Mark H. Johnson (professor)
Encyclopedia
Mark Johnson is a British cognitive neuroscientist who since 1997 is head of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, University of London
.
In 1996, Johnson co-authored, (with Jeffrey Elman
, Annette Karmiloff-Smith
, Elizabeth Bates
, Domenico Parisi, and Kim Plunkett), the book Rethinking Innateness
, a book which examines neural network
approaches to development. In the book, Elman et al. propose that genetic information might provide “constraints” on how a dynamic network responds to the environment during learning. For example, they suggest that a learning system can be seen as being subject to architectural constraints during development, an idea that gave birth to the neural nework field of constructivist
modelling. Rethinking Innateness has received more than 1,500 citations, and was nominated as one of the “One hundred most influential works in cognitive science from the 20th Century” (Minnesota Millennium Project).
Johnson has gone on to develop an Interactive Specialization
approach to development, that views cognitive brain development as a series of back-propagated interactions between genetics, brain, body and environment. This model of cognitive development emphasises that development is a stochastic
, network-based
, interactive process. As such, it echoes contemporary work in other areas of development, such as probabilistic epigenesis
and gene regulatory networks.
In 2007, Johnson co-authored (with Denis Mareschal, Sylvain Sirois, Michael Spratling, Michael Thomas and Gert Westermann) Neuroconstructivism
, which discusses the relationship between cognition, the brain and the environment. Specifically, they argue that “the brain acquires and develops multiple, fragmentary representations that are just sufficient for on-the-fly processing” and that these representations “serve to cause behaviours rather than to mirror the environment.” Volume 2 contains a variety of neural network models that investigate how these representations change during learning (including models from Randy O’Reilly, Matthew Schlesinger and Yuko Munakata).
Johnson specialises in the development of the brain networks subserving social cognition. He is the author of more than 200 papers, and has written or edited seven books, most notably his textbook Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (2nd Ed. - 2005). He is also, with Denis Mareschal, co-editor of the journal Developmental Science.
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
.
In 1996, Johnson co-authored, (with Jeffrey Elman
Jeffrey Elman
Jeffrey L. Elman is Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He is a well-known psycholinguist and pioneer in the field of neural networks.-Biography:...
, Annette Karmiloff-Smith
Annette Karmiloff-Smith
Annette Karmiloff-Smith is a professorial research fellow at the Developmental Neurocognition Lab at Birkbeck, University of London. Before moving to Birbeck, she was Head of the Neurocognitive Development Unit at Institute of Child Health, University College, London...
, Elizabeth Bates
Elizabeth Bates
Elizabeth Bates was a Professor of psychology and cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego...
, Domenico Parisi, and Kim Plunkett), the book Rethinking Innateness
Rethinking Innateness
Published in 1996 by Jeffrey Elman, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Elizabeth Bates, Mark Johnson, Domenico Parisi, and Kim Plunkett, Rethinking Innateness: A connectionist perspective on development is a book regarding gene/environment interaction...
, a book which examines neural network
Neural network
The term neural network was traditionally used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons. The modern usage of the term often refers to artificial neural networks, which are composed of artificial neurons or nodes...
approaches to development. In the book, Elman et al. propose that genetic information might provide “constraints” on how a dynamic network responds to the environment during learning. For example, they suggest that a learning system can be seen as being subject to architectural constraints during development, an idea that gave birth to the neural nework field of constructivist
Constructivism (learning theory)
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Piaget called these systems of...
modelling. Rethinking Innateness has received more than 1,500 citations, and was nominated as one of the “One hundred most influential works in cognitive science from the 20th Century” (Minnesota Millennium Project).
Johnson has gone on to develop an Interactive Specialization
Interactive Specialization
Interactive Specialization is a theory of brain development proposed by the British cognitive neuroscientist Mark Johnson, who is head of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, University of London, London....
approach to development, that views cognitive brain development as a series of back-propagated interactions between genetics, brain, body and environment. This model of cognitive development emphasises that development is a stochastic
Stochastic
Stochastic refers to systems whose behaviour is intrinsically non-deterministic. A stochastic process is one whose behavior is non-deterministic, in that a system's subsequent state is determined both by the process's predictable actions and by a random element. However, according to M. Kac and E...
, network-based
Network theory
Network theory is an area of computer science and network science and part of graph theory. It has application in many disciplines including statistical physics, particle physics, computer science, biology, economics, operations research, and sociology...
, interactive process. As such, it echoes contemporary work in other areas of development, such as probabilistic epigenesis
Epigenetics
In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- -genetics...
and gene regulatory networks.
In 2007, Johnson co-authored (with Denis Mareschal, Sylvain Sirois, Michael Spratling, Michael Thomas and Gert Westermann) Neuroconstructivism
, which discusses the relationship between cognition, the brain and the environment. Specifically, they argue that “the brain acquires and develops multiple, fragmentary representations that are just sufficient for on-the-fly processing” and that these representations “serve to cause behaviours rather than to mirror the environment.” Volume 2 contains a variety of neural network models that investigate how these representations change during learning (including models from Randy O’Reilly, Matthew Schlesinger and Yuko Munakata).
Johnson specialises in the development of the brain networks subserving social cognition. He is the author of more than 200 papers, and has written or edited seven books, most notably his textbook Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (2nd Ed. - 2005). He is also, with Denis Mareschal, co-editor of the journal Developmental Science.