The Development Of Sensory, Motor And Cognitive Capacities In Early Infancy: From Sensation To Cognition

by Butterworth,George

• ISBN13: 9780863775123
• ISBN10: 0863775128
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Psychology Pres

Summary

Research on the development of human infants has revealed remarkable capacities in recent years. Instead of stressing the limitations of the newborn, the modern approach is now more optimistically based on an assessment of the adaptive capabilities of the infant. Innate endowment, coupled with interaction with the physical and social environment, enables a developmental transition from processes deeply rooted in early perception and action to the cognitive and language abilities typical of the toddler. This book reviews a number of issues in early human development. It includes a reconceptualization of the role of perception at the origins of development, a reconciliation of psychophysical and ecological approaches to early face perception, and building bridges between biological and psychological aspects of development in terms of brain structure and function. Topics covered include basic exploratory processes of early visual perception, the control of eye movements, two visual systems in earlyperception and action; face perception in newborns, species typical aspects of human communication, imitation, perception of the phonetic structure of speech, origins of the pointing gesture, handedness origins and development, theoretical contributions on perception and cognition, implicit and explicit knowledge in babies; sensory-motor coordination and cognition, information processing and cognition, perception, habituation and the development of intelligence from infancy.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	xi	(2)
Preface	xiii
PART I The visual system in early development	1	(66)
1. The `where and what' or `who and how' of visual development	3	(22)
Janette Atkinson
Development of specific cortical modules	6	(5)
Development of integration and segmentation	11	(4)
Development of subcortical and cortical attentional systems controlling head and eye movements	15	(3)
Do we always find a clear association between brain structure and behaviour in development?	18	(1)
Summary	19	(1)
Acknowledgements	20	(1)
References	20	(5)
2. Learning what is where: Oculomotor contributions to the development of spatial cognition	25	(24)
Rick O. Gilmore
Mark H. Johnson
Introduction	25	(2)
Spatial information processing in oculomotor behaviour	27	(4)
Neural bases of visuospatial information	31	(6)
Frames of reference for infants' saccades	37	(4)
Oculomotor constraints on the development of spatial cognition	41	(1)
Acknowledgements	42	(1)
References	43	(6)
3. The establishment of gaze control in early infancy	49	(18)
Claes von Hofsten
Kerstin Rosander
Methods for studying gaze control in infants	50	(1)
Tracking eye movements	51	(6)
The role of head movements in tracking	57	(4)
Compensating for head movements unrelated to the looking task	61	(1)
Discussion	62	(3)
Acknowledgements	65	(1)
References	65	(2)
PART II Face perception: Psychological and neurological models	67	(76)
4. The origins of face perception	69	(18)
Ian W.R. Bushnell
Introduction	69	(3)
Mother recognition and feature manipulation	72	(4)
Speed of early perceptual learning	76	(1)
Delay and recognition	77	(2)
Faces as special	79	(2)
Sensory-ecology model	81	(2)
Conclusion	83	(1)
References	83	(4)
5. Mechanisms underlying face preference at birth	87	(16)
Francesca Simion
Eloisa Valenza
Carlo Umilta
Are faces special?	87	(2)
Operations involved in face processing	89	(1)
Face preference in newborns	90	(2)
Empirical evidence	92	(4)
Conclusion	96	(3)
Acknowledgements	99	(1)
References	99	(4)
6. About functional cortical specialization: The development of face recognition	103	(18)
Scania de Schonen
J. Mancini
Frederique Leigeois
Introduction	103	(2)
Processing and memorizing patterns	105	(3)
Processing and memorizing individual physiognomies: the emergence of specialization?	108	(1)
The right hemisphere advantage and the various modes of processing	109	(1)
Some convergent factors	110	(1)
Early regional specialization versus overall diffusion of signals and processing systems	111	(3)
Regular daily exposure to faces does not suffice to account for face-processing development	114	(1)
Conclusion	115	(1)
Acknowledgement	116	(1)
References	116	(5)
7. Visual sensory and perceptual abilities of the newborn: Beyond the blooming, buzzing confusion	121	(22)
Alan Slater
Scott P. Johnson
Introduction	121	(1)
Sensory and perceptual functioning	122	(6)
Visual organization at and near birth	128	(9)
Conclusion	137	(1)
Acknowledgements	138	(1)
References	138	(5)
PART III Perception, action and communication	143	(94)
8. Neonatal, early and later imitation: Same order phenomena?	145	(16)
Olga Maratos
Newborn and early imitation	146	(2)
Later infant imitation	148	(2)
Imitation, cognition and representation	150	(4)
Thinking and affect in psychoanalytic theories	154	(3)
Conclusion	157	(1)
References	158	(3)
9. Initial capacities for speech processing: Infants' attention to prosodic cues to segmentation	161	(10)
Josiane Bertoncini
Some characteristics of speech development	161	(1)
From universal to language specific: the problem of segmentation	162	(2)
Are infants sensitive to any kind of speech unit?	164	(1)
Prosody and speech segmentation	165	(1)
Are neonates sensitive to prosodic cues for segmentation?	166	(1)
Conclusion	167	(1)
Acknowledgements	168	(1)
References	168	(3)
10. What is special about pointing in babies?	171	(20)
George Butterworth
Introduction	171	(1)
Joint visual attention as a precursor of pointing	171	(6)
Comprehension of pointing in babies	177	(3)
Production of pointing in babies and chimpanzees	180	(2)
Are the origins of pointing in prehension or in communication?	182	(3)
Pointing and the transition to language	185	(1)
Conclusion	186	(1)
Acknowledgements	187	(1)
References	187	(4)
11. Human handedness: Developmental, and evolutionary perspectives	191	(46)
Brian Hopkins
Louise Ronnqvist
Introduction	191	(1)
The past and its legacy	192	(1)
The ontology of handedness	193	(1)
The evolutionary origins of handedness	194	(11)
The developmental origins of human handedness	205	(20)
The development of handedness: the newborn and beyond	220	(4)
Concluding remarks	224	(2)
Acknowledgement	226	(1)
References	226	(11)
PART IV Perception and cognition	237	(96)
12. From perception to action: The early development of knowledge	239	(18)
Gavin Bremner
The evidence for early ability	240	(5)
Direct perception, dynamic systems theory, and perception-action coupling	245	(4)
The implicit-explicit distinction	249	(1)
Developmental processes	250	(3)
References	253	(4)
13. Sensory-motor coordinations: Their relation to cognition	257	(20)
Henriette Bloch
The models	258	(4)
Facts recorded in early infancy	262	(11)
To come back to theories	273	(1)
References	274	(3)
14. An information-processing approach to infant perception and cognition	277	(24)
Leslie B. Cohen
Acknowledgements	298	(1)
References	298	(3)
15. Stability in mental development from early life: Methods, measures, models, meanings, and myths	301	(32)
Marc H. Bornstein
Introduction	301	(1)
Methods and measures	302	(8)
Models	310	(4)
Meanings	314	(7)
Myths	321	(3)
Conclusions	324	(1)
Acknowledgements	324	(1)
References	324	(9)
Author index	333	(14)
Subject index	347