Infant action and cognition: what's at stake?

Abstract

In two independent responses to our opinion article [ 1. Blumberg M.S. Adolph K.E. Protracted development of motor cortex constrains rich interpretations of infant cognition. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2023; 27: 233-245 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar ], Liu et al. [ 2. Liu S. et al. No evidence for discontinuity between infants and adults. PsyArXiv. 2023; (Published online February 14, 2023. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9yt5u) Google Scholar ] and Aslin et al. [ 3. Aslin R.N. et al. Multiple pathways to developmental continuity in infant cognition. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2023; (in press) Google Scholar ] (henceforth Liu or Aslin) critiqued our argument that the protracted development of motor cortex in mammals constrains rich interpretations of infant cognition. We welcome this opportunity to clarify what’s at stake. One issue concerns the neural basis of cognition across early development and the evidence researchers rely on to reveal it. Another issue concerns ‘core knowledge’ and whether representations of numerosity, moral reasoning, and the like are developmentally continuous between infant and adult minds. In addition to addressing these issues, we chart a path forward by placing the dispute surrounding our piece into a developmental-comparative framework.