Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

English

CogPrints Cognitive Sciences Eprint Archive

Cognitive modules: what have we learnt from
developmental disorders?

Cognitive Sciences ePrint Archive

Cognitive modules: what have we learnt from
developmental disorders?
Annette Karmiloff-Smith
Neurocognitive Development Unit, Institute of Child Health
London, UK
If the atypical brain presented with a neat juxtapo-
sition of parts intact and parts impaired, then atypi-
cal development might be a direct window on normal
development, with clear-cut single and double disso-
ciations. Such a view emanates from the model of
adult neuropsychological patients whose brains were
fully and normally developed until their brain insult.
The developing brain is very different. It is neither
localised nor specialised at birth, and many months
and years are required for the progressive modular-
isation of the adult brain to occur. The very notion
of double dissociation is theoretically and empirically
dubious in studies of atypical development. Because
development plays such a crucial role in normal and
atypical development, and because early on brain re-
gions are highly interconnected, a tiny impairment in
the initial state of the brain of a child with a genetic
disorder may affect several brain regions and have
cascading effects over time on the phenotypic out-
come. The outcome may seem domain specific, but
it often originates in a domain-general deficit that
impacts differentially on different domains.
This talk will consider what we have learned from
atypical development about modules, genes and evo-
lution. Each section will first look at the Nativist
claims found in the literature, and then re-evaluate
them within a neuroconstructivist perspective. In ev-
ery case, it becomes clear that the notion of cognitive
modules is only appropriate for describing the out-
come in adults after a lengthy process of development
over time.
References
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1992) Beyond Modularity: A De-
velopmental Perspective on Cognitive Science. Cam-
bridge, Mass.: MIT Press/Bradford Books.
Karmiloff-Smith, A. Scerif, G., & Ansari, D. (2003) Dou-
ble dissociations in developmental disorders? Theo-
retically misconceived, empirically dubious. Cortex,
39, 161-163.
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1998) Development itself is the key
to understanding developmental disorders. Trends in
Cognitive Sciences, 2, 10, 389-398.
Karmiloff-Smith, A., & Thomas, M. S. C. (2004). Can
developmental disorders be used to bolster claims
from Evolutionary Psychology?: A neuroconstruc-
tivist approach. In J. Langer, S. Taylor Parker &
C. Milbrath (Eds.), Biology and Knowledge Revis-
ited: From Neurogenesis to Psychogenesis (pp. 307-
321). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [1997 - Japanese
translation]
Paterson, S.J., Brown, J. H., Gsdl, M. K., Johnson, M.
H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A.(1999) Cognitive Modular-
ity and Genetic Disorders. Science, 286, 5448, 2355-
2358.
Johnson, M. H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2004) Neuro-
science Perspectives on Infant Development. In G.
Bremner & A. Slater (Eds.) Theories of Infant De-
velopment. Oxford: Blackwell, 121-144.
Thomas, M., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2002) Modelling
typical and atypical cognitive development. In U.
Goswami (Ed.) Handbook of Childhood Develop-
ment. Blackwells Publishers, 575-599.
Thomas, M., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2003) Modelling
language acquisition in atypical phenotypes. Psycho-
logical Review. 110(4):647-682.
Thomas, M. S. C. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2005). Can
developmental disorders reveal the component parts
of the human language faculty? Language Learning
and Development, 1(1), 65-92.
Karmiloff-Smith, A., & Thomas, M. (2003) What can
developmental disorders tell us about the neurocom-
putational constraints that shape development? The
case of Williams syndrome. Development and Psy-
chopathology, 15 (4): 969-990. Nazzi, T., Paterson,
S., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2003) Early word segmen-
tation by infants and toddlers with Williams syn-
drome. Infancy, 4, 2, 251 - 271.
Karmiloff-Smith, A., Brown, J.H., Grice, S., & Paterson,
S. (2003) Dethroning the myth: Cognitive dissocia-
tions and innate modularity in Williams syndrome.
Developmental Neuropsychology, 23 (1&2), 229-244.
Grice, S.J., de Haan, M., Halit, H., Johnson, M.H., Csi-
bra, G., Grant, J., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2003) ERP
abnormalities of visual perception in Williams syn-
drome. NeuroReport, 14, 1773-1777.
Thomas, M., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2002) Are devel-
opmental disorders like cases of adult brain damage?
Implications from connectionist modelling. Behav-
ioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 6, 727-788 (target article
with peer replies).
Ansari, D., & Karmiloff-Smith, A.(2002) Atypical trajec-
tories of number development. Trends in the Cogni-
tive Sciences, Vol 6, 12, 511-516.
9
Berthouze, L., Kaplan, F., Kozima, H., Yano, H., Konczak, J., Metta, G., Nadel, J., Sandini, G., Stojanov, G. and Balkenius, C. (Eds.)
Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics:  Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems 
Lund University Cognitive Studies, 123.  ISBN 91-974741-4-2 


A.(2002) Atypical trajectories of number development. Trends in the Cognitive Sciences,

Are developmental disorders like cases of adult brain damage? Implications from connectionist modelling.

Beyond Modularity: A Developmental Perspective on Cognitive Science.

Can developmental disorders be used to bolster claims from Evolutionary Psychology?: A neuroconstructivist approach. In

Can developmental disorders reveal the component parts of the human language faculty? Language Learning and Development,

Dethroning the myth: Cognitive dissociations and innate modularity in Williams syndrome.

Development itself is the key to understanding developmental disorders.

Double dissociations in developmental disorders? Theoretically misconceived, empirically dubious.

ERP abnormalities of visual perception in Williams syndrome.

Modelling language acquisition in atypical phenotypes.

Modelling typical and atypical cognitive development.

Neuroscience Perspectives on Infant Development.

What can developmental disorders tell us about the neurocomputational constraints that shape development? The case of Williams syndrome.

Cognitive modules: what have we learnt from developmental disorders?

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