ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author assesses the present evidence for, and status of, some of the primary claims and ideas from Rethinking Innateness (RI), with the benefit of 25 years’ hindsight. He focuses on recent changes in connectionism, an increasing focus on the importance of the infants’ proactive novelty-seeking behaviour for the self-organisation of his or her nervous system, and the gaps that exist in understanding the key role of social interaction in the earliest stages of postnatal brain development. In 1996 the multi-authored volume RI was published to both acclaim and critical comment. The impact of this book on the fields of developmental psychology and cognitive science was significant for at least the following decade, as evidenced by its impact. One of the chapters in RI that would require substantive updating if the book were ever to be re-issued would be the one on Brain Development.
