Neural process models can help keep theory at the forefront of developmental neuroscience: Commentary on Marshall, Arsalidou, Rueda, Crone and van Drunen

We discuss the four chapters in this special issue, focusing on three key questions: (1) what developmental theories are being used across chapters; (2) what neuroscience methods are being used; and (3) how are these integrated? We organize our discussion by chapter moving from the broadest conceptual chapter by Peter Marshall through to the integration of theory and methods by Crone and van Drunen. We end by discussing work that is missing from the special issue that uses neural process models to integrate developmental theory with cognitive neuroscience methods. We highlight how this approach can yield a tighter integration between theory and methods, enabling researchers to test specific hypotheses about the mechanisms that underlie change in development. We suggest that this approach might prove to be a particularly effective way to keep theory at the forefront of developmental neuroscience.