From Movement To Mathematics: A Systemic Theory Of Higher-Order Cognition And Its Development

The paper aims to theorize higher-order cognition as a natural continuation of living matter. The suggested functional dynamic systems approach to cognition extends the complexity science—increasingly used to describe physical and biological worlds—towards the science of human cognition as perception and action in cultural environments. Mathematical cognition serves as a critical case study for explaining higher-order cognitive functions. The theoretical proposal is grounded in historical analyses of research ideas and empirical data from eye-tracking studies of mathematical problem-solving and dual eye-tracking studies of mathematics teaching and learning. Under the reciprocal pressure of self-organization and intentionality, sensory–motor processes form systemic synergetic units of perception and action. The analyses of eye movements reveal that sensory–motor processes run across the bodies of a teacher and a learner and that cultural artifacts partake in perception–action loops. Those body-artifacts and intercorporeal processes constitute functional dynamic systems that accomplish higher-order cognitive functions.