Mareschal et al./Neuroconstructivism: BBS Call for Commentators

Dear Dr. Qwerty, ================================================================== BBS MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW -- CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ================================================================== Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL: http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Mareschal-1… * If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to submit a proposal with expertise information. * If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org. * Please respond to this Call no later than November 13, 2007 NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below: http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html ================================================================== ** Multiple Book Review Information ** ================================================================== Below is a link to the forthcoming précis of a book accepted for Multiple Book Review in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS). Please note that it is the *BOOK*, not the precis, that is to be reviewed. PRECIS OF: Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition BOOK AUTHORS: Denis Mareschal, Mark Johnson, Sylvain Sirois, Michael Spratling, Michael Thomas, and Gert Westermann ABSTRACT: Neuroconstructivism proposes a unifying framework for the study of development that brings together (1) constructivism (which views development as the progressive elaboration of increasingly complex structures), (2) cognitive neuroscience (which aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behaviour), and (3) computational modelling (which proposes formal and explicit specifications of information processing). The guiding principle of our approach is context dependence, within and (in contrast to Marr) between levels of organization. We propose that three mechanisms guide the emergence of representations: competition, cooperation, and chronotopy, which themselves allow for two central processes: proactivity and progressive specialization. We suggest that the main outcome of development is partial representations, distributed across distinct functional circuits. This framework is derived by examining development at the level of single neurons, brain systems, and whole organisms. We use the terms encellment, embrainment, and embodiment to describe the higher-level contextual influences that act at each of these levels of organization. To illustrate these mechanisms in operation we provide case studies in early visual perception, infant habituation, phonological development, and object representations in infancy. Three further case studies are concerned with interactions between levels of explanation: social development, atypical development and within that, the development of dyslexia. We conclude that cognitive development arises from a dynamic, contextual change in neural structures leading to partial representations across multiple brain regions and timescales. KEYWORDS: brain, cognition, development, constructivism, embodiment PRECIS: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Mareschal-10152007/Referees/ ================================================================== BBS MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW -- CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ================================================================== Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL: http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Mareschal-1… * If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to submit a proposal with expertise information. * If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org. * Please respond to this Call no later than November 13, 2007 NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below: http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html ================================================================== ================================================================== Barbara Finlay - Editor Paul Bloom - Editor Behavioral and Brain Sciences bbs(a)bbsonline.org http://www.bbsonline.org -------------------------------------------------------------------