Pre- and perinatal brain development and enculturation

Ample evidence from various quarters indicates that the perceptual-cognitive competence of the pre- and perinatal human being is significantly greater than was once thought. Some of the evidence of this emerging picture of early competence is reviewed, and its importance both as evidence of the biogenetic structural concept of “neurognosis” and for a theory of enculturation is discussed. The literature of pre- and perinatal psychology, especially that of developmental neuropsychology, psychobiology, and social psychophysiology, is incorporated, and some of the implications of these data for a theory of enculturation are suggested. This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November 1989. Charles D. Laughlin, Professor of Anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, has done ethnographic fieldwork among the So of northeastern Uganda and among Tibetan lamas in Nepal and India. He completed postdoctoral studies in neurophysiology at the Institute of Neurological Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. He is editor of both theNeuroanthropology Network Newsletter and thePre- and Peri-Natal Psychology Journal.