An Ecological Approach to Perceptual Learning and Development

Author/creator Gibson, Eleanor J. Author
Other author Pick, Anne D. Author
Format Electronic
Publication InfoNew York : Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Description248 p. ill 06.100 x 09.200 in.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete
Subjects

Summary Annotation The essential nature of learning is primarily thought of as a verbal process or function, but this notion conveys that pre-linguistic infants do not learn. Far from being "blank slates" that passively absorb environmental stimuli, infants are active learners who perceptually engage theirenvironments and extract information from them before language is available. The ecological approach to perceiving-defined as "a theory about perceiving by active creatures who look and listen and move around"-was spearheaded by Eleanor and James Gibson in the 1950s and culminated in James Gibson'slast book in 1979. Until now, no comprehensive theoretical statement of ecological development has been published since Eleanor Gibson's Principles of Perceptual Learning and Development (1969). In An Ecological Approach to Perceptual Learning and Development, distinguished experimental psychologists Eleanor J. Gibson and Anne D. Pick provide a unique theoretical framework for the ecological approach to understanding perceptual learning and development. Perception, in accordance with JamesGibson's views, entails a reciprocal relationship between a person and his or her environment: The environment provides resources and opportunities for the person, and the person gets information from and acts on the environment. The concept of affordance is central to this idea; the person acts onwhat the environment affords, as it is appropriate. This extraordinary volume covers the development of perception in detail from birth through toddlerhood, beginning with the development of communication, going on to perceiving and acting on objects, and then to locomotion. It is more than a presentation of facts about perception as it develops. Itoutlines the ecological approach and shows how it underlies "higher" cognitive processes, such as concept formation, as well as discovery of the basic affordances of the environment. This impressive work should serve as the capstone for Eleanor J. Gibson's distinguished career as a developmental andexperimental psychologist.
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Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
ISBN9780195165494
ISBN0195165497 (Trade Paper) Active Record
Standard identifier# 9780195165494
Stock number00020142

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