Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction to Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
1.1 What Is Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience?
1.2 Levels of Analysis and Levels of Structure
1.3 What Do We Gain from Understanding How the Brain Develops?
1.4 Brief History of the Field
1.5 Why Study Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience? (or How Do I Tell Grandma What I’m Studying?)
1.6 What to Expect
References
2 Methods and Populations
Learning Objectives
2.1 Studying Behavior across Development
2.1.1 Study Designs
2.1.2 Converging Technologies and Methods
2.2 Behavioral Studies
2.2.1 Studying Infant Cognition
2.2.2 Studying Child and Adolescent Cognition
2.3 Probing Human Brain Structure
2.3.1 Structural MRI
2.3.2 Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI)
2.4 Probing Human Brain Function: Measures of Electrical Activity
2.4.1 Electroencephalography (EEG)
2.4.2 Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) Derived from EEG
2.4.3 Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
2.5 Probing Human Brain Function: Blood-Based Measures
2.5.1 Cerebral Blood Volume and Flow
2.5.2 Overview of fMRI
2.5.3 fNIRS
2.6 fMRI Data Analysis
2.6.1 The Basics
2.6.2 Interpretation of Pediatric fMRI Data
2.6.3 Functional Connectivity
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
3 Genes and Epigenetics
Learning Objectives
3.1 Interactive Specialization
3.2 Tracking Sources of Individual Variation
3.2.1 Heritability
3.2.2 Developmental Variance
3.3 What Genes Are
3.3.1 Genes as Units of Inheritance
3.3.2 Genes as Protein Encoders
3.3.3 The Big Picture
3.4 Genetic Variation
3.4.1 Mitosis
3.4.2 Meiosis
3.5 Mutations
3.5.1 Point Mutations
3.5.2 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms
3.5.3 Chromosomal Mutations
3.5.4 Environmentally Induced Mutations
3.6 Epigenetics
3.6.1 Evidence of Epigenetic Effects in Humans
3.6.2 DNA Methylation
3.6.3 Histone Modification
3.6.4 The Epigenome as a Product of Gene–Environment Interactions
3.7 “Genetic” Is Not Synonymous with “Heritable”
3.8 Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs)
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
4 Brain Development
Learning Objectives
4.1 Basics of Brain Anatomy
4.2 Prenatal Brain Development: An Overview
4.3 From First Cell to Newborn
4.3.1 Gastrulation and Neural Induction
4.3.2 Emergence of Early Structure
4.3.3 Process of Neuronal Proliferation and Migration
4.3.4 Neuronal Differentiation and Death
4.4 Postnatal Brain Development
4.4.1 Early Cortical Expansion
4.4.2 Large-Scale Changes in Gray and White Matter
4.4.3 Gray Matter Thinning
4.4.4 White Matter Microstructural Changes
4.4.5 Reorganization of Functional Brain Architecture
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
5 Brain Plasticity
Learning Objectives
5.1 Learning and Development: Broad Categories of Plasticity
5.1.1 Experience-Independent Brain Development
5.1.2 Experience-Expectant Brain Development
5.1.3 Experience-Dependent Brain Development
5.1.4 A Continuum from Development to Learning
5.2 Foundations of Research on Brain Plasticity
5.2.1 Origins of the Idea
5.2.2 Dendritic Spines
5.2.3 Long-Term Potentiation and Hebbian Plasticity
5.3 Characterizing Brain Plasticity
5.3.1 Environmental Enrichment
5.3.2 A Critical Period for Plasticity
5.3.3 Types of Structural Brain Changes
5.4 Cortical Reorganization under Sensory Deprivation
5.4.1 Somatosensory Deprivation: The Case of the Phantom Limb
5.4.2 Visual Deprivation: Congenital Blindness
5.4.3 Auditory Deprivation: Congenital Deafness and Cochlear Implantation
5.5 Experience-Dependent Plasticity
5.5.1 Musical Training
5.5.2 Dynamics of Plasticity across Skill-Learning
5.6 Timing of Plasticity
5.6.1 Recovery from Brain Injury
5.6.2 Earlier Is Not Always Better for Recovery from Brain Injury
5.6.3 Multiple Windows of Plasticity across the Brain
5.7 Childhood Adversity
5.7.1 Brain Plasticity as a Double-Edged Sword
5.7.2 Risks Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences
5.7.3 Dimensions of Childhood Adversity
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
6 Attention and Perception
Learning Objectives
6.1 Attention
6.1.1 Underpinnings of Arousal
6.1.2 Measuring Attention
6.2 Continuity from Pre- to Postnatal Perceptual Development
6.2.1 Little Statisticians
6.2.2 Timing Matters in How Environmental Structure Impacts the Developing Brain
6.3 Touch, Taste, Smell
6.4 Audition
6.4.1 Overview of the Primary Auditory Pathway
6.4.2 Converting Sound to Neural Energy
6.4.3 Early Hearing Abilities from the Pre- to Postnatal Period
6.4.4 Measurements Specific to Hearing Development
6.5 Vision
6.5.1 The Neural Basis for Vision
6.5.2 Visual Development: From Reflexive Looking to Visual Control
6.5.3 Segregation of Vision into Dorsal and Ventral Streams
6.5.4 Development of Advanced Visual Processing Capabilities
6.6 Higher-Level Vision
6.6.1 Face Recognition
6.6.2 Dedicated Brain Areas Are Further Tuned to Faces through Experience
6.6.3 Is It Expertise in Faces, or Configurations?
6.6.4 Effects of Face Deprivation
6.7 Multisensory Perception
6.7.1 The Emergence of Experience-Based Integrative Circuitry
6.7.2 Is It Multisensory Integration, or Convergence?
6.7.3 Novel Approach to Multisensory Research in Infants
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
7 Social Cognition
Learning Objectives
7.1 Early Social Cognition
7.1.1 The Developmental Onset of Imitation
7.1.2 Neuronal Mirroring System
7.1.3 Contingent Learning Is Social Learning
7.1.4 Mental Representations and Distinguishing between Social and Non-Social Objects
7.2 Faces and Eyes Are Social
7.2.1 The Importance of Eye Gaze
7.2.2 A Visual Pathway That Supports Social Perception
7.3 Representation of Self and Other
7.3.1 Goal-Directed Actions and Intentionality
7.3.2 False Beliefs and Theory of Mind
7.3.3 Understanding Others’ Minds
7.4 Brain Basis for Mentalizing
7.4.1 Developmental Time Course of Mentalizing
7.4.2 Interpreting the Data
7.4.3 Changes in Neural Connectivity Support Mentalizing
7.5 Mentalizing Supports Learning
7.5.1 Social Referencing and Emotion Regulation
7.5.2 Brain Injury at Different Ages Highlights Developmental Basis for Social Abilities
7.6 Atypical Social Cognition
7.6.1 ASD Phenotype
7.6.2 Advances in ASD Diagnosis
7.6.3 Structural and Functional Indicators of the ASD Brain
7.6.4 Early Intervention
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
8 Language Learning and Social Interaction
Learning Objectives
8.1 How the Brain Supports Language and How Language Shapes the Brain
8.2 What Is Language?
8.2.1 Building Blocks of Language Comprehension and Production
8.2.2 Specificity and Universality
8.2.3 Localizing Language in the Adult Brain
8.2.4 Complex Processing: Beyond Localization of Language Function
8.3 Is the Infant Brain Primed for Language? Evidence from Phonetics and Phonology
8.3.1 Auditory Input Interacts with Developing Brain Structure
8.3.2 Increasing Sensitivity to Language Sound Specific Structure
8.3.3 Neural Correlates of Language Specific Perceptual Tuning
8.3.4 Hemispheric Asymmetries
8.4 Language Engages the Infant Brain beyond the Language Network
8.4.1 Language Learning Is Contingent Learning
8.4.2 The Importance of Both Quantity and Quality in Speech Input
8.4.3 Bilingualism and Multilingualism
8.5 Is Language a “Special” Ability in the Human Toolkit?
8.6 Coda: Why Don’t Non-Human Primates Have Language?
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
9 Memory Systems
Learning Objectives
9.1 Memory as the Foundation for Learning
9.2 Memory Systems
9.2.1 Memory Classification
9.2.2 The Neural Basis of Distinct Memory Systems
9.3 Episodic Memory
9.3.1 Features of Episodic Memory
9.3.2 Is Episodic Memory a Uniquely Human Capacity?
9.3.3 The Medial Temporal Lobes
9.3.4 Episodic Memory Networks
9.4 Development of Memory Systems
9.4.1 Implicit Memory Development
9.4.2 Emergence of Episodic Memory
9.4.3 Improvements in Episodic Memory over Childhood
9.5 Development of the Medial Temporal Lobes
9.5.1 Structural Development
9.5.2 Mechanistic Accounts of Infantile “Amnesia”
9.5.3 Hippocampal Function in Early Childhood
9.5.4 Further Development of Hippocampal Function
9.5.5 Development of Episodic Memory Networks
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
10 Working Memory and Executive Functions
Learning Objectives
10.1 Early Theoretical Framework
10.1.1 Phonological WM
10.1.2 Visuospatial WM
10.1.3 The “Central Executive” (EFs)
10.2 Measuring WM Capacity
10.3 WM Development
10.3.1 How WM Supports Learning
10.3.2 Age-Related Increases in WM Span
10.3.3 Age-Related Increases in Spatial WM Precision
10.4 Neural Basis of WM
10.4.1 Early Discoveries
10.4.2 Neuroimaging Studies in Adults
10.4.3 Neuromodulatory Influences on WM
10.4.4 Mechanisms of WM
10.5 Neural Changes That Support the Development of WM
10.5.1 Changes in WM Maintenance over Middle Childhood and Adolescence
10.5.2 Neural Basis of Early WM Development
10.5.3 Neurodevelopmental Improvements in WM with EF Demands
10.6 Developmental Changes in the Recruitment of Top-Down Control
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
11 Language and Literacy
Learning Objectives
11.1 Reading Paradox
11.1.1 Writing as a Cultural Invention That Has Enabled Reading
11.1.2 Co-invention of Writing and Reading
11.1.3 Shallow (Transparent) and Deep (Opaque) Orthographies Impact Reading Acquisition
11.2 Neuronal Specialization and the Creation of Reading-Specific Areas on the Brain
11.2.1 Visual Object Categories and the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA)
11.2.2 Language-Specific Tuning of the VWFA
11.2.3 Learning to Read “Creates” the VWFA
11.2.4 Alternative Perspectives on the VWFA
11.3 Brain Interconnectivity and Literacy
11.3.1 Interfacing the VWFA with the Rest of the Language System
11.3.2 Anatomy of Visual Reading Circuitry: Dorsal and Ventral Pathways
11.3.3 Improved Reading Proficiency Involves a Dorsal-to-Ventral Shift
11.4 Language Influences Reading; Reading Influences Language
11.4.1 The Importance of Both Quantity and Quality of Oral Language Exposure
11.4.2 Emergent Skills That Are Critical to the Acquisition of Reading
11.5 Subtypes and Sources of Poor Reading
11.5.1 Correlates with Socioeconomic Status
11.5.2 Developmental Dyslexia
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
12 Numeracy
Learning Objectives
12.1 Number Systems
12.1.1 Number Sense
12.1.2 Cultural Construction of Symbolic Mathematics
12.1.3 Numerical Systems
12.2 Non-Symbolic Number
12.2.1 Mechanisms Underlying Non-Symbolic Number Representation
12.2.2 Evidence for Object Tracking
12.2.3 Evidence for Approximate Number
12.2.4 Origins of the Approximate Number System
12.3 Symbolic Number
12.3.1 A Brief Digression into Language Acquisition and Attentional Focus
12.3.2 Individuation and Counting
12.3.3 Counting Helps Focus Children on Number Rather than Other Attributes
12.4 Relationship between Non-Symbolic and Symbolic Number
12.4.1 The Brain Basis for Number
12.4.2 The Neuronal Code for Number
12.4.3 Number Representations and Brain Networks
12.4.4 How Numerical Symbols Acquire Their Meaning
12.4.5 Stepping Stones to Mathematical Competency
12.5 Arithmetic
12.5.1 The Arithmetic Network in Typically Developing Children
12.5.2 Difficulties with Number
12.5.3 Developmental Dyscalculia
12.5.4 Individual Differences in the Arithmetic Network
12.6 Math Education
12.6.1 Math Intervention
12.6.2 Effects of Math Intervention on the Developing Brain
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
13 Motivated Behavior and Self-Control
Learning Objectives
13.1 Drivers of Behavior
13.1.1 Approach, Avoidance, and Self-Control
13.1.2 Insights from Patients
13.1.3 PFC Injuries Incurred during Development
13.2 Self-Control
13.2.1 The Protracted Neurodevelopment of Self-Control
13.2.2 Measuring Self-Control
13.2.3 Delay of Gratification
13.2.4 Predicting Life Outcomes
13.3 Neural Basis of Self-Control and Its Development
13.3.1 Self-Control in a Neutral Context: Inhibiting Motor Responses
13.3.2 Neurodevelopment of Response Inhibition
13.4 Neural Basis of Self-Control in a Motivationally Salient Context: Resisting Temptation
13.4.1 Approaches to Studying Hot Self-Control
13.4.2 Neural Basis of Delay of Gratification
13.4.3 Reward-Based Decision-Making
13.4.4 Reward Sensitivity in Adolescence
13.5 Adolescent Decision-Making
13.5.1 The Transition to Adulthood
13.5.2 Social Influences on Adolescent Decision-Making
13.5.3 Positive and Negative Growth Trajectories
Summary
Review Questions
Further Reading
References
14 Key Themes and Future Directions
14.1 Overview
14.1.1 The Developmental Process Is Probabilistic
14.1.2 There Are No Genes “for” Psychological and Behavioral Traits
14.1.3 Variation in Neural Circuits Contributes to Individual Differences
14.2 Future Directions in Theoretical Approaches
14.2.1 Interactive Specialization as a Guiding Framework
14.2.2 Making Theory Explicit
14.2.3 Good Theory Forces Hard Questions
14.2.4 Levels of Structure Inform Levels of Analysis
14.3 Future Directions in Methodological Approaches
14.3.1 Scope of Investigations
14.3.2 The Importance of Formal Modeling
14.4 Societal Relevance
14.5 Public Health
14.5.1 Public Health Mandates
14.5.2 Pressing Public Health Issues
14.6 Communicating the Science
14.6.1 DCN in the News
14.6.2 Advising Policymakers and Practitioners
14.6.3 Responsible Conduct and Dissemination of Research
14.7 Wrapping Up
References
Index