Abstract
This chapter presents the cognitive-developmental theory that seeks to explain the very essence of giftedness. According to the theory, the structural organization of giftedness is presented at the six interrelated levels: (1) the neuropsychological foundation of giftedness, (2) its developmental foundation, mainly formed by sensitive periods, which significantly accelerate a child’s development, (3) the cognitive basis of giftedness, and (4–6) three levels of the manifestations of giftedness: intellectually creative, metacognitive, and extracognitive (i.e. specific feelings, senses, intuition, preferences, and intentions) abilities, respectively. The cognitive basis of giftedness is the specific cognitive experience of the gifted that manifests itself in their unique type of representations. It means that gifted individuals see, understand, and interpret everything differently. The gifted’s unique type of representations or their unique picture of the world or their unique vision is the essence of giftedness.
To Professor Marina A. Kholodnaya, whose ideas found further development in this chapter
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Shavinina, L.V. (2009). A Unique Type of Representation Is the Essence of Giftedness: Towards a Cognitive-Developmental Theory. In: Shavinina, L.V. (eds) International Handbook on Giftedness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6162-2_10
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