Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:35:03.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Abstract after all? Abstraction through inhibition in children and adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2009

Olivier Houdé
Affiliation:
University Paris Descartes, Institut Universitaire de France, CI-NAPS, UMR 6232, CNRS and CEA, Sorbonne, 75005 Paris, France. olivier.houde@paris5.sorbonne.frhttp://olivier.houde.free.fr/

Abstract

I challenge two points in Cohen Kadosh & Walsh's (CK & W) argument: First, the definition of abstraction is too restricted; second, the distinction between representations and operations is too clear-cut. For example, taking Jean Piaget's “conservation of number task,” I propose that another way to avoid orthodoxy in the field of numerical cognition is to consider inhibition as an alternative idea of abstraction.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Daurignac, E., Houdé, O. & Jouvent, R. (2006) Negative priming in a numerical Piaget-like task as evidenced by ERP. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 18:730–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuster, J. M. (2003) Cortex and mind: Unifying cognition. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Houdé, O. (1997) Numerical development: From the infant to the child. Cognitive Development 12:373–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houdé, O. (2000) Inhibition and cognitive development: Object, number, categorization, and reasoning. Cognitive Development 15:6373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houdé, O. (2008) Pedagogy, not (only) anatomy of reasoning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 12:173–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houdé, O. & Guichart, E. (2001) Negative priming effect after inhibition of number/length interference in a Piaget-like task. Developmental Science 4:7174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houdé, O. & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2003) Neural foundations of logical and mathematical cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4:507–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houdé, O., Zago, L., Mellet, E., Moutier, S., Pineau, A., Mazoyer, B. & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2000) Shifting from the perceptual brain to the logical brain: The neural impact of cognitive inhibition training. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 12:721–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leroux, G., Joliot, M., Dubal, S., Mazoyer, B., Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. & Houdé, O. (2006) Cognitive inhibition of number/length interference in a Piaget-like task: Evidence from ERP and fMRI. Human Brain Mapping 27:498509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leroux, G., Spiess, J., Zago, L., Rossi, S., Lubin, A., Turbelin, M.-R., Mazoyer, B., Tzourio-Mazoyer, N., Houdé, O. & Joliot, M. (2009) Adult brains don't fully overcome biases that lead to incorrect performance during cognitive development: An fMRI study in young adults completing a Piaget-like task. Developmental Science 12:326–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piaget, J. (1952) The child's conception of number. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1984) Piaget's theory. In: Handbook of child psychology, ed. Mussen, P., pp. 103–28. Wiley.Google Scholar
Prado, J. & Noveck, I. (2007) Overcoming perceptual features in logical reasoning: A parametric functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19:642–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed