Beyond Modularity A Developmental Perspective on Cognitive Science

Author/creator Karmiloff-Smith, Annette Author
Format Electronic
EditionReprint
Publication InfoCambridge : MIT Press
Description252 p. ill 09.000 x 06.000 in.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from eBooks on EBSCOhost
Subjects

SeriesLearning, Development and Conceptual Change Ser.
Summary Annotation <p>Taking a stand midway between Piaget's constructivism and Fodor's nativism, Annette Karmiloff-Smith offers an exciting new theory of developmental change that embraces both approaches. She shows how each can enrich the other and how both are necessary to a fundamental theory of human cognition.Karmiloff-Smith shifts the focus from what cognitive science can offer the study of development to what a developmental perspective can offer cognitive science. In Beyond Modularity she treats cognitive development as a serious theoretical tool, presenting a coherent portrait of the flexibility and creativity of the human mind as it develops from infancy to middle childhood.Language, physics, mathematics, commonsense psychology, drawing, and writing are explored in terms of the relationship between the innate capacities of the human mind and subsequent representational change which allows for such flexibility and creativity. Karmiloff-Smith also takes up the issue of the extent to which development involves domain-specific versus domain-general processes. She concludes with discussions of nativism and domain specificity in relation to Piagetian theory and connectionism, and shows how a developmental perspective can pinpoint what is missing from connectionist models of the mind.Formerly a research collaborator of Piaget and Inhelder at Geneva University, Annette Karmiloff-Smith is Senior Research Scientist with Special Appointment at the MRC Cognitive Development Unit in London, and Professor of Psychology at University College, London.</p>
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
ISBN9780262611145
ISBN0262611147 (Trade Paper) Active Record
Standard identifier# 9780262611145
Stock number00015994

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Electronic Resources Access Content Online ✔ Available