Abstracting and Aligning Essential Features of Cognitive Development

Zelazo comments on a study which shows that the core aspects of human cognition are captured by developmental g (psychometric g × age), which is comprised of attentional control, cognitive flexibility, working memory, cognizance, and inference. From infancy through adolescence, these core aspects work together via an iterative process to abstract common properties of representations, align them, and then reflect upon them, bringing them under conscious control, thereby transforming representations from episodic to realistic to rule-based to principle-based representations. Zelazo explains developmental changes in the nature of representation, core cognitive processes that include executive function and reflection, and improvements in reflection support the transfer of trained skills.