Call for Papers - Early Rationality in Action Perception and Production

Call for Papers Special Issue: Early Rationality in Action Perception and Production?

A special issue of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (JECP),guest-edited by Markus Paulus and Ildiko Kiraly, will be devoted toempirical research articles investigating questions concerning earlyrationality in action perception and production. Within recent years, thequestion of early rationality in action perception and production has becomea topic of great interest in developmental psychology, comparativepsychology, and cognitive science. On the one hand, studies have providedevidence for rational action perception and action imitation even in veryyoung infants. On the other hand, scholars have recently questioned theseinterpretations and proposed that the ability to rationally evaluate actionsis not yet in place in infancy. Others have examined the development of theability to make rational action choices and have indicated limitations ofyoung children¹s ability to act rationally. Given the relevance of knowledgeabout the (early) development of rationality in action perception andproduction for several areas of developmental psychology (e.g., socialcognition, action control, inferential and counterfactual reasoning), JECPcalls for papers dedicated to the investigation of these issues. Weencourage contributions investigating questions pertaining to youngchildren¹s rationality in action perception and production as well as theneurocognitive mechanisms subserving this developing capacity. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

*Young children¹s developing ability to evaluate the rationality of others¹actions or to act rationally and/or the limitations of these abilities(including alternative explanations for previously reported evidence onthese abilities) in young children; the developmental trajectories of theseabilities
*Task and context specificity of these abilities
*Individual differences in either the ability to evaluate the rationality ofothers¹ actions or the developing capacity to act rationally, especiallytheir antecedents (e.g., early perceptual and motor experiences; cognitiveabilities, language development); concurrent correlates (e.g., socialcognition, brain development); and sequelae (e.g., social interaction,action control)
*The early development of inferential reasoning abilities as they pertain tothe context of action perception and production
*Comparative research, especially studies with chimpanzees, but also otherspecies
*Comparisons of typically- and atypically-developing children
*Cultural/cross-cultural studies
*Neural correlates (e.g., electrophysiological studies)

Consistent with the editorial policy of JECP and the topic of the specialissue, we expect the main focus to be on infancy and early childhood.

Manuscripts should be submitted by February 29, 2012, using the Elsevier Editorial System at: http://ees.elsevier.com/jecp. Manuscripts should beprepared in accordance with the usual guidelines [see the Guide for Authorson the journal homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp) for detailsand address]. Authors should indicate in their cover letters that they wishtheir manuscripts to be considered for the Special Issue on EarlyRationality. Papers submitted by Editorial Board members, theircollaborators, or their students must be prepared for blind peer review;papers submitted by others may be prepared for blind peer review if theauthors wish. Manuscripts that meet JECP criteria for scientific merit andimportance but that are not selected for the special issue may be publishedin a regular issue of JECP. Inquiries, including questions about appropriatetopics, may be sent electronically to Markus Paulus (markus.paulus@lmu.de)and Ildiko Kiraly (kiralyi@mtapi.hu).