Foundations of Mind: Origins of Conceptual Thought
Jean Matter Mandler
Abstract
This book presents a new theory of cognitive development in infancy, focusing on the processes through which perceptual information is transformed into concepts. Drawing on extensive research, the book explores preverbal conceptualization and shows how it forms the basis for both thought and language. It also emphasizes the importance of distinguishing automatic perceptual processes from attentive conceptualization, and argues that these two kinds of learning follow different principles, so it is crucial to specify the processes required by a given task. Countering both strong nativist and emp ... More
Keywords: cognitive development, infancy, preverbal conceptualization, thought, language, automatic perceptual processes, attentive conceptualization, nativist views, empiricist views
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2007 | Print ISBN-13: 9780195311839 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2007 | DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311839.001.0001 |
