Abstract

Development of Perception: Psychobiological Perspectives, Volume 1, Audition, Somatic Perception, and the Chemical Senses, is the first of a two-part series covering vision, audition, olfaction, taste, tactile sensitivity, and sensory-motor activity during ontogenesis. The focus is on approaches to perceptual development that incorporate a psychobiological perspective. The present volume contains both overviews and specific discussions of audition, somatic perception, and the chemical senses aimed at the anatomical, neurophysiological, and behavioral levels.

The book is organized into four parts. Parts A and B are devoted to aspects of auditory perceptual development in animals and humans, respectively. These include studies on the development of species-specificity in duckling auditory perception; the functional role of auditory perception in parent-offspring recognition in birds; the development of auditory localization in human infants; and experiential components in the development of speech perception. Part C covers issues of somatosensory and sensorimotor development, including pioneering studies of development and plasticity in the neural structures of specialized somatosensory areas. Part D contains chapters on the development of olfaction and taste.