Books

Development of Intersensory Perception: Comparative Perspectives
Lewkowicz, D. J. & Lickliter, R. (Eds.).
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994.

inters bookIn this book, we feature the work of infant and animal researchers interested in the development of intersensory perception. Unimodal perception of sensory information is only the first stage of perceptual processing. Under normal conditions, an organism is faced with multiple, multisensory sources of information and its task is to either select a single relevant source of information or select several sources of information and integrate them. In general, perception and action on the basis of multiple sources of information is more efficient and effective. Before greater efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved, however, the organism must be able to integrate the multiple sources of information. By doing so, the organism can then achieve a coherent and unified percept of the world. The various chapters in this book examine the developmental origins of intersensory perceptual capacities by presenting the latest research on the development of intersensory perceptual skills in a variety of different species. By adopting a comparative approach to this problem, this volume as a whole helps uncover similarities as well as differences in the mechanisms underlying the development of intersensory integration. In addition, it shows that there is no longer any doubt that intersensory interactions occur right from the beginning of the developmental process, that the nature of these intersensory interactions changes as development progresses, and that early experience contributes in important ways to these changes.

Reviews:  "...this book fills a gap in the perceptual development literature, and likely will be widely read and referred to by those interested in perceptual development."  -- Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography

Table of Contents:  Contents: L.B. Smith, Foreword. Part I: Conceptual Issues. G. Turkewitz, Sources of Order for Intersensory Functioning. E.W. Bushnell, A Dual-Processing Approach to Cross-Modal Matching: Implications for Development. A. Walker-Andrews, Taxonomy for Intermodal Relations. Part II: Effects of Early Experience and Neural Mechanisms in Animals. R. Lickliter, H. Banker, Prenatal Components of Intersensory Development in Precocial Birds. B.E. Stein, M.A. Meredith, M.T. Wallace, Development and Neural Basis of Multisensory Integration. R.C. Tees, Early Stimulation History, the Cortex, and Intersensory Functioning in Infrahumans: Space and Time. N.E. Spear, D.L. McKinzie, Intersensory Integration in the Infant Rat. Part III: Intersensory Interactions in Human Development. D.J. Lewkowicz, Development of Intersensory Perception in Human Infants. L.E. Bahrick, J.N. Pickens, Amodal Relations: The Basis for Intermodal Perception and Learning in Infancy. B.A. Morrongiello, Effects of Colocation on Auditory-Visual Interactions and Cross-Modal Perception in Infants. S.A. Rose, From Hand to Eye: Findings and Issues in Infant Cross-Modal Transfer. A. Streri, M. Molina, Constraints on Intermodal Transfer Between Touch and Vision in Infancy. H. Bloch, Intermodal Participation in the Formation of Action in the Infant. A.N. Meltzoff, P.K. Kuhl, Faces and Speech: Intermodal Processing of Biologically Relevant Signals in Infants and Adults. D.W. Massaro, Bimodal Speech Perception Across the Life Span. Part IV: Future Directions. D.J. Lewkowicz, R. Lickliter, Insights into Mechanisms of Intersensory Development: The Value of a Comparative, Convergent-Operations Approach.

Conceptions of Development: Lessons from the Laboratory
Lewkowicz, D. J. & Lickliter, R. (Eds.)
Psychological Press, 2002.

conceptions bookThis is a volume about the process of scientific discovery. Thirteen leading senior scientists, each interested in some aspect of behavioral development, recount their intellectual journeys over the course of their careers and document their individual struggles to better understand and describe various developmental phenomena. Covering a broad range of topics, including perceptual, motor, social, and cognitive development, the contributors to this volume provide case-studies of how one pursues a long-term, systematic research program and how scientists continually formulate and reformulate their working conceptual frameworks based on their research results. Conceptions of Development provides a unique and personal, "behind-the-scenes" account of the process of scientific discovery, illustrating that useful and enduring scientific insight derives from the bi-directional interplay between empirical work and theory formulation. This volume will be of interest to a broad audience consisting not only of psychologists and sychobiologists interested in the study of development, but also teachers and students interested in behavioral development and its investigation, and the general reader interested in the process of scientific discovery.

"I could not stop reading this fascinating collection. In this book some of the most influential figures in the field of developmental science have written their own personal stories of scientific discovery. The exceptionally well written essays provde a detailed, but accessible (actually engrossing!) examination of many of the most important discoveries, methods, and constructs that guide developmental theory and research today. This book is a 'must read' for infancy researchers, from seasoned academics to upper-level undergraduates." Janet F. Werker, University of British Columbia

Contents: D. Lewkowicz, R. Lickliter, Introduction. M. Hofer, The Riddle of Development. G. Gottlieb, Emergence of the Developmental Manifold Concept from an Epigenetic Analysis of Instinctive Behavior. C. Moore, On Differences and Development. M. West, A. King, The Ontogeny of Competence. W. Mason, The Natural History of Primate Behavioral Development: An Organismic Perspective. R. Clifton, Learning about Infants. G. Michel, Development of Infant Handedness. Gerald Turkewitz, Wasn't I Stupid: Or, Once You Know It's So Obvious. D. Bjorklund, Memory, Strategies, Knowledge, and Evolution: The Evolution of a Developmentalist. S. Trehub, The Musical Infant. L. Smith, How to be Smart: Lessons from Word Learning. K. Fischer, Z. Yan, The Development of Dynamic Skill Theory. R. Lerner, Multigenesis: Levels of Professional Integration in the Life Span of a Developmental Scientist.