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Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience
This volume in the JPS Series is intended to help crystallize the emergence of a new field, "Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience," aimed at elucidating the neural correlates of the development of socio-emotional experience and behavior. No one any longer doubts that infants are born with a biologically based head start in accomplishing their important life tasks––genetic resources, if you will, that are exploited differently in different contexts. Nevertheless, it is also true that socially relevant neural functions develop slowly during childhood and that this development is owed to complex interactions among genes, social and cultural environments, and children’s own behavior. A key challenge lies in finding appropriate ways of describing these complex interactions and the way in which they unfold in real developmental time. This is the challenge that motivates research in developmental social cognitive neuroscience.
The chapters in this book highlight the latest and best research in this emerging field, and they cover a range of topics, including the typical and atypical development of imitation, impulsivity, novelty seeking, risk taking, self and social awareness, emotion regulation, moral reasoning, and executive function. Also addressed are the potential limitations of a neuroscientific approach to the development of social cognition.
Intended for researchers and advanced students in neuroscience and developmental, cognitive, and social psychology, this book is appropriate for graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses on social cognitive neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, social development, and cognitive development.
The chapters in this book highlight the latest and best research in this emerging field, and they cover a range of topics, including the typical and atypical development of imitation, impulsivity, novelty seeking, risk taking, self and social awareness, emotion regulation, moral reasoning, and executive function. Also addressed are the potential limitations of a neuroscientific approach to the development of social cognition.
Intended for researchers and advanced students in neuroscience and developmental, cognitive, and social psychology, this book is appropriate for graduate seminars and upper-level undergraduate courses on social cognitive neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, social development, and cognitive development.
- GenresNeuroscience
372 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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May 22, 2013
I read the text to answer a question I had, which was 'to what extent should I be using knowledge from cognitive science in my thinking about education?' and the specific text, although aimed at research and graduate level, was recommended and cited in a number of Harvard works and studies.
The details are fascinating and there is a no doubt that there is a huge volume of useful research underway. By using MRI scans to 'observe' areas of the brain used in thinking in various contexts, it is clear that there is extensive mapping of primary areas used and developed at different ages. An example is 'evidence suggests in general adolescent 'reward anticipation' emerges before maturity of their outcome processing as noted by Casey, Getz and Galvan...[and] 'response inhibition is weaker in adolescents than in adults...' yet even here, the researcher asks 'What can practitioners do with such evidence?' and the answer is not much.
Carpendale et al. comment that 'it is a truism that there must be a neural basis to any form of human activity, including morality' but go on to quote that this is as useful as saying 'oxygen and water underlies personality, since oxygen and water also underlie everything the brain does'. This is obviously an extreme point, but the whole collection of essays by absolute leaders in the field repeated hesitates to go beyond 'may be correlated' or pointing out the 'infancy' of the discipline and the fact that even the smallest unit of neuronal measurement is in clumps of millions of neurones so relies on very gross estimates of what might be happening.
It seems clear that this is a frontier of human knowledge that could not be more important. The discovery of mirror neurones does seem to shed light on our ability to empathise with others, as does the fascinating discovery that the pain of social exclusion uses the exact same part of the brain as physical pain... but these are all correlates, and it seems a long journey is needed to effectively and simply use the knowledge gained here to support learning in the classroom.
An interesting and potentially helpful emphasis is the emotional nature of cognition and learning, and whilst not offering us much insight into pedagogy or learning, does remind us that relationships and emotional environments in the classroom are tremendously important.
The details are fascinating and there is a no doubt that there is a huge volume of useful research underway. By using MRI scans to 'observe' areas of the brain used in thinking in various contexts, it is clear that there is extensive mapping of primary areas used and developed at different ages. An example is 'evidence suggests in general adolescent 'reward anticipation' emerges before maturity of their outcome processing as noted by Casey, Getz and Galvan...[and] 'response inhibition is weaker in adolescents than in adults...' yet even here, the researcher asks 'What can practitioners do with such evidence?' and the answer is not much.
Carpendale et al. comment that 'it is a truism that there must be a neural basis to any form of human activity, including morality' but go on to quote that this is as useful as saying 'oxygen and water underlies personality, since oxygen and water also underlie everything the brain does'. This is obviously an extreme point, but the whole collection of essays by absolute leaders in the field repeated hesitates to go beyond 'may be correlated' or pointing out the 'infancy' of the discipline and the fact that even the smallest unit of neuronal measurement is in clumps of millions of neurones so relies on very gross estimates of what might be happening.
It seems clear that this is a frontier of human knowledge that could not be more important. The discovery of mirror neurones does seem to shed light on our ability to empathise with others, as does the fascinating discovery that the pain of social exclusion uses the exact same part of the brain as physical pain... but these are all correlates, and it seems a long journey is needed to effectively and simply use the knowledge gained here to support learning in the classroom.
An interesting and potentially helpful emphasis is the emotional nature of cognition and learning, and whilst not offering us much insight into pedagogy or learning, does remind us that relationships and emotional environments in the classroom are tremendously important.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review