Domain-specific learning theories of

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped *Photographi ...

hold that we have many independent, specialised knowledge structures (domains), rather than one cohesive knowledge structure. Thus, training in one domain may not impact another independent domain.Siegler, R. (2006). How Children Develop: Exploring Child Develop Student Media Tool Kit & Scientific American Reader to Accompany How Children Develop. ''New York: Worth Publishers.'' . Domain-general views instead suggest that children possess a "general developmental function" where skills are interrelated through a single

cognitive Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

system. Therefore, whereas domain-general theories would propose that acquisition of

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

and

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

skill are developed by the same broad set of cognitive skills, domain-specific theories would propose that they are

genetically Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working in ...

, neurologically and computationally independent.

Domain specificity Domain specificity is a theoretical position in cognitive science (especially modern cognitive development) that argues that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionarily specified, learning devices. The posit ...

has been supported by a variety of theorists. An early supporter was

Jerry Fodor Jerry Alan Fodor (; April 22, 1935 – November 29, 2017) was an American philosopher and the author of many crucial works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science. His writings in these fields laid the groundwork for the modu ...

, who argued that the

mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

functions partly, by innate, domain-specific mental modules. In

Modularity of Mind Modularity of mind is the notion that a mind may, at least in part, be composed of innate neural structures or mental modules which have distinct, established, and evolutionarily developed functions. However, different definitions of "module" have b ...

, Fodor proposed the ''Hypothesis of Modest Modularity'', stating that input systems such as

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

and

are modular, whereas central systems such as ''belief fixation'' and

practical reason In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. It contrasts with theoretical reason, often called speculative reason, the use of reason to decide what to follow. For example, agents use practical reason to decide whethe ...

ing are not. By contrast,

evolutionary psychologists Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...

have supported the ''Massive Modularity Hypothesis,'' arguing that the mind is not just partially, but completely modular, composed of domain-specific modules genetically shaped by

selection pressures Any cause that reduces or increases reproductive success in a portion of a population potentially exerts evolutionary pressure, selective pressure or selection pressure, driving natural selection. It is a quantitative description of the amount of ...

to carry out innate and complex functions. Core knowledge theorists such as

Elizabeth Spelke Elizabeth Shilin Spelke FBA (born May 28, 1949) is an American cognitive psychologist at the Department of Psychology of Harvard University and director of the Laboratory for Developmental Studies. Starting in the 1980s, she carried out experi ...

hold that knowledge can be separated into a few, highly specialised, domain-specific bodies.

Domain-specific learning mechanisms

Language

The

Poverty of the Stimulus Poverty of the stimulus (POS) is the controversial argument from linguistics that children are not exposed to rich enough data within their linguistic environments to acquire every feature of their language. This is considered evidence contrary to ...

(PoS) argument proposed by

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

takes a nativist view towards

language acquisition Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

suggesting that innate, domain-specific knowledge structures help us to navigate tough linguistic environments. This flows contrary to

empiricist In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...

views that learning and knowledge derive from our sensory experiences.Laurence, S. & Margolis, E. (2001). The Poverty of the Stimulus Argument. ''The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science'', 52(2), 217-276. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/52.2.217 The PoS argument maintains that there is a mismatch between the

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

knowledge that we acquire, and how much information is available to us in the environment''.'' Chomsky believed that children cannot be empiricist learners of language, because many linguistic principles are neither simple nor natural to acquire. Therefore, a sufficient linguistic environment would be required to facilitate a full understanding of language. However, the data needed to grasp these linguistic principles is not always available due to different environmental conditions. Despite this, all normal children are still able to formulate an accurate representation of

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

which led Chomsky to theorise that children must have an innate, domain-specific capacity for language.

Further support for nativism

''1. Biological time-clock'' Evidence shows that children go through similar stages of

language development Language development in humans is a process starting early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begin ...

at similar times, leading to many linguists advocating for an innate and pre-determined linguistic schedule.Aitchison, J. (1989). The articulate mammal: An introduction to psycholinguistics (3rd ed.). ''Routledge.'' pp. 66-90 ''2. Predictability of error'' Children explore a diverse range of grammars in their environment as they develop. Under empiric learning, this would likely cause them to make all kinds of unpredictable linguistic errors. However, children make errors that exhibit regularity. When expressing verbs in past tense form, they often overgeneralise irregular forms such as ''came'' and ''saw'' into ''comed and seed'' to match "regular" forms such as ''loved'' and ''worked''. The way children deal with environmental irregularity has therefore led to the proposition of a domain-specific language hypothesis space. ''3. Specific Language Impairment (SLI)'' A dissociation between

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

and linguistic functioning has been shown in people with SLI. Evidence has also indicated that people with ''Grammatical-SLI'' experience grammar-only deficits. The case of SLI may therefore indicate an independent linguistic system.

Criticisms

Many critics have argued against the convincingness of the PoS argument, stating that Chomsky's theory is vague, incoherent and untestable. Therefore, debate still remains about the extent to which language learning is an innate, domain-specific process.

Socialisation

Socialisation In sociology, socialization or socialisation (see spelling differences) is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultura ...

is integral to a child's ability to acquire the necessary skills to function in a social environment. It has commonly been viewed as a product of domain-general learning, with the same organisational principles applying to child development, regardless of setting, task or

developmental stage Stages of development may refer to: Biology *Developmental biology, the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop *Prenatal development, also called fetal development, or embryology *Human development (biology), the proc ...

. Objections have therefore been raised on its unitary approach and lack of consideration for variation across contexts.Bugental, D.B. (2000). Acquisition of the Algorithms of Social Life. ''Psychological Bulletin'', 126(2), 187-219. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.187 Instead, researchers have proposed a socialisation process involving five domains, stating that different parent-child relationships serve different functions, rely on different ways to bring about

behavioural Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well ...

change, and have different outcomes.Grusec, J.E. & Davidov, M. (2010). Integrating Different Perspectives on Socialization Theory and Research: A Domain-Specific Approach. ''Child Development,'' 81(3), 687-709. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01426.x ''1. Protection'' Primarily responsible for giving the child a sense of

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

through adopting a comforting parenting style. This results in children being able to better manage stress knowing that support will be available to them. ''2. Reciprocity'' Mutual compliance forms this relationship where parent and child fulfil each other's desires and treat each other as equals. The reciprocity domain nurtures a child's tendency to reciprocate, which can predict pro-social behaviour. ''3. Control'' The

control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controllin ...

domain involves parents who modify their child's behaviour through exerting the necessary amount of

authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...

to achieve the socialisation agent's goals. Consequently, outcomes involving a child's ability to suppress conflicting desires to make the correct moral and principled judgements are typical. ''4. Guided learning'' Aims to effectively guide children's learning through strategies and feedback to help acquire the target knowledge and skills. ''5. Group participation'' Parents attempt to encourage shared identity for the child through promoting routines and rituals that reflect group norms. Successful outcomes involve children conforming to and adopting group values that build on their notions of

social identity Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or group.Compare ''Collins Dictionary of Sociology'', quoted in In sociology, emphasis is placed on collective identity, in which ...

Further research

Although these five domains have demonstrated initial evidence for input and output differences in socialisation, additional research is required as the taxonomy of domains remains disputed.

Opposition to domain-specific learning

Although some arguments have supported domain-specific learning, there still remains debate about how we truly learn and develop. Support for domain-general learning include theories from

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called " genetic epistemolog ...

and

Charles Spearman Charles Edward Spearman, FRS (10 September 1863 – 17 September 1945) was an English psychologist known for work in statistics, as a pioneer of factor analysis, and for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. He also did seminal work on mod ...

. Piaget argued that developments in domain-general

cognitive architecture A cognitive architecture refers to both a theory about the structure of the human mind and to a computational instantiation of such a theory used in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and computational cognitive science. The formalized mod ...

drives learning and conceptual change in his

theory of cognitive development Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence. It was originated by the Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). The theory deals with the nature of kn ...

. Similarly, Spearman proposed an underlying, domain-general g-factor (general intelligence) to explain one's performance on all types of mental tests. However, research has also introduced the possibility of a combination of domain-specific and domain-general learning mechanisms. In the mathematical field, it has been hypothesised that both mechanisms are at work and target arithmetic skills differently. It has further been suggested that the magnitude of each mechanism in determining mathematical achievement varies across grades.Geary, D.C., Nicholas, A., Li, Y. & Sun, J. (2017). Developmental Change in the Influence of Domain-General Abilities and Domain-Specific Knowledge on Mathematics Achievement: An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study. ''Journal of Educational Psychology'', 109(5), 680-693. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037%2Fedu0000159 {{ISSN, 0022-0663 Therefore, research is needed to better understand our learning across a wide range of fields.

References

Developmental psychology