DEVELOPING COGNITIVE TOOLS
THE IMPACT OF CULTURE ON
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Mark Mon-Williams
Sine qua non
…our ability to form mental representations about things
that are remote in time and space…
Symbolic representation
Complex advance planning
Music making
The propensity for decorative arts
The ability to shape artefacts according to a mental
template
Language
Wilson 2010
Culture
The sum of attitudes,
customs, and beliefs that
distinguishes one group of
people from another.
Culture is transmitted,
through language, material
objects, ritual, institutions,
and art, from one
generation to the next
Tools
A tool is any physical item that
can be used to achieve a goal,
especially if the item is not
consumed in the process.
Informally the word ‘tool’ is
used to describe a procedure
or process with a specific
purpose. Tool use by humans
dates back millions of years…
The ultimate tool
An instrument that
represents many
instruments, Aristotle
What we are admiring
in the multitude of
actions of the human
hand is cerebral
perfection, Jones
Embodied cognition
The embodied mind thesis holds that the nature
of the human mind is largely determined by the
form of the human body.
Philosophers, psychologists, cognitive scientists,
and artificial intelligence researchers who study
embodied cognition and the embodied mind
argue that all aspects of cognition are shaped
by aspects of the body
Interception predicts maths
Cognitive tools
Cognitive tools are generalizable tools that are
intended to engage and facilitate cognitive
processing… they can be thought of as a set of tools
that learners need in order to serve cognitive
apprenticeships… they scaffold the foundations of
knowledge construction…
Cognitive tools help learners with complex
learning activities. These tools are learner controlled in
the sense that they construct their knowledge
themselves rather than memorizing knowledge…
Reading skills
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Reading tools
There was an old lady from Bath
Who waved to her son down the path;
He opened the gates,
And bumped into his mates.
Who were Gerry, and Simon, and/ Garth./
Writing skills
Global writing in AD1492
Feedback learning model
Inverse model
Desired
trajectory
S
error
Feedback
Controller
feedforward
motor
command
Effector
S
feedback
motor
command
motor
command
Trajectory
Cognitive retooling
2.0
Kuwaiti
English
Error
(mm)
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Adults (n = 69)
Children (n = 140)
Maths skills
Spatial Number Association Response Code
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
8
10
0
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
8
10
0
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
2
10
0
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
9
10
0
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
7
10
0
START
Spatial Number Association Response Code
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
START
Tools
12
10
Reaction
time (s)
8
6
4
2
0
Reaction
time (s)
Western
Reversed
Western
Reversed
Mixed
Western
Mixed
Reversed
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Mixed
Western
Mixed
Reversed
Cultural bias
MACRO
EXO
MESO
MICRO
PERSON
FAMILY
POLITICS
CULTURE
Hill et al (2010, 2011)
Many thanks
to the Shine Partnership and all of the
children
John Wright; Amanda Waterman; Liz
Andrews; Oscar Giles; Rebecca
Sheridan; Katy Shire; Ed Berry; Liam
Hill; Katie Mooney; Joyti Panesar; Sara
Recalde; Nick Preston