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Author Spotlight: Implications of Non-Nutritive Sucking on Speech Emergence and Infant Development

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Is nativism sufficient?

¹Department of Psychology, New York University, NY 10003.

Journal of Child Language

|February 1, 1994

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The empiricism-nativism debate persists due to conflicting developmental science tasks. Understanding innate cognitive and linguistic primitives requires explaining their emergence, a role learning can fulfill.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Developmental Psychology
Linguistics

Background:

The empiricism-nativism debate questions the origin of ideas and cognitive structures.
Chomsky's concept of innate linguistic universals challenged traditional empiricist views.
Current nativist positions often neglect the explanation of how innate structures develop.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze the current state of the empiricism-nativism debate.
To explore the tension between identifying cognitive primitives and explaining their development.
To propose a role for the study of learning in addressing nativist limitations.

Main Methods:

Philosophical analysis of empiricism and nativism.
Examination of Chomsky's influence on the debate.
Argument for integrating learning into developmental explanations.

Main Results:

The empiricism-nativism distinction is blurred by modern nativism.
Nativism struggles to account for the emergence of postulated innate structures.
The study of learning can reduce the number of innate primitives needing explanation.

Conclusions:

The empiricism-nativism debate remains active due to unresolved developmental challenges.
A comprehensive understanding requires explaining the origin of innate primitives, not just identifying them.
Reintegrating the study of learning is crucial for a more complete theory of cognitive development.