Skip to main content

Cognitive Development

The Descriptive Problem

  • Chapter
Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience

Abstract

Students of cognitive development, Piaget being the major example, have sought the essence of the child’s thinking at different points during development, aiming to describe how the 3-year-old (or 7-year-old or 13-year-old) thinks differently from the adult. Only when at least the outlines of this description have been sketched can the business of explaining cognitive development begin. Unfortunate1y, there is no consensus on this matter: specifying how the 3-year-old differs from the adult turns out to be an extremely difficult task.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Braine, M., & Shanks, B. The conservation of shape property and a proposal about the origin of the conservations. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1965, 19, 197-207. (a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Braine, M., & Shanks, B. The development of conservation of size. Journal of Verbal Learning anti Verbal Behavior, 1965, 4, 227-242. (b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S., Olver, R., & Greenfield, P. M. Studies in cognitive growth. New York: Wiley, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, P. Perception and understanding in young children. New York: Basic Books, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullock, M., Gelman, R., & Baillergeon, R. The development of causal reasoning. In W. J. Friedman, (Ed.), The developmental psychology of time. New York: Academic Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caramazza, A., McCloskey, M., & Green, B. Naive beliefs in "sophisticated" subjects: Misconceptions about trajectories of objects. Cognition, 1981, 9, 117 - 123.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S. Are children little scientists with false theories of the world? Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S. The child as word learner. In J. Bresnan, G. Miller, & M. Halle (Eds.), Linguistic theory anti psychological reality. Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 1978, pp. 264 - 293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S. Semantic development, state of the art. In E. Wanner & L. Gleitman (Eds.), Language acquisition: state of rhe art. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S. Semantic development, state of the art. In E. Wanner & L. Gleitman (Eds.), Language acquisition: state of rhe art. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S., & Block, N. Conceptual change in children and scientists. Paper presented at the Piaget Society, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Case, R. Structures and strictures: Some functional limitations on the course of cognitive growth. Cognitive Psychology, 1974, 6, 544 - 573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chi, M., Glaser, R., & Rees, E. Expertise in problem solving. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence. HillsdaJe, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chipman, S., SegaJ, J., & Glaser, R. (Eds.). Thinkingand learning skills (Vol. I ). HillsdaJe, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clement, J. Students' preconceptions in introductory mechanics. American Journal of Physics, 1982, 50 (1), 66 - 71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Vries, R. Constancy of generic identity in the years three to six. Society for Research in Child Development Monographs, 1969,34, No. 3 (Serial No. 127).

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, R., Carey, S., & Back, K. Genetic influences on the development of spatial skills during early adolescence. Cognition, 1983, 13, 167 - 185.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dickenson, D. The developmenr of children' s undersranding of materials: A study of theory construction and conceptual development. Doctoral thesis, Harvard University, June 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • di Sessa, A. Unlearning Aristotelian physics: A study of knowledge-based leaming. Cognitive Science, 1982, 6, 37 - 75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egido, C. The functional role of closed class vocabulary in children' s language processing. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feyerabend, P. Expanation, reduction and empiricism. In H. Feigl & G. Maxwell (Eds.), Minnesota studies in philosophy of science (Vol. 3 ). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1962, pp. 28 - 97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J. H. The developmental psychology of Jean Piaget. Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J. Cognitive development. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, J., Flavell, E., & Green, F. Development of the appearance-reality distinction. Cognitive Psychology, 1983, 15 (1), 95 - 120.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. How to learn to talk, some simple ways. In F. Smith & G. Miller (Eds.), The genesis of language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. Some reflections on L. S. Vygotsky's Thought and language. Cognition, 1972, 1, 83 - 95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. Language of thought. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelman, R., & Gallistel, C. The child' s understanding of number. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, N. R. Patterns of discovery: An inquiry into the conceptual foundations of science. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1961.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, P. Inferences and semantic development. Journal of Child Language, 1975, 2, 143 - 152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York: Basic Books, 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. The early growth of logic in the child. New York: Norton, 1964.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karmiloff-Smith, A., & Inhelder, B. If you want to get ahead, get a theory. Cognition, 1975, 3 (3), 195 - 212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J. Semantic theory. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. Concepts of cause. In T. S. Kuhn (Ed.), The essential tension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. (a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. Tbe function of measurement in modern physicaJ science. In T. S. Kuhn (Ed.), The essential

    Google Scholar 

  • tension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. (b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkin, J. H. The role of problem representation in physics. In D. Gentner & S. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liberman, I., Shankweiler, D., Fischer, F., & Carter, B. Explicit syllable and phoneme segmentation in the young child. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 1974, 18, 201 - 212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markman, E. Empirical versus logical solutions to part-whole comparison problems concerning classes and collections. Child Development, 1978, 49, 168 - 177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markman, E. M. Two different principles of conceptual organization. In M. E. Lamb & A. L. Brown (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (Vol. 1 ). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markman, E., & Callanan, M. Analysis of hierarchical classification. In R. Stemberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence (Vol. 2 ). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markman, E. M., Horton, M. S., & McLanahan, A. G. Classes and collections: Principles or organization in the leaming of hierarchical relations. Cognition, 1980, 8, 227 - 241.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McKie, D., & Heathcote, N. The discovery of specijic and latent heats. London: Edward Amold and Company, 1935.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. Spontaneous apprentices: Children and language. New York: Seabury Press, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osherson, D. N. Organization of length and class concepts: Empirical consequences of a Piagetian formalism. Potomac, Md.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osherson, D., & Markman, E. Language and the ability to evaluate contradictions and tautologies. Cognition,19753(3), 213-226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papandropoulou, I., & Sinclair, H. What is a word? Human Development, 1974, 17, 241 - 258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, C. Inhelder and Piaget's The growth of logical thinking: A logician's viewpoint. British Journal of Psychology, 1960, 51, 75 - 84.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. The language and the thought of the child. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Wor1d, 1926.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. The child's conception of the world. Totowa, N.J.: Littlefield, Adams, 1929.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. The moral judgment of the child. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1932.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. The child's conception of number. New York: W. W. Norton, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. The child's conception of physical causality. Totowa, N.J.: Liltlefield, Adams, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. The child's conception of space. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. The child' s construction of quantities. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinker, S. Formal models of language leaming. Cognition, 1979, 7 (3), 217 - 283.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosch, E., Mervis, c., Gray, W., Johnson, D., & Boyes-Braem, P. Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 1976, 3, 382 - 439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, G. Categorization in 1- to 2-year-olds. Developmental Psychology, 1980, 16, 391 - 396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T. R. Rules of causal attribution (SRCD Monograph). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapere, D. Meaning and scientific change. In R. Colodny (Ed.), Mind and cosmos. Piltsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966, pp. 41 - 85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. Children's understanding of natural language hierarchies. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1979, 27, 437 - 458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. A study of the differentiation of the concepts of size and weight. Paper presented to the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. E., & Medin, D. Concepts and categories. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, S., Stavy, R.,& Onpaz, N. The child' s development of the concept of temperature. Unpublished manuscript, Tel-Aviv University, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suppe, F. The structure of scientijic theories. Urbana: University of llJinois Press, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toulmin, S. The philosophy of science: An introduction. London: Hutehinson, 1953.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. Thought and language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1962.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winner, E. New names for old things: The emergence of metaphoric language. Journal of Child Language, 1976, 6, 469 - 491.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiser, M., & Carey, S. When heat and temperature were one. In D. Gentner & A. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models New York: Academic Press, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1984 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Carey, S. (1984). Cognitive Development. In: Gazzaniga, M.S. (eds) Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2177-2_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2177-2_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2179-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2177-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics