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Processes of change in brain and cognitive development.
Mark H Johnson1, Yuko Munakata
1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7JL, UK. mark.johnson@bbk.ac.uk
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|March 2, 2005
Summary
Cognitive development relies on learning systems like error-driven and constructivist approaches. These mechanisms, shaped by various constraints, lead to specialized brain representations and processing streams, potentially integrated by language.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Understanding cognitive development requires examining the mechanisms driving change.
- Learning systems, including error-driven, self-organizing, and constructivist models, are central to development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advances in the mechanisms of change in cognitive development.
- To explore how learning systems are constrained and how these constraints shape developing representations.
Main Methods:
- Review of theoretical frameworks and empirical findings on learning mechanisms.
- Analysis of how intrinsic factors, brain systems, and environmental influences constrain learning.
- Examination of representational transformations during development.
Main Results:
- Learning mechanisms are constrained by intrinsic, neural, and environmental factors.
- Constrained learning results in the transformation of representations.
- Representations become more specialized and localized, leading to dissociated processing streams.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive development involves the evolution of specialized and localized neural representations.
- Dissociated processing streams with complementary functions emerge during development.
- Language may play a crucial role in integrating these processing streams in human development.