Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: An Introduction(Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroscience)

Developmental cognitive neuroscience is concerned with the relation between the growing brain and the development of mental processes. Bringing together recent advances in molecular biology, neural networks, and brain imaging, this interdisciplinary field is rapidly expanding and offers a cohesive account of the construction of the human mind. This book is the first comprehensive single-authored introduction to the field, and reviews the current state of knowledge in the context of an integrative theoretical framework within which the plasticity and maturation of the brain are analysed.A central theme of the book is that while there is no evidence of innate cognitive representations in the cortex, the type and location of representation that subsequently emerge are constrained by several factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to the infant. Further, the elongated postnatal development of the human brain reveals a differential development of neural architecture that can be used to make predictions about sequences of cognitive development. The book also outlines a number of avenues for future research.

Table of Contents:
Preface. 1. The Biology of Change. 2. Building a Brain. 3. Domains of Cognitive Development I: Vision, Orienting, and Attention. 4. Domains of Cognitive Development II: Face Recognition and Social Cognition. 5. Domains of Cognitive Development III: Memory. 6. Domains of Cognitive Development IV: Language and Reading. 7. Domains of Cognitive Development V: Frontal Cortex, Object Permanence and Planning. 8. Domains of Cognitive Development VI: Lateralization. 9. Representational Change in Development. 10. Toward an Integrated Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Index.

About the Author :
Mark Johnson has "Special Appointment" status at the Cognitive Development Unit and is Professor of Psychology at University College, London.

Review :
"There is a real lack of texts in the area of developmental cognitive neuroscience and Mark Johnson's book thus fills and important gap. It takes a decidedly neurocomputational perspective and provides a wonderful synthesis of fundamental issues and an overview of the state of empirical knowledge in this emerging field. It is definitely a clarion call for a new way of doing both developmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience." - Professor Bruce Pennington, University of Denver "A major topic of this generation of research is to understand the interaction between environment and genetics every level from molecules to the behaviour of organisms. Johnson effectively argues that at the intermediate level of analysis present in cognitive neuroscience we will be able to illuminate this interaction during the course of development. This volume reviews evidence and organizes it in a way that allows one to see how behavioural and physiological experiments with humans and other organisms can help answer very general psychobiological issues. By illuminating basic issues of development this book is as important for students and researchers at the adult level as it is for students of infancy and childhood." - Professor Mike Posner, University of Oregon