Neuroscience of Cognitive Development The Role of Experience and the Developing Brain

by Nelson, Charles A.; Thomas, Kathleen M.; de Haan, Michelle D. H.

• ISBN13: 9780471745860
• ISBN10: 0471745863
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-21
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

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.

Author Biography

CHARLES A. NELSON III, PhD, is Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, holds the Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research at Children's Hospital Boston, and is the Director of Research in the Developmental Medicine Center, Children's Hospital Boston. His research is concerned with developmental cognitive neuroscience broadly defined, with specific interests in the effects of early experience on brain-behavior development, in memory development, and in the development of face processing.

MICHELLE de HAAN, PhD, is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Child Health, Birkbeck College, University of London. Dr. de Haan's main area of research is the neural basis of visual recognition and long-term memory. She is the Associate Editor of Developmental Science.

KATHLEEN M. THOMAS, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. Dr. Thomas applies neurophysiological techniques, such as MRI, to address the interaction among multiple neural systems involved in learning.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Introduction: Why should developmental psychologists be interested in the brain?       

1. Brain Development and Neural Plasticity.                                                     

2. Neural Plasticity.                                  

3. Methods of Cognitive Neuroscience.

4. The Development of Speech and Language.

5. The Development of  Declarative (or Explicit) Memory.

6. The Development of  Nondeclarative (or Implicit) Memory.

7. The Development of  Spatial Cognition.

8. The Development of  Object Recognition.

9. The Development of  Social Cognition.

10. The Development of  Higher Cognition (Executive) Funtions.

11. The Development of  Attention.

12. The Future of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

References.

Index.