Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T01:38:38.400Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

One-generation Lamarckism: The role of environment in genetic development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2007

Bruce Bridgeman
Bruce Bridgeman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. [email protected]://people.ucsc.edu/~bruceb/index.php?Home
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Environment can provide information used in development – information that can appear to be genetically given and that was previously assumed to be so. Examples include growth of the eye until it achieves good focus, and structuring of receptive fields in the visual cortex by environmental information. The process can be called one-generation Lamarckism because information acquired from the environment is used to structure the organism and because the capacity to acquire this information is inherited.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 367 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hirsch, H. V. B. & Spinelli, D. N. (1970) Visual experience modifies distribution of horizontally and vertically oriented receptive fields in cats. Science 168:869–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M. J. (2005) Evolution in four dimensions: Genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, and symbolic variation in the history of life. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Spinelli, D. N., Pribram, K. H. & Bridgeman, B. (1970) Visual RF organization of single units in the visual cortex of monkey. International Journal of Neurosciences 1:67–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallman, J., Turkel, J. & Trachtman, J. (1978) Extreme myopia produced by modest change in early visual experience. Science 201:1249–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed