Mind in the making: The origins of human cognition
(Honors Course # 289K)
Fall, 2006
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30 - 10:45
Location: BPS 1124
Instructor: Amanda Woodward (awoodward@psyc.umd.edu, BPS 2147B)
Office hours: M, W 11:00-12:00 or by appointment.

Course Description

Human beings are unique among species in their ability to think abstractly and flexibly, and to create and use symbol systems such as language. In this seminar, we will seek insight into these abilities by considering their developmental origins. In the first years of life, children's thinking undergoes dramatic change. For nearly a century, researchers have sought to understand the causes of these developmental changes. We will survey both classic and contemporary approaches to these issues. We will consider the contributions of nature and nurture, the extent to which cognition differs across cultures, and the insights that can be gleaned from comparisons across species and from atypical developmental in people. The seminar will involve active group discussion and analysis of the course readings, with weekly lectures to set the stage for discussion. Assignments will include weekly essays, in-class presentations and a final exam.

Attendance

Because this seminar will rely on the active analysis of course readings during class discussion, attendance and participation are essential both to getting something from the class and for the course grade.

Assignments

Readings. The readings for the course will be drawn from both the primary literature and the book Cognitive Development (4th Edition), by John Flavell, Patricia Miller and Scott Miller. This book can be purchased at the UMD bookstore. Each week, 2-4 primary papers or chapters are assigned. Students are to complete all the readings for the week prior to Monday's class and prior to writing and submitting the weekly essay (see below). Readings will be made available via electronic reserve at McKeldin Library.

Essays. Students will write short (2 pages, double spaced, no smaller than 12 pt font) essays most weeks. On Wednesdays, the essay topic for the following week will be distributed at the end of class. Essays are to be handed in at the beginning of class on Monday. Late essays will not be accepted. The first essay will be due on Monday September 11, 2006. Essays will not be assigned for the "student led" discussion weeks.

Leading class discussion. For 10 meetings during the semester, the discussion will be led by students working together in groups of 3 or 4. Each student will play this role 2 times during the course of the semester. Discussion leaders will present the assigned materials for the week and lead the class discussion. Leaders are expected to go beyond the readings in preparing the presentation. For example, they may present supporting materials (e.g. videos of experimental procedures, photos of stimuli) that they have found on the web (e.g. Science's website for supporting materials, or the research websites of the relevant scientists). Presenters might also read one or more additional articles, cited in the assigned papers, and present relevant information to the class. The presenters for each week will meet with the instructor after class on Wednesday of the prior week to begin planning their presentations. All students are required to do the assigned readings for student presentation weeks. Discussion leaders will be encouraged to call on their classmates in leading discussion.

Exam

There will be a final exam at the scheduled time during exam week.

Grading

Late assignments will not be accepted and missed assignments cannot be made up except under exceptional circumstances. Students who anticipate a course conflict due to religious observance should contact me well in advance to make alternative arrangements. The final grade will be based on the weekly writing assignments (33%), leading class discussion (33%), and the final exam (33%).

Academic integrity

It is assumed that students are aware of the University of Maryland's standards for academic integrity and that they understand the consequences of academic dishonesty. If you do not, please consult the university's web pages, the graduate catalog or the course registration booklet to become familiar with these issues.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a documented disability, please contact the instructor by the first week of class so that we can make arrangements for the necessary accommodations.

Course schedule

(This is a working version. Revisions may occur as the semester unfolds.)

Week 1:

Wednesday August 30:: Introduction, organization and course overview

Week 2: Development, nature and nurture

Monday, September 4:Labor Day NO CLASS

Wednesday, September 6:Lecture and discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 1: Introduction

McClintock, M. (1979). Innate behavior is not innate. Signs, 4, 703-710.

Week 3: Perceiving a coherent world

Monday, September 11:Lecture (First essay due)

Wednesday, September 13:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 2: Infant Perception

Gibson, E. J. & Pick, A. D. (2000). An ecological approach to perceptual learning and development: Chapter 7: What infants learn about- Locomotion and the spatial layout (pp. 103-133). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Week 4: Do infants think?

Monday, September 18:Lecture (Essay due)

Wednesday, September 20:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 3: Infant Cognition

Spelke, E. S., Breinlinger, K., Macomber, J. (1992). Origins of knowledge. Psychological Review, Vol 99(4), 605-632.

Week 5: Student Discussion Week: Nature, nurture and the infant's social world

Monday, September 25:Perceiving people

Johnson, M. H. (1992). Imprinting and the development of face recognition: From chick to man. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol 1(2). 52-55.

Pascalis, O., de Haan, M., & Nelson, C. A. (2002). Is face processing species-specific during the first year of life? Science, 296(5571), 1321-1323.

Wednesday, September 27:Understanding people

Meltzoff, A.N. (2005). Imitation and Other Minds: The "Like Me" Hypothesis. In S.

Week 6: The child's conception of everyday reality

Monday, October 2:Lecture (Essay due)

Wednesday, October 4:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 4: Representation and concepts

Gelman, S. A. & Markman, E M. (1986). Categories and induction in young children. Cognition, 23, 183-209.

Week 7: The rational child

Monday, October 9:Lecture (Essay due)

Wednesday, October 11:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 5: Reasoning and problem solving

Piaget, J. (1964). Development and learning. In R. E. Ripple and V. N. Rockcastle (eds.) Piaget rediscovered, a report on the Conference on Cognitive Studies and Curriculum Development, (pp. 228-237).

Week 8: Student Discussion Week: Truth, a child's view

Monday, October 16:Fact vs. fantasy

Harris, P.l L.; Pasquini, E. S.; Duke, S. (2006). Germs and angels: The role of testimony in young children's ontology. Developmental Science, 9:1, 76-96.

Woolley, J. D., Boerger, E. A. & Markman, A. B. (2004). A visit from the Candy Witch: factors influencing young children's belief in a novel fantastical being. Developmental Science 7:4, 456-468.

Wednesday: October 18 :Moral Truth

Helwig, C. C. & Turiel, E. (2002). Children's social and moral reasoning. In P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.) Blackwell handbook of childhood social development (pp. 475-490). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Week 9: The child's conception of the social world

Monday, October 23:Lecture (Essay due)

Wednesday, October 25:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 6: Social cognition

Wimmer, H. & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children. Cognition, 13, 103-128.

Week 10: Student Discussion Week: Extreme variations in social reasoning

Monday, October 30:Autism

Baron-Cohen, S. (1997). Mindblindess: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Chapter 1:Mindblindness and mindreading (pp. 1-7) and Chapter 5: Autism and mindblindess (pp. 59-84). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Woolley, J. D., Boerger, E. A. & Markman, A. B. (2004). A visit from the Candy Witch: factors influencing young children's belief in a novel fantastical being. Developmental Science 7:4, 456-468.

Wednesday, November 1:Psychopaths

Blair, R. J. R. (2003). Did Cain fail to represent the thoughts of Abel before he killed him? The relationship between theory of mind and aggression. In Repacholi, B & Slaughter, V. (Eds.) Individual differences in theory of mind: Implications for typical and atypical development (pp. 143-170).

Week 11: Memory

Monday, November 6:Lecture (Essay due)

Wednesday, November 8:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 7: Memory

Bauer, P. (1996). What do infants recall of their lives? Memory for specific events by one- to two-year-olds. American Psychologist, 51(1), 29-41.

Week 12: Student Discussion Week: What do children recall of their lives?

Monday, November 13:Autobiographical memory and infantile amnesia

Simcock, G. & Hayne, H. (2002). Breaking the barrier? Children fail to translate their preverbal memories into language. Psychological Science, 13(3), 225-231.

Wang, Q. (2003). Infantile amnesia reconsidered: A cross-cultural analysis Memory,11(1), 65-80.

Wednesday, November 15:False memories in children

Principe, G. F., Kanaya, T., Ceci, S. J. (2006). Believing is Seeing: How Rumors Can Engender False Memories in Preschoolers. Psychological Science, 17(3), 243-248.

Brainerd, C. J.; Reyna, V. F (2002). Recollection rejection: How children edit their false memories. Developmental Psychology, 38(1), 156-172.

Week 13: Brain and mind in development

Monday, November 20:Lecture and discussion (Essay due)

Wednesday, November 22:NO CLASS Happy Thanksgiving

Johnson, M. H. (2005). Developmental cognitive neuroscience. Chapter 1: The biology of change (pp. 1-18), Chapter 2: Building a brain (pp. 20-52). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publshing.

Week 14: Language

Monday, November 27:Lecture (Essay due)

Wednesday, November 29:Discussion

Flavell, Miller & Miller. Chapter 8: Language

Berko, J. (1978). The child's learning of English morphology. In L. Bloom (ed.), Readings in Language Development. New York: Wiley, 39-59.

Week 15: Student Discussion Week: Language with and without language input

Monday, December 4:Critical periods in language development

Newport, E. L., Bavelier, D., Neville, H. J. (2001). Critical thinking about critical periods: Perspectives on a critical period for language acquisition: In E. Dupoux (Ed.) Language, brain, and cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jacques Mehler (pp. 481-502). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Wednesday, December 6:Language creation in the absence of input

Senghas, A., Kita, S., Özyürek, A., (2004). Children Creating Core Properties of Language: Evidence from an Emerging Sign Language in Nicaragua. Science, 305(5691), 1779-1782.

Goldin-Meadow, S., Feldman, H. (1977). The development of language-like communication without a language model. Science, 197(4301), 401-403

Week 16:

Monday, December 11:Review Session