Dual-systems and the development of reasoning: competence-procedural systems

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Developmental Psychology
• Philosophy of Mind

Background:

• Dual-process theories describe cognitive processing via two interacting systems: an analytic (System 2) and a heuristic (System 1).
• Similar distinctions exist in developmental literature on reasoning, contrasting domain-general competence with domain-specific procedural systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine dual-system, dual-process accounts of adult cognition within a self-organizing relational developmental systems framework.
• To contrast linear developmental accounts with a nonlinear, embodied, and epigenetic perspective on cognitive growth.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical analysis and synthesis of existing dual-process and developmental systems theories.
• Conceptual integration of empiricist, nativist, and evolutionary explanations with developmental systems approaches.

Main Results:

• Contemporary dual-process models often present a linear architecture of mind.
• A dual competence-procedural developmental perspective posits that mature cognitive systems emerge from developmental transformations of an early action matrix.
• This development is characterized as embodied, nonlinear, and epigenetic, driven by action-in-the-world.

Conclusions:

• Mature cognitive systems are not pre-determined but emerge through dynamic, nonlinear developmental processes.
• The self-organizing relational developmental systems approach offers an alternative to linear accounts of cognitive development.
• Embodied action and epigenetic factors are crucial mechanisms in cognitive growth.