Infant Development: Recent Advances

List of Contributors.  Preface.  Part 1: Perceptual and Motor Development  Introduction  1. Development of Taste Perception and Appetite Regulation Gillian Harris  2. Visual Perception and its Organisation in Early Infancy Alan Slater  3. From Perception to Cognition J. Gavin Bremner  4. Dynamical Systems Approaches to the Development of Action Brian Hopkins and George Butterworth  Part 2: Cognitive Development  Introduction  5. Beyond the “Couch Potato” Infant: How Infants Use their Knowledge to Regulate Action, Solve Problems, and Achieve Goals Peter Willatts  6. Reassessing Piaget’s Theory of Sensorimotor Intelligence: A View from Cognitive Science Julie C. Rutkowska  7. Development of Categorisation: Perceptual and Conceptual Categories Jean M. Mandler  8. Stability of Mental Development from Infancy to Later Childhood: Three “Waves” of Research Marc H. Bornstein, Alan Slater, Elizabeth Brown, Elizabeth Roberts and Jacqueline Barrett  Part 3: Social and Language Development  Introduction  9. Perception of Social Stimuli: Face Perception and Imitation Alan Slater and George Butterworth  10. Communication in Infancy: Mutual Regulation of Affect and Attention Vasudevi Reddy, Dale Hay, Lynne Murray and Colwyn Trevarthen  11. Psychoanalysis and Infancy R. Peter Hobson  12. Referential Communication: Making Sense of the Social and Physical Worlds David Messer  13. Language and Pathology Margaret Harris.  Author Index.  Subject Index.

Biography

Gavin Bremner took his first degree in Psychology at St. Andrews University in 1974, and gained a D.Phil. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1978. In 1977 he obtained a Lectureship in Psychology at Lancaster University, where he spent his working career, becoming Professor of Developmental Psychology in 1994, and Professor Emeritus in 2021. His publications are mainly in the area of perceptual development in infancy. In 1988, he published his book “Infancy”, which appeared in a second edition in 1994. He has co-edited numerous books on infant development.

Alan Slater was Associate Professor at Exeter University. He is the author of over 130 scientific articles, the majority of which are on infant development. He has collaborated with many internationally renowned infancy researchers and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science for ‘sustained and distinguished contributions to psychological science’.

George Butterworth (1946-2000) was an authority on infant development and the origins of thought and perception in infants. His research interests were broad, encompassing topics as varied as the origins of self-awareness in human development and evolution, and children's understanding of geographical features of the earth. George founded both the British Infancy Research Group and the journal Developmental Science. He was the first president of the European Society for Developmental Psychology and a former president of the British Psychological Society, Developmental Section. He was internationally respected for his scholarship and commitment to research.

Review for the original edition:

‘This book offers a great deal for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as for researchers working with infants. While giving a comprehensive overview of contemporary theory and research on infant development, it goes further in making its own contribution to bridging conceptual gaps and integrating modern research findings in a way that highlights the key issues that future research must face.’ – John Oates, The Open University, UK