Integrating Developmental, Psychometric, and
Cognitive Theories of Intellect
ANDREAS DEMETRIOU
UNIVERSITY OF NICOSIA, CYPRUS
Three themes in this talk
Current state of knowledge in the
developing mind science.
 A model of the developing mind and
related learning experiments. Emphasis
on g.
 A developmental cognitive science based
agenda for learning: What to focus on!

1. COGNITIVE SCIENCES ON THE MIND
Significant progress but the field
is still fragmented, conceptually
and methodologically.
FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDYING THE MIND
PSYCHOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
 COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY


EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE
The psychometric tradition:
Successes and failures


Psychology of individual differences succeeded to
uncover dimensions of individual differences and
develop methods and tools for measuring
intelligence (IQ). However, it failed to account for
inter-individual variability (GUILDFORD,
THURSTONE, GARDNER) and specify cognitive
and developmental processes.
All attempts to enhance intelligence failed,
despite Flynn-type changes in intelligence.
The cognitive tradition:
Successes and failures

Cognitive psychology succeeded to uncover
mechanisms of learning and thinking. However,
it failed in using these mechanisms for learning
environments appropriate for real children. It
led to shallow approaches about conceptual
change focusing on surface content
characteristics rather underlying thought
mechanisms. Nowadays this approach survive
in disguise (epistemic cognition, model
teaching).
The developmental tradition:
Successes and failures
Developmental psychology succeeded to
uncover developmental changes in cognition.
However, it failed to specify learning and
processing mechanisms in development and
explain individual differences in
development.
 Too much attention to individual construction,
ignoring subject matter priorities.

WE NEED AN INTEGRATED THEORY FOR …
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIND
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIND
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN ARCHITECTURE
AND DEVELOPMENT
THE ARCHITECTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF
KNOWLEDGE
EDUCATION, LEARNING AND TEACHING

A comprehensive model
The research and model following was developed to accommodate
all of these concerns:
Demetriou, A., Spanoudis, G., & Shayer, M. (2014). Inference,
reconceptualization, insight, and efficiency along intellectual growth:
A general theory. Enfance, 46, 196-221.
Demetriou, A., Spanoudis, G., & Shayer, M. (submitted). Developing
mind-developing brain.
Demetriou, A., Spanoudis, G., & Shayer, M. (submitted). Nailing the
mind’s ghost.
General intelligence in psychometric theory
Spearman’s G: One giant general
intelligence—rest is noice.
Carroll’s 3-stratum theory: Both G
and broad abilities are present.
CONCEPTIONS OF G
Psychometric g
Cognitive Science
LOT
Developmental
Eduction of relations
and correlates:
relational thought
abstracting (i) relations
between objects or
events based on their
similarities and (ii)
relations between
relations based on the
reduction of similarities
into rules and higherorder principles relating
these rules
Compositionality
(words, concepts,
rules, etc.),
Recursiveness,
Hierarchical
organization,
Generativity.
Abduction of relations.
Intelligence is
assimilation and
accommodation of
action (actual or
mental) and their
increasing equilibration
into reversible and
necessary structures of
mental operations.
This model
?
The structure of the mind
Direction of
development
Core capacities (speed,
span, control
Cognizance system (builds
model of all other aspects of the
mind; maps lower order
structures on to each other
Specialized capacity
spheres (spatial, verbal,
social, numerical, etc.)
REPRESENTATIONAL
Episodic
integration
DOMAINS
CAPACITY
WM, STSS
Executive control
Essentials and
categories
COGNIZANCE
Space and time
Numbers and
quantities
Interactions and
causes
Self-monitoring
Mental
Problem solving
models
Self-awareness
Self-representation
Self-regulation
Reflection and
Agents and persons
recursion
Language
Conceptual
change
INFERENCE
Induction
Deduction
Abduction
Metarepresentation
The general architecture of the human mind
Structural relations between attention control, cognitive flexibility,
and working memory, mediating reference factors and G
Att con
1. -.62
2. -.62
3. -.66
4. -.61
5. -52
6. -55
7. -62
8. - 61
Reference Factor
1. Inference
Flex
WM
1. -.42
2. -.41
3. -.44
4. -.41
5. -36
6. -43
7. -43
8. - 41
1. .67
2. .43
3. .60
4. .43
5. .34
6. .43
7. .44
8. .43
2. Quantitative
3. Causal
4. spatial
5. Cognizance
6. Vocabulary
7. Syntax
8. Semantics
1. 1.00
2. .99
3. .93
4. 1.00
5. 80
6. .93
7. .97
8. 1.00
G
Direct relations between G, executive
processes, and cognizance
Model at total
sample (9-15 yrs.,
first value in
columns) and three
age phases (99-11,
11-13, and 13-15
yrs.). About 80% of
g variance
accounted for by EF
& Cog. Contribution
of attention control
and shifting
decreases and WM
and cognizance
increases with age.
g variance accounted for by EFs




Control of attention (36%)
Shifting (18%)
Working memory (19%)
Cognizance (7%)
On top of all this
 Gf (inductive & deductive
reasoning) (19%)
What is left?


Deliberated search,
alignment, and abstraction
Translation into domainspecific “mental languages”
(e.g., deductive mental
models or logics, sorting or
class rules, arithmetic rules,
mental rotation, moral rules
or deception rules, etc.).
CONCEPTIONS OF G
Psychometric g
Cognitive Science
LOT
Developmental
Abstraction, Alignment,
Cognizance (AACog)
Eduction
(abstraction) of
relations and
correlates
(alignment):
relational thought
abstracting (i)
relations between
objects or events
based on their
similarities and (ii)
relations between
relations based on
the reduction of
similarities into
higher-order
principles relating
rules (cognizance,
Compositionality
(words, concepts,
rules, etc.)
(alignment),
Recursiveness
(flexibility),
Hierarchical
organization
(abstraction),
Generativity
(cognizance,
metarepresentation)
Intelligence is
assimilation
(abstraction) and
accommodation
(alignment) of
action (actual or
mental) and their
increasing
equilibration into
reversible and
necessary
structures of
mental operations
that may be
intentionally
activated
(cognizance).
Control of attentional focus,
binding of information
(alignment) according to
requirements, on-line evaluation
for adjustments needed
(cognizance). Induction present
in abstractions of stimulusrepresentation similarity or
representation-action
compatibility. Conditional
reasoning in affirmation of the
expected and shifting (and,
and, … conjuction), denial
(negation), and choice
(disjunction). Deductive
reasoning lies in their
integration into truth-like tables
(metarepresentation).
THE CORE OF INTELLECT (MECHANISMS OF MENTAL FUNCTIONING
AND DEVELOPMENT)
There are three processes underlying the coordinating function
ABSTRACTION: A probabilistic inference mechanism
sampling over statistical regularities in the environment.
ALIGNMENT: A relational mechanism mapping
representations onto each other according to current
understanding needs, based on similarity and semantic
relevance.
COGNIZANCE: Awareness and metarepresentation (i.e.,
representation of representations) of mental content or
processes.

RECONCEPTUALIZATION AND INSIGHT








0-1: Episodic representations and action blocks
1-2: Alignment of episodic representations
 AGENTIAL INSIGHT: I CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
3-4: Realistic mental representations, functioning “en block”
5-6: Alignment of realistic mental representations
 REPRESENTATIONAL INSIGHT: I CAN IMAGINE THE WORLD
7-8: Rule-based representations
9-11: Alignment of rule-based representations
 INFERENTIAL INSIGHT: I CAN REASON ABOUT THE WORLD
12-13: Principle-based representations
14-17: Alignment of principle-based representations
 FORMALITY INSIGHT: I CAN INTERPRET THE WORLD
Development of Executive control, cognizance, and reasoning
AGE
Executive Control
Cognizance
Reasoning
1-2: episodic
representations
Perception initiated
represented goals, e.g.
insert objects in same-shape
holes.
Face recognition
Explicit awareness of
stimuli and actions,
implicit awareness of
mental states
Extrapolation of episodic
sequences mimicking
implication: e.g., Dad
came, mom is coming too.
2-4: Emerging
realistic mental
representations
Automation of self-initiated
action episode: Girl bathing
her dol. Instruction-based
goal: Bring dad’s shoes.
Awareness of
perceptual origins of
knowledge, awareness
of one’s own
performance
Translation of
representational
ensembles into reasoning
sequences: Uncle’s car is
outside, so he is in.
4-6: Integration
of realistic
representations
Control of attentional focus:
Shifting between actions
according to instructions
activating a represented
plan.
Explicit awareness of
representations, ToM
Pragmatic reasoning: You
said I can play outside if I
eat my food; I ate my
food; I go to play outside.
Development of Executive control, cognizance, and reasoning
AGE
Executive Control
Cognizance
Reasoning
6-8: Emerging
rule-based
representations
Rule-based action plans,
such as turn-taking in
games. Self-addressed
instructions
Explicit awareness of
representation/actions
relations, Implicit selfevaluation rules
Scheme-based reasoning,
modus ponens, conjunction,
disjunction: There is a dog
and a tiger; there is a
dog, so there is a tiger.
8-11: Integration Conceptual fluency in
of rules into rule- shifting across conceptual
based systems
systems (recall fruits, then
animals) or story making
based on prompt words
(animal, forest, hungry).
Explicit awareness of
mental processes, 2ndorder ToM, logical
necessity
Symmetric conditional
reasoning (MT-MT): If
there is an apple there is
a pear; there is an apple,
there is a pear; there is
not a pear, there is not an
apple.
11-13: Emerging
principle-based
representations
Inferential relevance
mastery program: Lifeplans, such as study choices
for university.
Explicit awareness of
mental processes;
implicit self-evaluation
principles
Intuitive grasp of
fallacies: If there is an
apple there is a pear;
there is a pear; I cannot
know if there is an apple.
14-16: Integrated
Life-plans, such as study
Self-representation
Complete conditional
Can we reduce to simpler processes?

Can we reduce the cycles of AACog
development to
 individual
differences in fundamental
processing possibilities, such as speed?
 Or the state of representational and
knowledge handling processes such as
attention and working memory?
Relations between speed and intelligence
Sheppard & Vernon
(2008), showed,
based on the
metaanalysis of 172,
involving 53,542
individuals, that
speed is significantly
related to the main
dimensions of general
intelligence, such as
general, fluid, and
crystallized
intelligence
Relations between WM, attention and intelligence
Schweizer and Moosbrugger
(2004) showed that both
WM and attention are
related to intelligence,
although the strength of the
relation varies as a function
of the processes used in
intelligence. Performance on
the Raven is more highly
related to WM (panel A)
and performance on a test
requiring trail making is more
related to attention (panel B)
Gf as a function of working memory level
(i.e., low, 0-2; medium, 2-5; high, 5-7).
Cognitive
performance
accords with
what is
expected
from age
rather than
from WM
level.
Changes in mental processing,
representational capacity and inference



Reaction times decrease because
processing becomes increasingly
faster
Working memory capacity
expands, handling increasingly
more information
Executive control becomes
increasingly more focused,
flexible, and efficient and
reasoning becomes increasingly
abstract
Cycles of speed-Gf and WM-Gf relations
Cycles in speed, working memory, reasoning relations
Reasoning is predicted by
speed at the first phase of
each cycle (at 6-8 years and
11-13 yrs) and by working
memory at the second phase
(4-6 years, 8-10 years, and
13-16 yrs). At the beginning
of cycles speed is a better
index because thought in terms
of the new mental units is
automated and expands fast
over different contents. Later,
when networks of
representations are built, WM
is a better index because
alignment of representations
requires and facilitates WM.
Differentiation and de-differentiation as a
function of g and age
Reasoning (Raven) and speed
differentiate at the end of the cycle
Inferential awareness and WM dedifferentiate throughout the cycle
DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCES IN DIFFERENT THEORIES
AGE
PIAGET
CASE
FISCHER
0-2
Sensorimotor
Sensorimotor
Sensorimotor
2-4
Early preoperational
prelogical
Early interrelational
Single representations
5-6
Late preoperational
Intutive
Late inter-relational
Representational
mappings
7-8
Early concrete
reversibility, logic
Early dimensional
Systems of
representations
9-10
Late concrete
complex conservations
Late dimensional
Single abstractions
11-13
Early formal
Combinatorial, possible
Early vectorial
Mappings of
abstractions
14-20
Late formal
Conditional reasoning
Late vectorial
Systems of abstractions
The role of speed and WM in Gf change



At the beginning of cycles processing speed
increases because the new mental unit compresses
the time requirements of mental processing.
Command of the new representational unit improves
at the beginning of cycles and thinking in terms of it
proliferates fast to new content.
Later in the cycle, when relations between
representations are worked out, WM is a better
index because inter-linking of representations both
requires and facilitates WM.
Specifying the causal factor of Gf development
Neither speed nor WM are the causes of
change or individual differences.
 Cognizance is the causal reconceptualization
factor.
 Insight is the spot-light of consciousness,
reflection its processing mechanism, and
inference its integration-validation tool. WM is
an index of the breadth and resolution of
these processes.

The mediating role of cognizance in development
Abstraction and alignment
processes develop stepby-step. Transition to each
next cycle is possible after
attaining a minimum of
awareness about the
mental functions and
representations of the
current cycle. This
awareness offers the core
for the construction of the
mental unit of the next
cycle.
Gf
.58
.67
.18
.29
.29
.41
AWAREinfer
-.05
-.12
-.12
Control
-.33
-.14
-.35
WM
-.46
-.22
-.38
Speed
AWAREperc
-.73
-.60
-.46
.89
.63
.63
Age
Training attention
Attention or
WMC may be
trained but
transfer to
higher level
processes such
as gf and
reasoning, is
questionable, if
any.
Does it really transfer to intelligence?

Melby-Lervag & Hulme (2013) and Shipstead
et al. (2012), based on a large number of
studies, concluded that gains in attention and
working memory do not transfer intelligence.
Transfer, when found, comes from the fact that
attention and working memory training training
included basic intelligence processes, such as
relational thought, abstraction, and awareness.
Training reasoning: Know and model
the mental processes/relations







9 and 11 years old children.
Differentiate between every-day and logical
meaning of propositions.
Differentiate between logical arguments (MP, MT,
AC, DA).
Understand logical contradiction.
Construct mental models for each argument.
Grasp logical necessity and sufficiency.
FIG instructed on all; LIG instructed on skills 2 & 4.
Logical and metalogical learning
Twice as many children in full
instruction mastered the fallacies
(improvement from 20% to 62%) as
compared to the limited instruction,
moving from the concepts to the
principles cycle.
Awareness of similarities and
differences between arguments
improved significantly in full but not in
limited instruction.
Profit from learning in reasoning and
awareness was related to WM in full
but not in the limited instruction.
Speed and Gf not related to change
in any group.
Specifying the role of mental functions
in logical and metalogical change
Deductive reasoning change
was highly affected by
training (.51) and it was
related to its initial condition
(.42), attention control (-.18),
Gf (.16), and pure inference
(.22). Awareness change was
related to training (.23) but
also highly to attention control
(-.68), pure inference (.60),
Gf (.32) and cognitive
flexibility (.15).
Training mathematics: Grasp relations,
reflect on them, integrate and automate!

11 years old
Conceptualize problems and specify
mathematical relations

Build problem specific problem solving
strategies

Explicitly meta-represent problem structures
and processes and their associations.

Learning transferred to general intelligence
Training generalized to
working memory and Gf
itself.
Change in WM was
mediated by change in
Gf and change in Gf
was mediated by the
state of WM.
Ability
2
Control group
Experimental group
________________________ ___________________________________________
Cont/ WM Gf
Gf ch Cont/ WM Gf
WM ch Gf ch Intercept
Speed
Speed
T1T2: χ (238)=276.19, p=.05, CFI=1.0, RMSEA=.05
-.35*
WM
-.18
--.36* -Gf
Change
Control
/Speed
WM
Gf
Maths
Deduct
Analog
Scient
Spatial
-.45*
---
--.83*
-1.0*
--
.71*/.28
---
.08
-.20
.25*
-.08
.53*
.16
--.64*
--
-.06
.82*
-.10*/-.01
.65*
.67*
.38*
.11*
.18*
.07*
.06
2
T1T3: , χ (235)=287.26, p=.01, CFI=.99, RMSEA=.06
WM
-.32
-.29*
-.37*
-.27
.18
Gf
Change
Control
/Speed
WM
Gf
Maths
Deduct
Analog
Scient
Spatial
-.22
-.13
-.94*
--
.30
-.93
-.51*
--
.09*/-11*
-.19
--/1.0*
-.91*
.29*
--.40*
-.10
.54*
-.11*/.08*
.65*
.20*
.19*
.13*
.04
.10
.02
3. Principles for education

The model above generates three principles about
education:
 Focus
on the main causal transition mechanism:
cognizance. Build awareness about the cycle’s
representational unit and how units may be aligned.
 Train the cycle-specific inferential processes,
highlighting their logical and metalogical specificities
through related mental models.
 Give practice to auxiliary processes, such as
information search (attention), representation and
storage (WM), and mental scanning (flexibility).
Grasp the bull by the horns
Cognizance
Working
memory
Inference
Attention
Mind training in the episodic cycle
focus-respond
Look at this,
take it
Repeat
actions 1, 2, …
Hold two objects,
Sense the weight
Find the similarities
Insert object in
same-shape hole
Mind training in the representational cycle
Focus-chooserespond
Match sound-action
Recall digits,
words
Know your
representations,
object-word-picture
ToM
Induce relations
Pragmatic deals
Mind training in the rule-based cycle
scan-selectsearch-shift
Re-organize,
Re-chunck,
reduce, recode
Know relations between
representations,
associations, necessity
Rule-based inference
(MP, MT)
analogical relations
Mind training in the principle-based cycle
Inferential relevance
mastery: evaluate
conceptual spaces for
truth and validity.
Different
strategiesDifferen
t learning
Know relations between
rules, represent logical
relations
Principle-based inference
(fallacies)
suppositional stance,
epistemological relativity
Intelligence is a 3-dimensional universe
Dimension 1:
 Intelligence is responsible to give meaning
to the world and handle change in it
sensibly and adaptively.

Abstracting, aligning and relating, and
inferring and reasoning are the basic
meaning-making processes
Intelligence is a 3-dimensional universe
Dimension 2:
 Intelligence is a developmental process:
Meaning-making is accomplished under the
representational, inferential, and
processing constraints of the current phase.
 Inventing
means to minimize developmental
constraints is an integral component of
intelligence.
Intelligence is a 3-dimensional universe
Dimension 3:
 Developmental and individual differences are
the two aspects of the same coin. Individual
differences at any phase emerge from
 differences
in representational and processing
possibilities related to underlying brain structures
 differences in event-related knowledge and
evaluation sensitivities that would grasp what is
needed and flexibly adjust available representations
and processes.
THANK YOU