In accordance with Piaget’s theory, Kosslyn (1978, 1980) postulated that representational-development
progresses from initially sensorimotor knowledge structures (schemata), to spatial pictorial
images, to verbal–linguistic representations. Similarly, Bruner, Olver, and Greenfield (1966) postulated
a developmental progression from enactive (action based), to iconic (pictorial), to symbolic (abstract)
representations. Taking the role of sensorimotor knowledge even further, Thelen (2008) questioned
Piaget’s fundamental assumption that the goal of development is to rise above the mere sensorimotor
and to be increasingly abstract and distanced from perception and action. Thelen rather suggested that
the goal for cognition is to be at home within the body and that development consists of the progressive
ability to flexibly, dynamically, and adaptively change the coupling strength among mind, body,
and environment.