Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Infancy and early childhood is a period of most dramatic changes in brain

organization. The majority of perceptual, motor and cognitive skills

emerge during this period. A large proportion of our knowledge about the

world is based on developmental achievements from it. Throughout the

course we will look at basic concepts and key studies in the area of

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. That is, the study of associations

between cognitive and brain development, with particular emphasis on

changes in functional brain organization.

Obligatory textbook in full:

Johnson M. & de Haan M. (2015). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience,

4th Ed. Oxford: Wiley. (earlier edition from 2010 is also acceptable.

Full list of topics:

1. Developmental change. Genes, cells and brain.

 Gottlieb, G. (2007). Probabilistic epigenesis. Developmental

Science, 10(1), 1–11. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-

7687.2007.00556.x

2. Biological brain development.

 Stiles J. (2008). The fundamentals of brain development.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Chapters 8, 9, 10)

3. Vision, orienting, attention.

 Richards, J. (2011). Infant attention, arousal, and the brain.

[In:] Oakes L. (ed.). Infant Perception and Cognition: Recent

Advances. Oxford: OUP (pages 27-49, available on

GoogleBooks).

4. Perceiving and acting in a world of objects.

 Kaufman, J., Csibra, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2005). Oscillatory

activity in the infant brain reflects object maintenance.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the

United States of America, 102(42), 15271–4.

http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507626102

5. Social brain I.

 Johnson, M. H., Senju, A., & Tomalski, P. (2015). The twoprocess

theory of face processing: Modifications based on

two decades of data from infants and adults. Neuroscience &

Biobehavioral Reviews, 50, 169–179.

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.009

6. Social brain II.

 Blakemore, S.-J., & Mills, K. L. (2014). Is adolescence a

sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annual Review

of Psychology, 65(August 2013), 187–207.

http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202

7. Learning & Memory.

 de Haan, M., Mishkin, M., Baldeweg, T., & Vargha-Khadem, F.

(2006). Human memory development and its dysfunction

after early hippocampal injury. Trends in Neurosciences,

29(7), 374–81. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2006.05.008

 Turk-Browne, N. B., Scholl, B. J., & Chun, M. M. (2008). Babies

and brains: habituation in infant cognition and functional

neuroimaging. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,

2(December), 16. http://doi.org/10.3389/neuro.09.016.2008

8. Emerging language.

 Kuhl, P. K. (2010). Brain Mechanisms in Early Language

Acquisition. Neuron, 67(5), 713–727.

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.038

9. Prefrontal cortex, planning, working memory.

 Finlay, B. L., Darlington, R. B., & Nicastro, N. (2001).

Developmental structure in brain evolution. The Behavioral

and Brain Sciences, 24(2), 263–278; discussion 278–308.

http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X01003958

10. Attention revisited.

 Amso, D., & Scerif, G. (2015). The attentive brain : insights

from developmental cognitive neuroscience. Nature Reviews,

16(10), 606–619. http://doi.org/10.1038/nrn4025

11. Multisensory processing. Brain networks revisited.

 Power, J. D., Fair, D. a., Schlaggar, B. L., & Petersen, S. E.

(2010). The Development of Human Functional Brain

Networks. Neuron, 67(5), 735–748.

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.017

12. Atypical development.

 Johnson, M. H., Gliga, T., Jones, E., & Charman, T. (2015).

Annual Research Review: Infant development, autism, and

ADHD - early pathways to emerging disorders. Journal of Child

Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(3), 228–247.

http://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12328

13. Early adverse environment.

 Tomalski, P., & Johnson, M. H. (2010). The effects of early

adversity on the adult and developing brain. Current Opinion

in Psychiatry, 23(3), 233–8.

http://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0b013e3283387a8c

14. Models of functional brain development.

 Johnson, M. H. (2011). Interactive Specialization: A domaingeneral

framework for human functional brain development?

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 1(1), 7–21.

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2010.07.003

15. What next? Neuroconstructivism.

 Sirois, S., Spratling, M., Thomas, M. S. C., Westermann, G.,

Mareschal, D., & Johnson, M. H. (2008). Précis of

Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(03), 321–31; discussion

331–56. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0800407X

After the course you will:

 know fundamental processes of structural and functional brain

development

 understand the complex relationships between biologically-driven

mechanisms and experience-dependent processes

 be able to explain basic concepts related to neurocognitive

development (experimental paradigms, research methods)

 be able to explain, using examples, the relationships between

selected domains of cognitive development and changes in functional

brain networks

 be able to explain atypical and abnormal development in terms of

developmental trajectories of neural systems

 be able to communicate acquired knowledge of functional brain

development in English

 be able to independently collate and critically evaluate original

research papers in English from the area of developmental cognitive

neuroscience

Essay and written exam

Students must respect the principles of academic integrity. Cheating and

plagiarism (including copying work from other students, internet or other

sources) are serious violations that are punishable and instructors are

required to report all cases to the administration.