Nature,Nurture and PDP: Preposterous Developmental Postulates? |
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| Authors: | ANNETTE KARMILOFF-SMITH |
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| Affiliation: | MRC Cognitive Development Unit , 17 Gordon Street, London , WC1H OAH , England, UK E-mail: annette@cdu.ucl.ac.uk. |
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| Abstract: | In this article I discuss the nature/nurture debate in terms of evidence and theorizing from the field of cognitive development, and pinpoint various problems where the Connectionist framework needs to be further explored from this perspective. Evidence from normal and abnormal developmental phenotypes points to some domain-specific constraints on early learning. Yet, by invoking the dynamics of epigenesis, I avoid recourse to a strong Nativist stance and remain within the general spirit of Connectionism. |
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| Keywords: | Connectionism consciousness developmental neuroscience domain-general domain-specific epigenesis explicit implicit modularization nature nurture |
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