How does Reasoning Support Schooling – and Vice Versa?

In this talk, I will introduce relational thinking, or the ability to jointly consider multiple concepts or pieces of information, which supports learning and reasoning as well as academic achievement. I will briefly show that it has a distinct neural signature, and point to developmental changes in the brain that underlie improvements over childhood. I will argue that relational thinking is a mid-level cognitive ability that should be considered an executive function, and provide evidence that it promotes math achievement.

Finally, I will provide evidence from behavioral, brain imaging, and eyetracking studies suggesting that reasoning can be honed through the process of mastering challenging academic content.

Prof. Dr. Silvia A. Bunge directs the Building Blocks of Cognition Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley, which draws from the fields of cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and education research. She studies the development of higher-level cognitive abilities, how they are shaped by experience, and how they support academic success. The lab leverages behavioral, brain imaging, and eyetracking methods, and experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal designs.

Professor Bunge teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the developing human brain, and recently co-authored a textbook (Bortfeld & Bunge, Fundamentals of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). She is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences and the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the recipient of a Jacobs Foundation Advanced Career Research Fellowship and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award.

June 7th 2022, 2 pm
DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Frankfurt, Room “Wolfgang Mitter”