Recently, a new field of developmental cognitive/socio-affective neuroscience has emerged at the crossroads of Developmental Psychology and Neuroscience, linked to new advances in neuroimaging and electrophysiological measures. This paper presents arguments and evidence from a variety of research areas to illustrate the potential strength of the neuroscience approach to the study of developmental phenomena. In particular, it is argued that adding neurological data to our theorisation of change may produce several beneficial effects: a) bringing new light to old topics; b) refining complex psychological constructs, and c) developing research areas that contemplate several levels of analysis, from genes to contextual influences. Finally, some reflections are presented on the challenges involved in adapting to new technologies and building new theoretical proposals. It is concluded that these challenges are worthwhile because they could potentially bring an end to the polarisation in our discipline between cognitive and sociocultural approaches by encompassing both within a more comprehensive view of developmental processes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AylwardE. H.ParkJ. E.FieldK. M.ParsonsA. C.RichardsT. L.CramerS. C.MeltzoffA. N. (2005). Brain activation during face perception: Evidence of a developmental change.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 308–319.
2.
Baron-CohenS.WheelwrightS.HillJ.RasteY.PlumbI. (2001). The “reading the mind in the eyes” test revised version: A study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 42 (2), 241–251.
3.
BlakemoreSChoudhuryS. (2006). Brain development during puberty: state of the science.Developmental Science, 9 (1), 11–14.
BurunatE. (2004). El desarrollo del sustrato neurobiológico de la motivación y emoción en la adolescencia: ¿un nuevo período crítico?Infancia y Aprendizaje, 27 (1), 87–104.
6.
CairnsR. B.LeungM.-C.GestS. D.CairnsB. D. (1995). A brief method for assessing social development: structure, reliability, stability, and developmental validity of the interpersonal Competence Scale.Behavioral Research Therapy, 33, 725–7.
7.
CasanovaG. M.DomanicJ.MccanneT. R.MilnerJ. (1994). Physiological responses to child stimuli in mothers with and without a history of physical abuse.Child Abuse & Neglect, 18, 995–1004.
8.
CaseyB. J.CohenJ. D.JezzardP.TurnerR.NollD. C.TrainorR. J.GieddJ.KaysenD.Hertz-PannierL.RapoportJ. L. (1995). Activation of prefrontal cortex in children during a nonspatial working memory task with functional MRI.Neuroimage, 2, 221–229.
9.
CaseyB. J.ThomasK. M.DavidsonM. C.KunzK.FranzenP. L. (2002). Dissociating striatal and hippocampal function developmentally with a Stimulus-Response compatibility task.Journal of Neuroscience, 22, 8647–8652.
10.
CaspiA.McclayJ.MoffittT. E.MillJ.MartinJ.CraigI. W.TaylorA.PoultonR. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children.Science, 297, 851–854.
11.
CicchettiD.CurtisW. J. (2005). An event-related potential study of the processing of affective facial expressions in young children who experienced maltreatment during the first year of life.Development and Psychopathology, 17, 641–677.
12.
DahlR. E.SpearL. P. (2004). Adolescent brain development: Vulnerabilities and opportunities.New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
13.
DaviesP. L.SegalowitzS. J.GavinW. J. (2004). Development of Error Monitoring ERPs in Adolescents.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1021, 324–328.
14.
DavisM. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44 (1), 113–126.
De HaanM.JohnsonM. H. (2003). The cognitive neuroscience of development.London: Psychology Press.
17.
De HaanM.ThomasK. M. (2002). Applications of ERP and fMRI techniques to developmental science.Developmental Science, 5, 335–343.
18.
De VegaM.GraesserA.GlenbergA. (2008). Symbols and embodiment. Debates on meaning and cognition.Oxford: Oxford university Press.
19.
EisenbergerN. I.LiebermanM. D.WilliamsK. D. (2003). Does rejection hurt: An fMRI study of social exclusion.Science, 302, 290–292.
20.
EisenbergerN. I.WayB. M.TaylorS. E.WelchW. T.LiebermanM. D. (2007). Understanding genetic risk for aggression: Clues from the brain's response to social exclusion.Biological Psychiatry, 61, 1100–1108.
21.
FarahM. J.RabinowitzC.QuinnG. E.LiuG. T. (2000). Early commitment of neural substrates for face recognition.Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17, 117–123.
22.
FischerK. W. (1987). Relations between brain and cognitive development.Child Development, 58, 623–632.
23.
FlemingA. S.CorterC.StallingsJ.SteinerM. (2002). Testosterone and prolactin are associated with emotional responses to infant cries in new fathers.Hormones and Behavior, 42, 399–413.
24.
FriedericiA. D. (2005). Neurophysiological markers of early language acquisition: from syllables to sentences.Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9 (10), 481–488.
25.
FrickP. J.BarryC. T.BodinS. D. (2000). Applying the concept of psychopathy in children: Implications for the assessment of antisocial youth. In GaconoC. B. (Ed.), The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy (pp. 3–24). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
26.
HammockE. A. D.LevittP. (2006). The discipline of Neurobehavioral Development: The emerging interface of processes that build circuits and skills.Human Development, 49, 294–309.
27.
HoffmanM. L. (1984). Interaction of affect and cognition in empathy. In IzardC. E.KaganR. B. (Eds.), Emotions, cognition, and behavior (pp. 103–131). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.
JustM. (2008). What brain imaging can tell us about embodied meaning. In De VegaM.GraesserA.GlenbergA. (Eds.), Symbols and embodiment. Debates on meaning and cognition (pp. 75–84). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
29.
Karmiloff-SmithA. (1998). Development itself is the key to understanding developmental disorders.Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2 (10), 389–398.
30.
LewisM. D.LammC.SegalowitzS. J.StiebenJ.ZelazoP. D. (2006). Neurophysiological correlates of emotion egulation in children and adolescents.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18 (3), 430–443.
31.
LewisM. D.StiebenJ. (2004). Emotion Regulation in the Brain: Conceptual Issues and Directions for Developmental Research.Child Development, 75, 371–376.
32.
LorberbaumJ. P.NewmanJ. D.HorwitzA. R.DubnoJ. R.LydiardR. B.HamnerM. B.BohningD. E.GeorgeM. S. (2002). A potential role for thalamocingulate circuitry in human maternal behavior.Biological Psychiatry, 51, 431–445.
33.
LuriaA. (1973) The working brain: An Introduction to Neuropsychology.London: Peguin Books.
34.
MareschalD.JohnsonM. H.SiroisS.SpratlingM.ThomasM.WestermannG. (2007). Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35.
MarrD. (1982). Vision.San Francisco: Freeman.
36.
MoffitT. E. (1993). Adolescent-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy.Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
37.
NelsonC. A.De HaanM.ThomasK. M. (2006). Neural bases of cognitive development. In DamonW.LernerR.KuhnD.SieglerR. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed.), Vol. 2: Cognition, perception and language (pp. 3–57). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.
38.
NelsonC. A.MoulsonM. C.RichmondJ. (2006). How Does Neuroscience Inform the Study of Cognitive Development?Human Development, 49, 260–272.
OchsnerK. N. (2004). Current directions in social cognitive neuroscience.Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14, 254–258.
41.
OlivaA. (2004). La adolescencia como riesgo y oportunidad.Infancia y Aprendizaje, 21 (1), 115–122.
42.
PapousekH. (2000). Intuitive parenting. In OsofskyJ. D.FitzgeraldH.E. (Eds.), Parenting and Child Care, Vol 3, Handbook of Infant Mental Health (pp. 310–321). New York: John Wiley.
43.
ParkerS. W.NelsonC. A.BEIP CORE GROUP (2005). The impact of early institutional rearing on the ability to discriminate facial expressions of emotion: An event-related potential study.Child Development, 16, 1–19.
44.
PfeiferJ. H.IacoboniM.MazziottaJ. C.DaprettoM. (2008). Mirroring others' emotions relates to empathy and interpersonal competence in children.Neurolmage, 39, 2076–2085.
45.
PollakS. D.CicchettiD.HornungK.ReedA. (2000). Recognizing emotion in faces: Developmental effects of child abuse and neglect.Developmental Psychology, 36, 679- 688.
46.
PosnerM. I.FanJ. (2008). Attention as an Organ System. In PomerantzJ. R. (Ed.), Topics in Integrative Neuroscience: From Cells to Cognition (pp. 31–61). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
47.
PulvermüllerF. (2008). Grounding language in the brain. In de VegaM.GraesserA.GlenbergA. (Eds.), Symbols and embodiment. Debates on meaning and cognition (pp. 85–116). oxford: oxford university Press.
48.
RizzolattiG.CraigheroL. (2004). The Mirror-Neuron System.Annual Review of Neuroscience.21, 169–192.
49.
RodrigoM. J.LeónI.QuiñonesA.LageA.ByrneS.BobesM. A. (in press). Brain and personality basis of insensitivity to infant cues in neglectful mothers: An ERP study. Development and Psychopathology.
50.
RothbartM. K.EllisL. K.RuedaM. R.PosnerM. I. (2003). Developing mechanisms of conflict resolution.Journal of Personality, 71 (6), 1113–1143.
51.
RothbartM. K.EllisL. K.PosnerM. I. (2004). Temperament and self-regulation. In BaumeisterR. F.VohsK. D. (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 357–370). New York: Guilford Press.
52.
RothbartM. K.PosnerM. I. (2005). Genes and experience in the development of executive attention and effortful control. In JensenL. A.LarsonR. W. (Eds.), New horizons in developmental theory and research (pp. 101–108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
53.
RothbartM. K.RuedaM. R. (2005). The development of effortful control. In MayrU.AwhE.KeeleS. (Eds.), Developing individuality in the human brain: A tribute to Michael I. Posner (pp. 167–188). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
54.
RuedaM. R.FanJ.MccandlissB.HalparinJ. D.GruberD. B.PappertL.PosnerM. I. (2004). Development of attentional networks in childhood.Neuropsychologia, 42, 1029–1040.
55.
RuedaM. R.PosnerM. I.RothbartM. K. (2004). Attentional control and self-regulation. In BaumeisterR. F.VohsK. D. (Eds.), Handbook of self regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 283–300). New York: Guilford Press.
56.
RuffH. A.RothbartM. K. (1996). Attention in early development: Themes and variations.New York: Oxford University Press.
57.
SadurníM.RostanC. (2004). La importancia de las emociones en los períodos sensibles del desarrollo.Infancia y Aprendizaje, 21 (1), 105–114.
58.
SeifritzE.EspositoF.NeuhoffJ. G.LuthiA.MustovicH.DammannG.Von BardelebenU.RadueE. W.CirilloS.TedeschiG.Di SalleF. (2003). Differential sex-independent amygdale response to infant crying and laughing in parents versus non-parents.Biological Psychiatry, 54, 1367–1375.
59.
SheeseB. E.VoelkerP. M.RothbartM. K.PosnerM. I. (2007). Parenting quality interacts with genetic variations in Dopamine Receptor D4 to influence temperament in early childhood.Development and Psychopathology, 19, 1039–1046.
60.
SteinbergL. (2007). Risk-taking in adolescence: New perspectives from brain and behavioral science.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 55–59.
61.
SwainJ. E.LeckmanJ. F.MayesL. C.FeldmanR.ConstableR. T.SchultzR. T. (2004). Neural substrates and psychology of human parent-infant attachment in the postpartum.Biological Psychiatry, 55, 153S.
62.
SwainJ. E.LorberbaumJ. P.KoseS.StrathearnL. (2007). Brain basis of early parent-infant interactions: psychology, physiology, and in vivo functional neuroimaging studies.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 262–287.
63.
SzücsD.GoswamiU. (2007). Educational neuroscience: Defining a new discipline for the study of mental representations.Mind, Brain and Education, 1, 114–127.
64.
TaylorM. J.BattyM.ItierR. J. (2004). The faces of development: A review of early face processing over childhood.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1426–1442.
65.
Van VeenV.CarterC. S. (2002). The timing of action monitoring processes in the anterior cingulate cortex.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 593–602.
