Critical period: A history of the transition from questions of when, to what, to how

Michel, George F.; Tyler, Amber N.

doi:10.1002/dev.20058

Cited by 102 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our commentary uses an organizational framework borrowed from Michel and Tyler (2005), who described the major questions pertaining to sensitive periods as 'when,' 'what,' and 'how. ' Under each of these headings, we present how the articles in the special issue speak to each question, and the implications that the answers have for understanding sensitive periods as a whole.…”

Section: Who Are We?mentioning

confidence: 99%

What is so critical?: A commentary on the reexamination of critical periods

Armstrong

Brunet

et al. 2006

Dev. Psychobiol.

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Research on critical periods in human development is helping to redefine what has traditionally been considered the period of maximum plasticity in the life course. We are a group of graduate students who focused on the research contained in March's special issue, with the aim of synthesizing current understanding and suggesting future directions.Our commentary uses an organizational framework borrowed from Michel and Tyler (2005), who described the major questions pertaining to sensitive periods as 'when,' 'what,' and 'how.' Under each of these headings, we present how the articles in the special issue speak to each question, and the implications that the answers have for understanding sensitive periods as a whole. We conclude with two additional sections that address the importance of studying sensitive periods and future directions in this area of research.

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Section: Who Are We?mentioning

confidence: 99%

What is so critical?: A commentary on the reexamination of critical periods

Armstrong

Brunet

et al. 2006

Dev. Psychobiol.

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“…The degree of plasticity, however, is not fixed: it varies between species, between individuals, between traits within an individual, and within traits across development. Recent neural -physiological research offers mechanistic explanations of such variation [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Despite theoretical progress explaining the evolution of sensitive periods (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of sensitive periods in a model of incremental development

2016

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Sensitive periods, in which experience shapes phenotypic development to a larger extent than other periods, are widespread in nature. Despite a recent focus on neural-physiological explanation, few formal models have examined the evolutionary selection pressures that result in developmental mechanisms that produce sensitive periods. Here, we present such a model. We model development as a specialization process during which individuals incrementally adapt to local environmental conditions, while receiving a constant stream of cost-free, imperfect cues to the environmental state. We compute optimal developmental programmes across a range of ecological conditions and use these programmes to simulate developmental trajectories and obtain distributions of mature phenotypes. We highlight four main results. First, matching the empirical record, sensitive periods often result from experience or from a combination of age and experience, but rarely from age alone. Second, individual differences in sensitive periods emerge as a result of stochasticity in cues: individuals who obtain more consistent cue sets lose their plasticity at faster rates. Third, in some cases, experience shapes phenotypes only at a later life stage (lagged effects). Fourth, individuals might perseverate along developmental trajectories despite accumulating evidence suggesting the alternate trajectory is more likely to match the ecology.. . .we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds of life but end in the end having lived only one.-Clifford Geertz, 1973

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“…"Developmental" as a descriptor placed time into the analysis of behavior, not as a causal agent, but rather, as a "ruler" by which the processes of development can be observed and measured (cf., Michel & Tyler, 2005;Wohlwill, 1970). Initially, research focused on the effects of early experience or early development in general; later, the research examined developmental causes throughout the life span ( Michel & Moore, 1995).…”

Section: What Is Dpb?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Developmental Psychobiology in the Unification of Psychology

Michel

2013

Review of General Psychology

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Abstract:The interdisciplinary nature of Developmental Psychobiology (DPB) means that it already unifies many perspectives in psychology. DPB explanations of the development of both individual differences and species-typical behaviors include information from cells, tissue, organ systems, family, societal groups, and sociocultural customs to explain the development of both "normal" and "abnormal" behavioral traits. DPB also contextualizes understanding of the developmental processes governing the manifestation of a behavioral trait with understanding of the adaptive functions and phylogenetic history of that trait. Thus, DPB links clinical, cognitive, social, and developmental psychology with physiology, molecular biology, evolution, ecology, and developmental biology to create explanations that are relevant for education, public health, and medicine. developmental trajectories | interdisciplinary | multilevel explanations | theory of Keywords: psychology | unifying psychology | history Article:Only a shared history seems to hold together the various "perspectives" of modern psychology. Unlike the claim in some textbooks, psychology is more complex than the study of the "mind," human behavior, or the mind in society. However, I do believe that Developmental Psychobiology (DPB) can provide unification of some perspectives in psychology. For what follows, I will draw upon the conceptual framework of DPB presented in a book ( Michel & Moore, 1995) designed to define the interdisciplinary character of DPB and provide examples of studies that reveal influences on behavioral development that had been missed by more conventional approaches.

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Critical period: A history of the transition from questions of when, to what, to how

Cited by 102 publications

References 15 publications

What is so critical?: A commentary on the reexamination of critical periods

What is so critical?: A commentary on the reexamination of critical periods

The evolution of sensitive periods in a model of incremental development

The Role of Developmental Psychobiology in the Unification of Psychology

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