From Movement to Mathematics: A Systemic Theory of Higher Order Cognition and Its Development

Abstract – 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 – toward 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.