ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a strongly debated question: are there specific domains in the functioning of the mind? It also asks whether these domains are independent of central mechanisms in cognitive development. The chapter summarizes and evaluates answers to these questions, ranging from Piaget to modern proponents of the modularity of the developing mind. Piaget’s theory recognized special domains of reasoning—such as categorical, quantitative, spatial, and causal reasoning—but postulated that the underlying structures of reasoning run through domains. Neo-Piagetian theories replaced structures of reasoning by representational and processing constraints but preserved the fundamental assumption of a central developmental driving mechanism. More recent theories postulated that domains correspond to broad realms of the world, such as the psychological, the biological, and the physical world, which were shaped by evolutionary processes.
