology and evolutionary biology, and in so doing provides a theoretical perspective that is novel and in some ways, prescient: specifically, how can our views of cognition incorporate recent work in biology?

There has been a burgeoning of interest in the relation between biological development--particularly brain development--and behavioral development. This shift in focus does a better job of reflecting the whole child and all of development. Not surprisingly, many of the individuals who are concerned with the theoretical side of brain-behavior relations are also concerned with the more practical side. The chapters that comprise this 31st volume of the Minnesota Symposium series collectively capture the subtle dance between the biological and behavioral aspects of early adversity as it influences neurobehavioral development. Individuals interested in this volume represent the disciplines of developmental psychology and psychopathology, child psychiatry, toxicology, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, behavioral neurology, and special education.

This is the 33rd volume in the Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology held in October 2002. The symposium was held to honor the scientific and mentoring contributions of Anne Danielson Pick and Herbert L. Pick, Jr.--two longtime and beloved professors of the Institute of Child Development. It focused on "Action as an Organizer of Learning and Development" and integrated the best and most innovative research on the role of action in perceiving and understanding. Taken together, the book captures the intellectual excitement that characterized the 33rd symposium and appeals to developmental psychologists, particularly those interested in perceptual development.

There has been a burgeoning of interest in the relation between biological development--particularly brain development--and behavioral development. This shift in focus does a better job of reflecting the whole child and all of development. Not surprisingly, many of the individuals who are concerned with the theoretical side of brain-behavior relations are also concerned with the more practical side. The chapters that comprise this 31st volume of the Minnesota Symposium series collectively capture the subtle dance between the biological and behavioral aspects of early adversity as it influences neurobehavioral development. Individuals interested in this volume represent the disciplines of developmental psychology and psychopathology, child psychiatry, toxicology, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, behavioral neurology, and special education.

This is the 33rd volume in the Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology held in October 2002. The symposium was held to honor the scientific and mentoring contributions of Anne Danielson Pick and Herbert L. Pick, Jr.--two longtime and beloved professors of the Institute of Child Development. It focused on "Action as an Organizer of Learning and Development" and integrated the best and most innovative research on the role of action in perceiving and understanding. Taken together, the book captures the intellectual excitement that characterized the 33rd symposium and appeals to developmental psychologists, particularly those interested in perceptual development.

This volume provides an introduction to current research on the relation between brain development and the development of cognitive, linguistic, motor, and emotional behavior. At least two audiences will benefit from this book: psychologists interested in brain development, and neuroscientists interested in behavioral development. Although each chapter is content-oriented, the volume as a whole provides a well integrated summary of the latest findings from developmental behavioral neuroscience.

Psychology's recent immersion in risk research has introduced a new variant in which the focus is not solely on disease, but also on the effects and consequences produced by the multiple aspects of risk on individual adaptation. Variations in such patterns of adaptation signal the entrance of protective factors as an added element to the clinical and research focus in the prediction of positive versus negative outcomes under the duress of stressful experiences. Given psychology's investment in the entire range of human adaptation--embracing severe disorder at one extreme and strong positive adaptations at the other--it is not surprising to find this new element of compensatory protective factors as a reshaping factor in the field of risk research. It is one that recognizes and studies the relevance of risk influences on disorder, but also focuses on recovery from disorder or the absence of disorder despite the presence of risk. This latter element implicates the notion of "resilience." It is this opening of the field of risk research that seems to bear the heavy and welcome imprint of psychology. Fundamental to the study of protective factors in development, however, is a broad knowledge base focused on risk factors that often contain the healthy development of infants and children. This volume reflects a continuation of the concerns of the Institute of Child Development with the nature and content of development in multiple contexts. It comes at a most welcome point since the Institute--in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Department of Psychology--now participates in a jointly shared graduate training program in clinical psychology which stimulates and supports the growth of a newly emergent developmental psychopathology. For this field to advance will require a broad perspective and acceptance of the significance of the diversity of risk factors that extends throughout the life span and results in developmental trajectories that implicate various biological, psychological, and sociocultural risk elements.

As in recent years, a thematic concept was selected over a general one for the 26th annual Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology. In this case the relation between memory and affect was targeted for two reasons. The first concerned the a priori theoretical relation between these content areas. The second concerned the observation that memory and affect have historically been studied as separate content areas--an unfortunate decision considering the potential of each area to inform the other. To redress this, investigators working on the relation between memory and affect were identified. Their presentations are also anchored by one or two presentations on either memory or affect. Those familiar with the broader domain of developmental psychology will readily identify this volume in the series as filling the void left by the lack of integration across domains of study.

Although current views of cognitive development owe a great deal to Jean Piaget, this field has undergone profound change in the years since Piaget's death. This can be witnessed both in the influence connectionist and dynamical system models have exerted on theories of cognition and language, and in how basic work in cognitive development has begun to influence those who work in applied (e.g., educational) settings. This volume brings together an eclectic group of distinguished experts who collectively represent the full spectrum of basic to applied aspects of cognitive development. This book begins with chapters on cognition and language that represent the current Zeitgeist in cognitive science approaches to cognitive development broadly defined. Following a brief commentary on this work, the next section turns to more applied issues. Although the focus here is on arithmetic learning, the research programs described have profound implications for virtually all aspects of education and learning. The last chapter views cognitive development from the perspective of ethology and evolutionary biology, and in so doing provides a theoretical perspective that is novel and in some ways, prescient: specifically, how can our views of cognition incorporate recent work in biology?