Human Development Colloquium: Richard Prather (HDQM)

Who gets to be normal in human cognition?

Abstract: The study of human cognition has long assumed some sort of universal version of human cognition. This supports generalization from empirical results about the cognitive processes of humans deemed as “normal”. Historically the ideas of who counts as normal have been fraught at best. Cognitive researchers have often generalized what “normal” cognition is from homogenous participant samples with limited overlap of the global population. Recent theoretical and empirical work has demonstrated the fundamental limitations of this approach. In this presentation I discuss both the history and the potential future of the concept of normal in regard to human cognition.

Bio: Richard Prather is an Associate Professor of Human Development at the University of Maryland College Park. He holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelors in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT. Dr. Prather’s work has primarily focused on cognitive processes involved in mathematical cognition. Dr. Prather’s recent work has also addressed critical approaches and frameworks to the study of human cognition.