Infant Development : Recent Advances

Originally published in 1997, this edited volume provided an authoritative account of research into infant development at the time, containing 13 chapters written by leading British and North American infancy researchers. Editorial sections are used to provide an integrated whole and to point the reader to similarities and contrasts between arguments developed by different authors. Although the chapters are organised along conventional lines into sections on perceptual, cognitive and social development, the emphasis (appearing both within chapters and in the linking editorial passages within sections) is on links between perceptual, cognitive and social aspects of development. Thus, exciting new findings on infant perception are related to both old and new accounts of cognitive development, and links are drawn between these topics and the development of social interaction and language. There is a strong theoretical component in all sections of the book, with particular attention given to both traditional approaches such as Piagetian theory and more recent approaches such as direct perception and dynamic systems theory. There is also a chapter devoted to interpreting infant development from a psychoanalytic perspective.

A particular feature of this book is its aim to make recent findings and theoretical developments accessible to a student audience with little advanced knowledge of the area. Thus, the book should appeal to a wide readership ranging from advanced undergraduate psychology students to established infancy researchers.

Gavin Bremner took his first degree in Psychology at St. Andrews University in 1974, and gained a D.Phil. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1978. In 1977 he obtained a Lectureship in Psychology at Lancaster University, where he spent his working career, becoming Professor of Developmental Psychology in 1994, and Professor Emeritus in 2021. His publications are mainly in the area of perceptual development in infancy. In 1988, he published his book “Infancy”, which appeared in a second edition in 1994. He has co-edited numerous books on infant development.

Alan Slater was Associate Professor at Exeter University. He is the author of over 130 scientific articles, the majority of which are on infant development. He has collaborated with many internationally renowned infancy researchers and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science for ‘sustained and distinguished contributions to psychological science’.

George Butterworth (1946-2000) was an authority on infant development and the origins of thought and perception in infants. His research interests were broad, encompassing topics as varied as the origins of self-awareness in human development and evolution, and children's understanding of geographical features of the earth. George founded both the British Infancy Research Group and the journal Developmental Science. He was the first president of the European Society for Developmental Psychology and a former president of the British Psychological Society, Developmental Section. He was internationally respected for his scholarship and commitment to research.