Description

This book focuses on the developmental analysis of the brain-culture-environment dynamic. The role of the brain as the dominant actor in the determination of human behavior is at risk of fostering the radical view that the brain is in full control. The present volume is intended to recapture a more balanced view of the nature (brain)-nurture (culture/environment) interaction. The role of the brain as the dominant actor in the determination of human behavior is at risk of fostering the radical view that the brain is in full control. The present volume is intended to recapture a more balanced view of the nature (brain)-nurture (culture/environment) interaction. The book focuses on the developmental analysis of the brain-culture-environment dynamic and argues that this dynamic is interactive and reciprocal. Brain and culture co-determine each other. As a whole, this book refutes any unidirectional conception of the brain-culture dynamic. Each is influenced by and modifies the other. To capture the ubiquitous reach and significance of the mutually dependent brain-culture system, the metaphor of biocultural co-constructivism is invoked. Distinguished researchers from cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology and developmental psychology review the evidence in their respective fields. A special focus of the book is its coverage of the entire human lifespan from infancy to old age. Preface Paul B. Baltes, Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz and Frank Rösler; Part I. Setting the Stage across the Ages of the Lifespan: 1. Prologue: biocultural co-constructivism as a theoretical metascript Paul B. Baltes, Frank Rösler and Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz; 2. Biocultural co-construction of lifespan development Shu-Chen Li; Part II. Neuronal Plasticity and Biocultural Co-Construction: Microstructure Meets the Experiential Environment: 3. Neurobehavioral development in the context of biocultural co-constructivism Charles A. Nelson; 4. Adult neurogenesis Gerd Kempermann; Part III. Neuronal Plasticity and Biocultural Co-Construction: Atypical Brain Architectures: 5. Sensory input-based adaptation and brain architecture Maurice Ptito and Sébastien Desgent; 6. Blindness: a source and case of neuronal plasticity Brigitte Röder; Part IV. Biocultural Co-Construction: Specific Functions and Domains: 7. Language acquisition: biological versus cultural implications for brain structure Angela D. Friederici and Shirley-Ann Rüschemeyer; 8. Reading, writing, and arithmetic in the brain: neural specialization for acquired functions Thad A. Polk and J. Paul Hamilton; 9. Emotion, learning, and the brain: from classical conditioning to cultural bias Elizabeth A. Phelps; 10. The musical mind: neural tuning and the aesthetic experience Oliver Vitouch; Part V. Plasticity and Biocultural Co-Construction in Later Life: 11. Influences of biological and self-initiated factors on brain and cognition in adulthood and aging Lars Nyberg and Lars Bäckman; 12. The aging mind and brain: implications of enduring plasticity for behavioral and cultural change Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz and Joseph A. Mikels; Part VI. Biocultural Co-Construction: From Micro- to Macroenvironments in Larger Cultural Contexts: 13. Characteristics of illiterate and literate cognitive processing: implications of brain-behavior co-constructivism Karl Magnus Petersson and Alexandra Reis; 14. The influence of work and occupation on brain development Neil Charness; 15. The influence of organized violence and terror on brain an