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Developmental Psychobiology pp 15–52Cite as

Early Development of Behavior and the Nervous System, An Embryological Perspective

A Postscript from the End of the Millennium

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Part of the book series: Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology ((HBNE,volume 13))

Abstract

A primary motivation for writing our original chapter 15 years ago (Oppenheim & Haverkamp, 1986) was to bring to the attention of developmental psychologists and psychobiologists a conceptual framework for studying neurobehavioral development that is derived principally from the field of embryology or developmental biology. It was our view that this perspective had been ignored and neglected in many conceptualizations of behavioral development. Although a casual perusal of textbooks and reviews in the areas of child psychology, developmental psychology, and developmental psychobiology that have since appeared indicates modest progress on this score, we are nonetheless discouraged that our efforts (Hall & Oppenheim, 1987) as well as that of others along these lines (Michel & Moore, 1995) have not had a greater impact on conceptualizations in those disciplines. For that reason, as well as because much of what we said in our previous review is as true now as it was then, I have agreed (at the suggestion of the editor) to republish the original chapter together with some brief thoughts on a few areas of major empirical progress in the field that have occurred since 1986. (See the original chapter beginning on page 23.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27157-1010

    R. W. Oppenheim

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  1. R. W. Oppenheim
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    Elliott M. Blass

  2. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Elliott M. Blass

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Oppenheim, R.W. (2001). Early Development of Behavior and the Nervous System, An Embryological Perspective. In: Blass, E.M. (eds) Developmental Psychobiology. Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology, vol 13. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1209-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1209-7_2

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