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Plasticity and Nativism: Towards a Resolution of an Apparent Paradox

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Emergent Neural Computational Architectures Based on Neuroscience

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2036))

Abstract

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place

    Gary F. Marcus

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  1. Gary F. Marcus
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Informatics, SCET, University of Sunderland, St PetersWay, Sunderland SR6 0DD, UK

    Stefan Wermter

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, Y010 5DD, UK

    Jim Austin

  3. Institute for Adaptive and Neural Computation, University of Edinburgh, 5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, UK

    David Willshaw

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Marcus, G.F. (2001). Plasticity and Nativism: Towards a Resolution of an Apparent Paradox. In: Wermter, S., Austin, J., Willshaw, D. (eds) Emergent Neural Computational Architectures Based on Neuroscience. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2036. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44597-8_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44597-8_27

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42363-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44597-5

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