The vertical dimension of mental functioning

Summary A hierarchical, six-level model of human intelligence is described. The first four levels, which correspond to those found in Bernstein's theory of motor control, are concerned with palaeokinetic regulations (A), synergies (B), the spatial field (C), and object actions (D). The two levels of the higher symbolic coordinations embody conceptual structures (E) and metacognitive coordinations (F). The model is supported by experimental results from several subfields of cognitive research: e.g., different types of learning are specifically connected with the components of this hierarchical structure. Learning by the restructuring of existing knowledge proceeds by means of the metaprocedures of level F. The incremental accumulation of factual information is connected with the conceptual base of level E. Proceduralization of this knowledge results in the build-up of perceptual automatisms of skilled action (level D), as is often case in the formation of expert knowledge. Arguments for the hierarchical architecture of perception, attention, memory, understanding, thinking, and imagination are provided, and some parallels are drawn with the organization of emotional and motivational processes. It is argued that general, interdisciplinary questions on the nature and sources of mental functioning must be approached with a kind of pluralistic methodology. These questions cannot be answered in an equally general vein, because the localization of mental processes on the vertical dimension of cognitive architecture is to be taken into account.