Workshop on Human Potential (David Barner, University of California, San Diego)

David Barner, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diegor, will present, "Language, Procedures, and Conceptual Change."

Abstract: Human knowledge of natural number can be characterized by principles that form that core of arithmetic (e.g., the Peano Dedekind principles). Currently, it is thought that these core principles are acquired by children early in development, via a series of rich inductive inferences, often described as conceptual changes (e.g., Carey, 2009). In this talk, I argue that these pieces of knowledge do not arise via conceptual change, and are either present at the outset (in the form of natural language), or are mimicked by rote procedures, which children understand only poorly until relatively late in development. I propose a view whereby natural language and learned procedures together form the primary foundation for early number knowledge.

Research Interests: Dr. Barner is interested in language and conceptual development in children and the interface between language structure and meaning. In his lab, these questions are investigated by comparing speakers of different languages, and comparing pre-linguistic infants to older children and adults.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential alternates between two types of sessions. Not only do we regularly invite outside speakers for a traditional "workshop" presentation, but we also provide a forum for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to present research-in-progress in order to receive critical and constructive feedback.