On Cognitive Development.

Comments on "The Course of Cognitive Development," by J. S. Bruner (see record 1964-06801-001). Certainly many issues to developmental psychology emerge from consideration of Bruner's genetic approach to cognitive growth. This comment seeks to clarify certain basic differences in theory and methodology between the Harvard and Genevan cognitive growth projects that have the common purpose of investigating the underlying processes which control the transition from one mode of thinking to another. Theoretical differences centering on the nature of developmental changes resulted in differences in the kind of transition studied as well as in the conclusions regarding the processes underlying the cognitive learning. The current authors share Bruner's general theoretical concept of development as an integrative process and agree that information-processing techniques are of great importance in the study of cognitive development. However, it seems necessary to emphasize that information-processing techniques have several aspects of which Bruner and his co-workers have studied only some. Information-processing techniques seem to consist, on the one hand, of selection, of storage, and of retrieval of relevant cues. On the other hand, these techniques imply transformation of information and its coordination. The latter is the fundamental concern of the Genevan project. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)