Workshop topics

Topic #1 - Social learning

Arkadiusz Bialek: Development of social understanding

Gaze-following, showing and pointing gestures are usually observed during the second year of life – and are interpreted as the earliest signs of social understanding. Further, the development of social understanding is interwoven with the development of communication. Here, I will present research that charts the developmental progression of social understanding, culminating in false-belief understanding, i.e. understanding the mental state of another. I will discuss the theoretical explanations behind reaching this developmental milestone with a view to its relevance to developmental robotics.

Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi: Early language development in social interactions

Recognising that embodiment and situatedness (especially the social context) of cognition requires us to understand language development. In turn, this requires a thorough analysis of the communicative and coordinative processes from the early development. By providing a dynamical systems perspective to describe these early processes, my aim is to provide a common language for developmentalists and artificial systems designers alike.

Topic #2 - Self-perception

Kevin O'Regan: Body knowledge acquisition and self-perception

Long before being able to recognizer themselves in the mirror babies develop an implicit sense of their own body and self. Here, I will present theories and methodologies used in developmental psychology to study the development of body- and self-perception in the two first years of life. This framework might be useful for roboticians in order to rethink how artificial agents might learn to perceive their own body and develop self-awareness.

Topic #3 - Developmental Disorders

Thusha Rajendran: Developmental Psychopathology

Here, I will present the theory and methods associated with viewing development through the lens of atypical development in conditions such as autism, Down syndrome, Tourette syndrome, Fragile-X syndrome, Turners syndrome, etc. As well providing insight into these conditions themselves (as populations work therapeutically with and for), this field provides a privileged window into many aspects of development, including motor, social, cognitive, communicative development.

Topic #4 – Executive Functioning and Embodied Cognition

Peter McKenna: The Development of Executive Functions and Embodied Cognition

Children are natural explorers of their environments, and with this exploration come the challenges of problem solving. The more tasks they negotiate the more their overall strategy matures. Embodiment in this sense relates to children’s abstract conceptualisation of a problem: a critical process that requires them to resist impulse, draw on prior experience, and carefully plan a sequence of goal-related actions. Here, I will unravel this process, presenting empirical work examining the role of the body in children’s problem-solving skills.