This article looks interesting. I was going to make a similar comment with a much more dated source so I'll piggyback off of yours. Piaget, in his book "Biology and Knowledge", applies biological concepts to the study of mind and comes to the conclusion that consciousness is similar to embryogenesis: both are processes that actively construct a set of interwoven systems that effect biological homeostasis. Many of the basic principles in embryogenesis and learning are the same. For example, isolated subsystems are developed in parallel, with input both from the genetic system and from the environment, and are later integrated to form higher-order functional systems. This idea is more interesting when you consider that the development of mind could be just the final stages of embryogenesis insofar as it is an aspect of the physical development of a child and their integration into society.

Piaget's ideas were a little sketchy because of the paucity of information about the brain at the time so I'm excited to look more at the article in the parent comment which appears to be an attempt at a more detailed analysis.

Well in a way the articles approach is similar to Piaget's in the sense that the approach is also functional. The hypothesis here is that the mind is just a information processing system and the research approach therefore is developing functional models. It will either work or not, you can actually test your models. This approach doesn't just model biological structures but independently tries to find functional explanations/mechanisms that could result in a mind like system. I think the articles model is one of the most sophisticated of the highly integrated ones out there. It really is worth reading, especially the explanation for emotion and motivation i found to be quite interesting.

If you need a teaser to get you going, there is also a talk by the author which is a good summary of the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKQ0yaEJjok