Delivered at:: Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience

Course type:: Compulsory course

When:: 2 year, 1, 2 module

Instructor

Martín-Luengo, Beatriz

Full Syllabus Ask Question

Abstract

Memory, Learning and Cognitive Development is an elective course focusing the development of human cognition, designed for the Master’s Program: Cognitive sciences and technologies: From neuron to cognition. This course aims to introduce students to the study of cognitive development from a broad different point of view. Evidence from multiple disciplines, including cognitive and developmental psychology as well as from cognitive neuroscience will be examined. The course covers the development of different cognitive abilities in children, going from the most basic to highest-level cognitive domains. The course will start with a review of the main findings from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience about the development of attentional and perceptual abilities. Subsequent themes will cover topics such as categorization and learning abilities in children, as well as the development of social learning. The course will be also focused on the acquisition of both oral and written language abilities and particular attention will be pay to the development of different types of memory in children. Finally, the presence of high-domain cognitive abilities in children, such as metacognition, abstract reasoning and problem solving will be discussed. The course Memory, Learning and Cognitive Development is a new and unique discipline within the educational programs of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The course is based on the contemporary scientific research in cognitive science, following both classic behavior and cognitive neuroscience studies on cognitive development. The course is essential in training competent specialist in the areas of cognitive sciences and technologies.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives of the course "Memory, Learning, and Cognitive Development" are to introduce students to the research on children development through different cognitive domains and to show its connections with other branches of cognitive science covering such topics as • principal approaches to the understanding of human cognition • main theoretical explanations of the interactions between brain and cognition

Expected Learning Outcomes

Differentiate between visual preference and habituation paradigms. Perceptual structure of the visual world and representation of spatial, occlusion, support and containment relations. The used of violation of expectation paradigm. Different types of learning in infants. Findings from Cognitive neuroscience.
Notions about the development of self-awareness of own cognition in children. Self-monitoring and self-regulation abilities in children. Metamemory abilities in infants. Ease-of learning judgements and judgements of learning.
Notions about the phonological development and categorical perception in children. Understand the importance of phonologic learning for reading. Word learning and fast mapping in infants. Reading development. Findings from Cognitive neuroscience.
Recognition memory in children. Implicit memory. Development of declarative and episodic memories. Working memory. Main findings from cognitive neuroscience in the field of memory development.
Understand prototypes and categorization abilities in infants; the role of language in conceptual development; historical perspective of categorical knowledge; conceptual knowledge and cognitive neuroscience.
Understand stages in the development of inductive, deductive and analogical reasoning in infancy.
Understanding other’s actions and minds and attribution of mental states in infants. Social interaction. Cognitive neuroscience and social learning.

Course Contents

Cognitive development. Perception, attention and learning in infancy
Conceptual development and categorization
Development of oral and written language
Development of different types of memory
Social learning, mental representation and theory of mind
Reasoning, problem solving and executive function
Metacognition and metamemory

Assessment Elements

Test 1 0.15
Test 2 0.15
Final exam 0.7

Interim Assessment

2025/2026 1st module
0.15 from the final grade
2025/2026 2nd module
0.15 from the Test 1 for the final grade, 0.7 from the final exam for the final grade

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Arterberry, M. E., Bornstein, M. H., & Blumenstyk, J. B. (2013). Categorization of Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Stimuli by 18-Month-Old Infants. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.5255527D
Baillageon, R., & DeVos, J. (1991). Object Permanence in Young Infants: Further Evidence. Child Development, 62(6), 1227. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130803
Bauer, P. J., Dugan, J. A., Varga, N. L., & Riggins, T. (2018). Relations between neural structures and children’s self-derivation of new knowledge through memory integration. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F7D02A7A
Brooks, R., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2005). The development of gaze following and its relation to language. Developmental Science, 8(6), 535–543. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=mdc&AN=16246245
Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., & Tomasello, M. (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs Of The Society For Research In Child Development, 63(4), i. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=mdc&AN=9835078
Diamond, A., & Taylor, C. (1996). Development of an aspect of executive control: development of the abilities to remember what I said and to “do as I say, not as I do.” Developmental Psychobiology, 29(4), 315–334. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=mdc&AN=8732806
Eleanor Rosch, Carolyn B. Mervis, Wayne D. Gray, David M. Johnson, & Penny Boyes-braem. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.9F915671
Friedrich, M., & Friederici, A. D. (2006). Early N400 development and later language acquisition. Psychophysiology, 43(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2006.00381.x
G. Dehaene-lambertz, T. Gliga, Centre Hospitalier, & Universitaire Bicêtre. (2004). Common neural basis for phoneme processing in infants and adults. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.924ADED1
Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1987). Development of Cortical Circuitry and Cognitive Function. Child Development, 58(3), 601. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130201
Káldy, Z., & Leslie, A. M. (2003). Identification of objects in 9-month-old infants: integrating ‘what’ and ‘where’ information. Developmental Science, 6(3), 360–373. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7687.00290
Kaufman, J., Csibra, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2003). Representing occluded objects in the human infant brain. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.52EF1364
Nelson Cowan, John N. Towse, Zoe ̈ Hamilton, J. Scott Saults, Emily M. Elliott, Jebby F. Lacey, … Graham J. Hitch. (2003). Childrens working-memory processes: A response-timing analysis. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.774A29CB
Philip H. K. Seymour, Mikko Aro, & Jane M. Erskine. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F0243066
Shimizu, Y. A., & Johnson, S. C. (2004). Infants’ attribution of a goal to a morphologically unfamiliar agent. Developmental Science, 7(4), 425–430. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00362.x
Zelazo, P. D., Müller, U., Frye, D., Marcovitch, S., Argitis, G., Boseovski, J., … Sutherland, A. (2003). The development of executive function in early childhood. Monographs Of The Society For Research In Child Development, 68(3), vii-137. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=mdc&AN=14723273

Recommended Additional Bibliography

A neural basis for the development of inhibitory control. (2002). Developmental Science, 5(4), F9–F16. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=mdc&AN=EPTOC7522641

Authors

ZINCHENKO OKSANA OLEGOVNA
Martin Luengo Beatriz

Master’s Programme 'Cognitive Sciences and Technologies: From Neuron to Cognition'

Our labs in HSE:

Memory, Learning and Cognitive Development