The role of patterning skill in cognitive development and learning: A critical review

Patterning is a skill that involves understanding, identifying, and applying systematic rules within predictable sequences, and a recent surge in the literature has focused on this skill as a crucial part of cognitive development. The goal of this paper is to critically evaluate this growing literature to highlight what we know about patterning and what major gaps remain, and then to offer several recommendations for advancing patterning research. In particular, we believe the field has made extensive advances in understanding the assessment, developmental trajectories, and correlates of patterning skills. Yet, there are open questions about whether patterning is a proxy for other cognitive abilities, whether it is domain-specific or domain-general, and whether it causally impacts learning. We provide recommendations for future work to (1) acknowledge connections with adjacent cognitive abilities, (2) break down patterning activities into cognitive processes, (3) take a developmental perspective to observe patterning skill formation, (4) target both local and central mechanisms that support patterning, and (5) continue to explore patterning’s role in educational practices. By probing deeper into the nature of patterning, researchers can advance knowledge of both patterning and other cognitive skills that are critical to human development.