Connectionist and Dynamic Systems Approaches to Development: On the Cusp of a New Grand Theory or Still Too Distributed?

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The study of child development has always been organized around "big issues" and "grand" theoretical ideas. In this milieu, two new theoretical perspectives emerged in the 1990's - dynamic systems theory and connectionist approaches to development. According to both theories, children develop step-by-step; that is, each change in the child's ability sets the stage for the next developments. Importantly, this step-by-step process is not specified in advance by genes or "maturation"; rather, development emerges as each child finds his/her own unique pathway. This is natural because development is a product of many factors coming together to produce behavioral change - brain changes, bodily changes, environmental changes, etc. Although these two perspectives share many concepts, they have been applied to very different phenomena. For instance, dynamic systems theory has been used to explain changes in motor skills such as reaching, crawling, and walking, while connectionism has been used to explain the development of cognitive abilities such as language. As such, it is unclear exactly how these approaches relate to one another. Dr. John Spencer has organized a 3-day conference to bring together a set of core scholars affiliated with each approach to determine whether these are two separate theories of development or one grand theory. To sharpen this dialogue, speakers from a related viewpoint - developmental systems theory - will also participate, as will a second group of scholars with general expertise in developmental and cognitive psychology. In addition, there will be a large group of graduate students in attendance, funded in part by conference travel awards. An edited book summarizing results of the conference will be published by Oxford University Press. The conference and published book are likely to make a major contribution to the field of developmental psychology in that they will clarify the relationship between two of the most promising new theories in the field. More broadly, results of this conference are likely to impact the well-being of children because grand theories of development shape how people think about children. These theories influence national policy, educational curricula, and parenting, forming a framework within which real children learn and grow. Thus, debate and discussion about these two new theoretical contenders - connectionism and dynamic systems theory - have the potential for far-reaching influences.