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    Specific impairments in cognitive development: a dynamical systems approach

    Baughman, Frank D. and Thomas, Michael S.C. (2008) Specific impairments in cognitive development: a dynamical systems approach. In: 30th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 23-26 July 2008, Washington, U.S..

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    Abstract

    Neuropsychologists have frequently proposed that domain-specific deficits can be observed in developmental disorders (e.g., phonology in dyslexia, theory of mind in autism, grammar in specific language impairment, face recognition in prosopagnosia, mathematics in dyscalculia). These deficits appeal to a modular cognitive architecture. However, specific developmental deficits are at odds with theories that posit a high degree of interactivity between cognitive abilities across development. If there are early deficits, why do these not spread across the cognitive system during development? Or experience compensatory help from other initially intact components? We address these questions within a dynamical systems framework (van der Maas et al., 2006). We explore the conditions for deficit spread and compensation for a range of possible cognitive architectures, from modular to fully distributed. While preliminary, the results point to the importance of specifying precisely the normal developmental architecture of a system prior to characterizing patterns of impairment that might emerge from it.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
    Additional Information: Published in: Love, B.C., McRae, K. and Sloutsky, V.M. (eds), 2008. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, U.S.: Cognitive Science Society. ISBN: 9780976831846
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
    Research Centres and Institutes: Educational Neuroscience, Centre for, Birkbeck Knowledge Lab, Brain and Cognitive Development, Centre for (CBCD)
    Depositing User: Sarah Hall
    Date Deposited: 29 Feb 2012 09:05
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 16:57
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4599

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