AST Cognitive Move Prize
A validated addition to the visual structural grammar of thought.
The Prize recognizes the discovery of a new Mental Move: a repeatable thinking action, built from DSRP, that someone had to invent. Every Move that passes five structural tests and is accepted into the Universal Cognitive Move Registry (UCMR) receives the Prize and is published in the Journal of Systems Thinking.
Discovering a new Move is the cognitive equivalent of identifying a new species in biology, a new molecule in chemistry, or a new prime number in mathematics. Moves are essential for practicing and doing systems thinking.
The building blocks of thought.
A Mental Move turns information into meaning. Every Move is built from the four DSRP patterns: Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives. Like a physical exercise, a Move has a starting position and an ending position, can be drawn as a map, and gets better with practice.
6 Moves ≈ 80%
Six common Moves cover about 80 percent of everyday thinking.
- Is/Is Not List precision
- Zoom In details
- Zoom Out context
- Part Party relationships among parts
- RDS Barbell what’s inside a relationship
- Perspective Circle shifting viewpoints
The UCMR records more than 200 recognized Moves. Each new one adds to an organization-based curriculum that can run from Pre-K through PhD.
A new Move must pass all five.
| Test | Counts when | Doesn’t count when |
|---|---|---|
| 01Mostly organization | Structure outweighs information, with an information-to-organization ratio under 0.25. | It depends on facts from a subject area or on empirical testing. |
| 02A mappable change | It produces a clear before and after in how things are organized, drawn with DSRP objects. | It only describes, relabels, or says what something “can be.” |
| 03Fewer possibilities | It commits the thinker to one specific structure. | It leaves the options open or adds more. |
| 04A skill | It can be done well or badly, and practice makes it better. | It can’t really be done wrong. |
| 05Common | It recurs across people and situations in real use. | It is a one-off or an arbitrary rearrangement. |
Only molecular Moves are eligible.
Some Moves come free with DSRP. Others have to be built. The Prize goes to the ones someone built.
Forced by DSRP
DSRP produces it on its own through its patterns, elements, and dynamics, such as equality, co-implication, simultaneity, and enclosure. No choice is needed, so the credit belongs to DSRP. Atomic Moves stay in the catalog when they help people learn.
Quick test: DSRP would generate it anyway.
Chosen by a person
A person builds it by arranging atomic dynamics in a way DSRP does not require. A choice had to be made, so the credit belongs to the person who found it.
Quick test: someone had to invent the configuration.
Three steps to the Prize.
- Step 1Apply here
One application does two jobs: it submits the Move to the UCMR, which AST keeps, and enters it for the Prize. Anyone can apply, for their own Move or for someone else’s. A Move already in the UCMR can be entered too.
- Step 2Review for the UCMR
AST checks the Move against the five tests and whether it is molecular. Moves that pass are accepted into the UCMR.
- Step 3The Prize
Every Move accepted into the UCMR receives the Prize, awarded at the International State of Systems Thinking® Conference. Accepted Moves are also published in the Journal of Systems Thinking (JoST).
A UCMR application is a formal technical document, similar in rigor to a patent application. It must be unambiguous, work across subject areas, and include an explicit DSRP structure and a before-and-after map. A Move turned down by the UCMR can be resubmitted after 30 days, up to twice a year, when the structure has changed in substance, not just in wording.
Enter a Move for the Prize.
Fields marked * are required. AST confirms every application by email.