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[xmca] FW: ScienceDaily: Parts Of Brain Involved In Social Cognition May Be In Place By Age Six



Hi All, 
I'm forwarding this piece as I think it is pretty interesting not so
much with regard to autism (although that is definitely interesting),
but with regard to understanding the development of higher mental
functions, specifically in terms of the age range being discussed below.
This is also the crucial age for Vygotsky with the social, thinking
about Thought and Language specifically. 
As Ratner states, in this regard, 
" By seven years of age, most natural determinants of behavior have died
out and the basis of behavior is overwhelmingly cultural, and Vygotsky
repeatedly stresses this qualitative transformation. There is no longer
an interaction of biological and social determinants of behavior. At
this point, the child's individuality is a function of her particular
social experience, which has increased exponentially over the years
(i.e., more in the later years, less in the early years). The manner in
which others have reacted to her behavior and physical traits (such as
beauty, gender, and skin color) replaces biological determinants of
behavior." (Ratner,  Child Psychology: Vygotsky's Conception of
Psychological Development, http://www.sonic.net/~cr2/vygdev.htm )

I see a link here, too, with the work by that Andy Blunden guy
(supported by discussions with Cole and Kellogg)
(http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/comment/vygotsky-on-deve
lopment.pdf ) who discuss development and the "Crisis at age 7" - this
very nice discussion, I think, and really illuminates the research
below. I highly recommend it to those interested metacognition.

Parts Of Brain Involved In Social Cognition May Be In Place By Age Six
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715074930.htm


By scanning the brains of children ages 6 to 11 as they listened to
children's stories, researchers have for the first time investigated
brain regions associated with social cognition in human children.
Researchers found that one of the brain regions, the right
tempero-parietal junction, appeared to change its function between the
ages of 6 and 11. This research has implications for the study of
atypical social development, as happens in autism.

~em


Emily Duvall, PhD
Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
University of Idaho, Coeur d'Alene
1031 North Academic Way, Suite 242 | Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 
T 208 292 2512 | F 208 667 5275 emily@uidaho.edu | www.cda.uidaho.edu 

He only earns his freedom and his life, who takes them every day by
storm. 
-- Johann Wolfgang Goethe 





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