Abstract
The title of this chapter needs an explanation. Cognitive refers here to brain processes that organize relatively complex behaviors. Examples of such processes are storing, retrieving, and transforming information picked up from the environment by perceptual mechanisms. It is assumed that these processes are functions of the brain, just as contractions are functions of heart muscle. Further, it is assumed that the neurophysiological mechanisms that enable these processes to perform these functions are products of evolutionary history. The content on which these processes operate—the images, rules, and other forms of information represented in the brain—are viewed here as products of ontogeny, that is, the stored cumulations of the individual’s everyday experiences. Development is employed here as referring to the sequence of progressive, non-repetitive changes undergone by an organism over its lifespan.
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Reference Notes
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Charlesworth, W.R. (1983). An Ethological Approach to Cognitive Development. In: Brainerd, C.J. (eds) Recent Advances in Cognitive-Developmental Theory. Springer Series in Cognitive Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9490-7_5
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