Plasticity and Nativism: Towards a Resolution of an Apparent Paradox

: Recent research in brain development and cognitive development leads to an apparent paradox. One set of recent experiments suggests that infants are well-endowed with sophisticated mechanisms for analyzing the world; another set of recent experiments suggests that brain development is extremely flexible. In this paper, I review various ways of resolving the implicit tension between the two, and close with a proposal for a novel computational approach to reconciling nativism with developmental flexibility.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2001
• Where: NEUROSCIENCE
• Authors: Gary F. Marcus
• Keywords: Apparent Paradox, Applied Computing, Brain Development, Cognitive Development, NEUROSCIENCE 2001