Dynamic cycles of cognitive and brain development: Measuring growth in mind, brain, and education

Abstract

OverviewSince the seminal work of Jean Piaget on the relation between knowledge and general biology, researchers have started to understand the basic neurocognitive processes in the unfolding of human development. In particular, recent dynamic growth models illuminate the complex, interrelated changes that take place during brain growth, cognitive development, and learning. Neurocognitive development should be conceived not as a ladder of successive stages but as a complex network of interactions and attractors, convergent and divergent paths, nested cycles, stabilities and instabilities, progressions and regressions, clusters of discontinuities and stable levels of performance. Cycles of cortical development and cycles of cognitive performance seem to be related. In particular the relationship becomes most visible with optimal functioning of the cognitive system, such as when a good teacher or textbook supports a student's performance.

What Can Dynamic Systems Models of Development Offer to the Study of Developmental Psychopathology?

“…In the past 20 years, there has been an explosion of theory and research directed toward elaborating dynamic systems models of both normative and nonnormative development (Dishion, Nelson, Winter, & Bullock, 2004;Fischer, 2008;Granic & Patterson, 2006;Gottlieb & Lickliter, 2007;Kunnen, 2012;Spencer, Austin, & Schutte, 2012;Steenbeek & van Geert, 2007;Thelen & Smith, 2006). Given their joint lineage in systems principles, developmental psychopathology and dynamic systems theory have much in common (Witherington & Margett, 2009).…”

Unraveling individual differences in learning potential: A dynamic framework for the case of reading development

“…Comprehensive theoretical and analytical frameworks for understanding complex multifactorial interactions are provided by dynamic system approaches. In line with our plea to closely examine children’s individual neuro-behavioral learning processes during reading development, these approaches have emphasized the importance of e.g., relating individual children’s cognitive growth patterns to growth patterns in brain development ( Fischer, 2008 ), and nonlinear forms of change emerging from dynamic interactions between cognitive and environmental components of spoken language development ( Freeman and Cameron, 2008 , van Dijk and van Geert, 2023 ). Network models provide another type of multifactorial dynamic approach that is increasingly adopted in clinical and developmental psychology ( Borsboom et al, 2021 ).…”

Serving Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Age of COVID-19: Special Considerations for Rural Families

“…Dynamic changes in cognitive, social, and neurobiological development are hallmark features of childhood and adolescence ( Fischer, 2008 ). Adverse life events, such as exposure to natural disasters, poverty, and neglect, increase stress and decrease mental health in children, significantly altering development in the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis via neuroendocrine responses culminating in increased cortisol levels ( McLaughlin et al, 2013 ).…”