Advanced Psychology: Seminar in Cognitive
(PSYC498H/PSYC679A)
Spring, 2006
Time: Tuesday, 2:00-4:30
Location: BPS 2147B
Instructor: Amanda Woodward

awoodward@psyc.umd.edu

BPS 2147B

Office Hours: Thursday 12:00-2:00 or by appointment 301-405-1258

Course Description

In the first years of life, childrenÕs cognition undergoes dramatic qualitative and quantitative change. For nearly a century, experimental psychologists have sought to understand the nature and causes of these developmental changes. This course surveys classic and current approaches to the study of cognitive development in infants and children. We will begin with a review of the major theoretical perspectives from which cognitive development has been investigated. Then we will survey development in topical domains including: perception, concepts, memory, problem solving, social cognition, language and academic skills. The seminar will involve active group discussion and analysis of the course readings, with occasional lectures to set the stage for discussion. Assignments will include weekly essays, leading class discussion, and a take home 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, ChildrenÕs Thinking: Fourth Edition, by Robert Siegler and Martha Alibali. This book can be purchased at the UMD bookstore. Each week, 3 or 4 primary papers or chapters are assigned. Students are to complete all the readings for the week prior to writing and submitting the weekly essay (see below). Readings will be made available via electronic reserve at XXXX.

Weekly essays

Students will write short (2 pages, double spaced, no smaller than 12 pt font) essays each week. In the essays, students should present an analysis of the readings for the week. The essays should NOT summarize the content of the readings. Instead, the goal is to discuss and analyze the readings, for example, by framing the central issues or controversies present, relating the readings to the more general themes of the course or issues raised in other weeks, or taking a critical position with respect to one or more of the arguments presented. Strong essays will consider more than a single reading, and be fully polished pieces of writing (well organized and carefully edited). Essays are to be handed in no later than noon on Monday to room 2147B. Email submission is permitted, but students are responsible for making sure the essay arrives in readable form. .

Exam

There will be a take-home final examination, handed out at the last class meeting and due during exam week..

Grading

Late essays 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 essays (40 %), participation in class discussions (20%), and the exam (40%).

Academic integrity

It is assumed that students are aware of the University of MarylandÕs standards for academic integrity and that they understand the consequences of academic dishonesty. If you do not, please consult the universityÕs 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 me 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.)

January 31, 2006: Introduction No essay due

Siegler & Alibali, Chapter 1: An introduction to childrenÕs thinking.

February 7, 2006: Class Cancelled-AW out of town

February 14, 2006: Piaget's theory: First essay due

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 2: PiagetÕs theory of development.

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).

Piaget., J. & Szeminska, A. (1952). The childÕs conception of number.

February 21, 2006: Current models: Information processing, learning, and conceptual change

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 3: Information processing, learning, and conceptual change.

Smith, L. K. & Samuelson, L. B. (2000). Grounding development in cognitive processes. Child Development, 71, 98-106.

Gentner, D. (2003). Why weÕre so smart. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.). Language in the mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (pp. 195-235). Cambrindge, MA: MIT Press.

Carey, S. & Spelke, E. (1994). Domain-specific knowledge and conceptual change. In L. Hirshfeld and S. Gelman (Eds.) Mapping the mind (pp.169-200). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

February 28, 2006: Cognitive development in its social and cultural context

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 4: Sociocultural approaches to cognitive development.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: Chapter 3: Mastery of memory and thinking (pp. 38-51); Chapter 4: Internalization of higher psychological functions (pp. 52- 57) and Chapter 6: Interaction between learning and development (pp. 79-91). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press..

Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Chapter 7: Thinking with the tools and institutions of culture (pp.236-281). New York: Oxford University Press.

March 7, 2006: Cognitive neuroscience approaches to development

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.

Greenough, W. T., Black J. E., & Wallace, C. S. (1987). Experience and brain development. Child Development, 58, 539-559.

Neville H. J. & Bavalier, D. (1999). Specificity and plasticity in neurocognitive development in humans. In M. Gazzaniga (Ed.) The new cognitive neurosciences (second edition), pp. 83-98. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Munakata, Y., Casey, B.J., & Diamond, A. (2004). Developmental cognitive neuroscience: Progress and potential. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8, 122-128.

March 14, 2006: Cognition in Infancy

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 5: Perceptual development.

Spelke, E. S. (1998). Nativism, empiricism and the origins of knowledge. Infant behavior and development. 21, 181-200.

Keen, R. (2003). Representation of objects and events: Why do infants look so smart and toddlers look so dumb? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(3), 79-83.

Aslin, R. N., & Fiser, J. (2005). Methodological challenges for understanding cognitive development in infants. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 92-98.

March 20-24, 2006: Spring Break

March 28, 2006: Conceptual Development

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 8: Conceptual development.

Gelman, S. (2003). The essential child. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 3: Hidden, nonobvious properties (pp. 60-88).

Gopnik, A, & Schulz, L. (2004). Mechanisms of theory formation in young children. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8. 371-177.

Sloutsky, V.(2003). The role of similarity in the development of categorization. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 246-251.

April 4, 2006: Number

Feigenson, L., Dehaene, S., & Spelke, E. (2004). Core systems of number. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 308-314.

Carey, S. (2001). Bridging the gap between cognition and developmental neuroscience: The example of number. In C. A. Nelson and M. Luciana (Eds.) Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (pp. 415-432). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mix, K. (2005). Number words and number concepts: The interplay of verbal and nonverbal quantification in early childhood. In R. V. Kail (Ed.) Advances in the study of child development and behavior Vol. 33 (pp. 305-346). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

April 11, 2006: Folk Psychology

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 9: the development of social cognition.

Wellman, H. R. (2002). Understanding the psychological world: Developing a theory of mind. In U.Goswami (Ed.) Blackwell handbook of childhood cognitive development (pp. 167-187). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Scholl, B. J. & Leslie, A. M. (2000). Minds, modules and meta-analyses. Child Development, 72, 696-701.

Johnson, S. C. (2000). The recognition of mentalisitic agents in infancy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(1), 22-28..

April 18, 2006: Folk Psychology

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 6: Language Development.

Saffran, J. R. (2003). Statistical language learning: Mechanisms and constraints. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 110-114.

Marcus, G. (1996). Why do children Say 'breaked'? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 5, 81-85.

Newport, E.S. (1991). Constraining concepts of the critical period for language. In S. Carey & R. Gelman (Eds.), The epigenesis of mind: Essays on biology and cognition, (pp. 111-130), Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.

April 25, 2006: Thought and language in development

Spelke, E. S. (2003). What makes us so smart? Core knowledge and natural language. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.). Language in the mind: Advances in the study of language and thought (pp. 277-311). Cambrindge, MA: MIT Press.

Gordon, P. (2004). Numerical Cognition Without Words: Evidence from Amazonia, Science, 306, .

Smith, L. B., Colonga, E., & Yoshia, H. (2003). Making an ontology: Crosslinguistic evidence. In D. Rakison & L. Oakes (eds.) Early category and concept development (pp. 275-302).

De Villiers, J. & De Villiers, P. (2003). Language for thought: Coming to understand false beliefs. In D. Gentner & S. Goldin-Meadow (eds.) Language in mind (pp. 335-384). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum/.

May 2, 2006: Memory Development

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 7: Memory Development.

Bauer, P. (2002). Long-term recall memory: Behavioral and neuro-developmental changes in the first two years of life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 137-141..

Fivush, R. & Nelson, K. (2004). Culture and language in the emergence of autobiographical memory. Psychological Science, 15, 573-577.

Goodman, G. S. (2005). Wailing babies in her wake. American Psychologist, 60, 872-881.

May 9, 2006: Problem Solving and strategy selection

Siegler & Alibali Chapter 10: Problem Solving (see also Chapter 11 on Mathematics).

Diamond, A. (2002). A model system for studying the role of dopamine in prefrontal corext during early development in humans. In M. H.Johnson, . Y. Munakata and R. O. Gilmore (eds.) Brain development and cognition: A reader (pp.441-493). London: Blackwel.

Kuhn, D. , & Pearsall, S. (2000). Developmental origins of scientific thinking. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1,.

Gauvain, M. (2001). The social context of cognitive development: Chapter 6. Solving and learning to solve problems in social context (pp. 102-136). New York: Guilford.