A CREATIVE COGNITION 227
concepts, novel abstractions, and logical structures. Th eir formation re-
fl ects the abilities that Jean Piaget called “refl ective abstraction.” Th ese
powers stem from the nature of a system that is supersensitive to struc-
tural co- variations.
Unfortunately, these structures are sadly overlooked in assessments of
learning ability through knowledge tests. Th ese tests overlook, for ex-
ample, how most knowledge is much deeper than psychologists seem to
suspect. It is not captured in tests and exams that seek mere regurgita-
tion of shallow— factual— knowledge. Moreover, in humans, the deeper
layers can vary drastically across cultures, even when superfi cially simi-
lar (see chapters 10 and 11).
Fi nally, because of refl ective abstraction, knowledge seems to snowball
once established in a domain. Th at, too, refl ects the value of cross- domain
fertilizations, as in learning from analogies and the use of meta phor. And
it sometimes emerges in the form of sudden new insights. Th e way that
knowledge is bound up with feelings and motivations, forming beliefs, is
also oft en overlooked, as in much education. As we shall see in chapter 9,
these emergent aspects of knowledge became much expanded in humans
as the basis for cultural learning.
Thinking and Prob lem SolvingTh inking is considered to be the core of cognition. Above all else, when
psychologists and behavioral ge ne ticists refer to individual diff erences
in cognitive ability, they are implying the ability to think competently or
eff ectively (and that such variation will have something to do with varia-
tion in genes and brains). However, as we have seen, thinking has not
been well understood in the traditional frameworks.
In a dynamical systems perspective, thinking is the spread of neuro-
nal activations through the attractor landscape. Th e spatiotemporal pat-
tern of that activity determines its compatibility with an existing basin
of attraction, into which it may then be drawn. Some further output may
then ensue: another form of activation with vari ous pos si ble conse-
quences that depend on circumstances.
On the one hand is aimless “mind wandering” through the attractor
landscape, perhaps prompted by random stimulus inputs. (Dreaming is
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