Understanding Cognitive Development / Edition 1

by Maggie McGonigle-Chalmers

Overview

This student-focused exploration of cognitive development takes an evidence-based approach, exploring both theory and applied research. Ideal for students studying in psychology, health and education departments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412928816
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	05/01/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	7.32(w) x 9.13(h) x (d)

About the Author

Margaret Mc Gonigle (AKA Maggie Mc Gonigle and Maggie Mc Gonigle-Chalmers) is a Faculty Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, having retired from her post as Senior Lecturer in the Psychology Department in 2012. She has published research articles and book chapters on comparative and developmental cognition, and more recently on cognitive functioning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, ranging from perceptuo-motor skills to language dysfunction. She is co-editor (and author) on The Complex Mind: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2012). Other publications are listed at: http://www.psy.ed.ac.uk/affiliated_faculty/maggie_mc Gonigle.php

Table of Contents

Introduction: Studying how the mind grows
Sensory development and visual perception during early infancy
Perceptual development during the first year: the multisensory infant
Sensorimotor development in infancy: gaining control in a physical environment
Sensorimotor development in infancy: the elements of social interaction
The emergence of speech
The acquisition of word meanings and the dawn of phrase speech
The emergence of sentence structure
Learning grammar
Perceptual development after infancy
Perceptual development and recognition memory
Memory for scenes, routes and events
Understanding and reasoning about categories
Understanding and reasoning about time and space
Representing other minds and the development of symbolic thought
Symbolic reasoning and logicomathematical thinking

Editorial Reviews

This textbook is a pleasure to read. It covers all you need to know about cognitive development. It tells you about recent research of such important mental functions as perception, language, memory, social communication and symbolic thought - from birth to ten years. The beauty of the book is that it is designed to act as a faithful companion to teachers and students striving to explain, understand, report and revise. By providing a clear structure and a coherent theoretical background Mc Gonigle-Chalmers makes the fine-grained detail of experiments exceptionally intelligible.

Uta Frith

Maggie Mc Gonigle-Chalmers has written a compelling introduction to cognitive development. It will appeal to students and teachers alike – for its incisive writing, its judicious choice of empirical findings, its thoughtful organization, and its wealth of visual materials.

Paul L. Harris