The Foundations of Mind: Origins of Conceptual ThoughtIn The Foundations of Mind, Jean Mandler presents a new theory of cognitive development in infancy, focusing on the processes through which perceptual information is transformed into concepts. Drawing on her extensive research, Mandler explores preverbal conceptualization and shows how it forms the basis for both thought and language. She also emphasizes the importance of distinguishing automatic perceptual processes from attentive conceptualization, and argues that these two kinds of learning follow different principles, so it is crucial to specify the processes required by a given task. Countering both strong nativist and empiricist views, Mandler provides a fresh and markedly different perspective on early cognitive development, painting a new picture of the abilities and accomplishments of infants and the development of the mind. |
Contents
Prologue | 3 |
2 Piagets Sensorimotor Infant | 17 |
Seeing and Thinking | 41 |
The Infant as Interpreter | 59 |
5 Some ImageSchemas and Their Functions | 93 |
The Case of the Basic Level | 121 |
7 Some Preverbal Concepts | 147 |
8 Conceptual Categories as Induction Machines | 171 |
10 Recall of the Past | 221 |
11 Language Acquisition | 243 |
12 Consciousness and Conclusions | 283 |
Notes | 305 |
References | 311 |
| 343 | |
| 351 | |
Acquisition Breakdown and Reorganization | 201 |
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Common terms and phrases
abstract action adults amnesic analyze animacy animals and vehicles artifacts associated awareness baby basic basis behavior Bowerman Carey ceptual child cognitive concept formation conceptual knowledge conceptual system conscious containment contingent contrast cue validity declarative knowledge declarative memory deferred imitation described developmental differentiate discussed in chapter dishabituate distinction domain dual representational early Eimas evidence example exemplars experiments explicit explicit memory familiar fants furniture global image-schemas implicit inanimate inductive infants innate interpretation kind Korean language acquisition learning linguistic look mammals memory month-olds months of age morphemes motor move notion object-examination test objects path perceptual categories perceptual meaning analysis perceptual similarity Piaget preverbal proactive inhibition procedural procedural knowledge Quinn recall recognition representation require response Rosch schemas semantic sensorimotor spatial relations stimuli suggested superordinate task things thought tion tual understanding verbal verbs versus visual words