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A Developmental Perspective on Modularity

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Towards a Theory of Thinking

Part of the book series: On Thinking ((ONTHINKING))

Abstract

The notion that the mind/brain is composed of independently functioning modules may hold to some extent for the adult brain, once it has become fully specialised or if it displays acquired domain-specific deficits when focal damage has occurred. The extension of this thinking to typically and atypically developing infants in terms of innately specified, intact or impaired modules is not, however, warranted. This chapter discusses modularity from a developmental perspective and shows how specialisation and localisation of cognitive and brain function occurs very progressively over ontogenetic time. In other words, it argues for a gradual process of modularisation, not built-in modules.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, 32 Torrington Square, London, WC1E7HX, UK

    Annette Karmiloff-Smith

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  1. Annette Karmiloff-Smith
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Correspondence to Annette Karmiloff-Smith .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Parmenides Foundation, Kardinal Faulhaber Str. 14 a, Munich, 80333, Germany

    Britt Glatzeder

  2. Dept. Psychology, York University, Keele Street 4700, Toronto, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Vinod Goel

  3. Parmenides Foundation, Kardinal Faulhaber Str. 14 a, Munich, 80333, Germany

    Albrecht Müller

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Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2010). A Developmental Perspective on Modularity. In: Glatzeder, B., Goel, V., Müller, A. (eds) Towards a Theory of Thinking. On Thinking. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03129-8_12

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