As its title implies, in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, we will consider cognitive neuroscience from a developmental perspective. Because the structure and function of an organ always reflects the developmental history of that organ, a developmental perspective is invaluable in the effort to understand the structure and function of the brain. In this course, we will focus on illuminating human development, using evidence obtained in studies of humans, animals, and connectionist networks. This evidence has been reported in the scientific literature that is rapidly growing at the intersection of the fields of cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychobiology, and computer science. In particular, we will use information obtained using psychobiological techniques and connectionist networks to understand the developments seen in cognition, perception, and behavior from conception through the acquisition of language.
The course will begin by exploring some of the questions that traditionally motivate developmentalists. In this section, we will discuss the theoretical debates brewing in the field, including those on the continuity and source of development, and the extent of domain specificity, localization of function, and encapsulation in the brain.
The next section of the course will cover neuroembryology, and so will elucidate how brains are built prenatally. In this section, we will see the complex nature of gene-environment interactions that occur in the epigenetic development of the brain. Since we will focus on the relationships between neural and behavioral developments throughout the course, the section will conclude with a consideration of behavioral embryology.
The next few classes will introduce the concepts used in the creation of computer models of the development of human cognition. These models offer an alternative approach to studying cognitive development, one that provides data that complement those collected in psychobiological studies. There will be four “labs” associated with this course, in which some of the basics of connectionist network programming will be studied. After re-creating a few of the more successful computer models of the development of human cognition, the value of this approach will become clear.
The primary central section of the course will involve the presentation of psychobiological data that address a variety of topics currently being explored by developmental psychologists and neuroscientists. Topics to be covered will include language acquisition, the development of binocular vision and of visual attention, the development of the concept of object permanence, the development of habituation and memory, the development of sensory integration and cross modal matching, and the development of face recognition.
In the final section of the course we will return to more theoretical questions. In particular, we will consider the effects on brain development of pre- and post-natal experience, in the context of discussions of critical periods (as in visual development) and plasticity (as in learning and recovery from focal brain injury). Finally, we will consider how human brain development can occur the way it does, and why it occurs as slowly as it does. By the conclusion of this course, students will have a deeper appreciation of the way in which traditional questions in development are yielding to new psychobiological paradigms.