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71Rationality and the psychology of inferenceSynthese 57 (November): 129-138. 1983.Recent advances in the cognitive psychology of inference have been of great interest to philosophers of science. The present paper reviews one such area, namely studies based upon Wason's 4-card selection task. It is argued that interpretation of the results of the experiments is complex, because a variety of inference strategies may be used by subjects to select evidence needed to confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis. Empirical evidence suggests that which strategy is used depends in part on th…Read more
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48Wegner's “illusion” anticipated: Jonathan Edwards on the willBehavioral and Brain Sciences 27 (5): 676-676. 2004.Wegner's The Illusion of Conscious Will (2002) ignores an important aspect of the history of the concept: the determinism of Jonathan Edwards (1754) and the later response to this determinism by William James and others. We argue that Edwards's formulation, and James's resolution of the resulting dilemma, are superior to Wegner's.
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48Discovering discovery: How faraday found the first metallic colloidPerspectives on Science 14 (1): 97-121. 2006.: In 1856, Michael Faraday (1791–1867) conducted nearly a year's worth of research on the optical properties of gold, in the course of which he discovered the first metallic colloids. Following our own discovery of hundreds of the specimens prepared by Faraday for this research, the present paper describes the cognitive role of these "epistemic artifacts" in the dynamics of Faraday's research practices. Analysis of the specimens, Faraday's Diary records, and replications of selected procedures (…Read more
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44Mathematical Representations in Science: A Cognitive–Historical Case HistoryTopics in Cognitive Science 1 (4): 758-776. 2009.The important role of mathematical representations in scientific thinking has received little attention from cognitive scientists. This study argues that neglect of this issue is unwarranted, given existing cognitive theories and laws, together with promising results from the cognitive historical analysis of several important scientists. In particular, while the mathematical wizardry of James Clerk Maxwell differed dramatically from the experimental approaches favored by Michael Faraday, Maxwell…Read more
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36The pseudodiagnosticity trap: Should participants consider alternative hypotheses?Thinking and Reasoning 16 (4): 332-345. 2010.
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34Toward a cognitive-historical understanding of Michael faraday's research: Editor's introductionPerspectives on Science 14 (1): 1-6. 2006.
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34The Creative Structuring of Counterintuitive WorldsJournal of Cognition and Culture 6 (3-4): 483-498. 2006.Recent research has shown a memory advantage for minimally counterintuitive concepts, over concepts that are either intuitive or maximally counterintuitive, although the general result is heavily affected by context. Items from one such study were given to subjects who were asked to create novel stories using at least three concepts from a list containing all three types. Results indicated a preference for using MCI items, and further disclosed two styles of usage, an accommodative style and an …Read more
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27The influence of feedback and diagnostic data on pseudodiagnosticityBulletin of the Psychonomic Society 18 (4): 191-194. 1981.
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20Scientific and Technological Thinking (edited book)Erlbaum. 2005.This book describes empirically ways to analyze and then to effectually utilize cognitive processes to advance discovery and invention in the sciences. It also explains how to teach these principles to students.
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19Replication and the Experimental Ethnography of ScienceJournal of Cognition and Culture 4 (3-4): 731-758. 2004.The present paper attempts to define an experimental ethnography as an approach to the understanding of scientific thinking. Such an ethnography relies upon the replication of contemporary and historical scientific practices as a means of capturing the cultural and cognitive meanings of the practices in question. The approach is contrasted to the typical kind of laboratory experiment in psychology, and it is argued that replications of scientific practices can reveal dimensions of the microstruc…Read more
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1813. A framework for the cognitive psychology of scienceIn Barry Gholson (ed.), Psychology of Science: Contributions to Metascience, Cambridge University Press. pp. 342. 1989.
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16Lorenzo Magnani & Ping Li Philosophy and cognitive science: Western & Eastern studies: Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 2012, x+287ppMind and Society 12 (2): 273-276. 2013.Based upon papers given at a 2011 conference at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, this book crosses many boundaries. Most obviously, it includes a balanced set of contributions by philosophers and cognitive scientists from a variety of countries: Nine of the authors are based in Europe, eight in Asia, and one in North America. The conference was the latest of three held in Guangzhou between 2004 and 2011; the editors are to be congratulated for their extensive and continuing efforts to…Read more
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16Imagery Effects on Recall of Minimally Counterintuitive ConceptsJournal of Cognition and Culture 7 (3-4): 355-367. 2007.Much experimental evidence shows that minimally counterintuitive concepts, which violate one intuitive ontological expectation of domain-specific natural kinds, are remembered as well as or better than intuitive concepts with no violations of ontological expectations, and much better than maximally counterintuitive concepts with more than one violation of ontological violations. It is also well established that concepts rated as high in imagery, are recalled better than concepts that are low in …Read more
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15Psychology and the foundations of rational beliefBehavioral and Brain Sciences 6 (2): 262-263. 1983.
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15Contextualizing Counterintuitiveness: How Context Affects Comprehension and Memorability of Counterintuitive ConceptsCognitive Science 31 (3): 415-439. 2007.A number of anthropologists have argued that religious concepts are minimally counterintuitive and that this gives them mnemic advantages. This paper addresses the question of why people have the memory architecture that results in such concepts being more memorable than other types of concepts by pointing out the benefits of a memory structure that leads to better recall for minimally counterintuitive concepts and by showing how such benefits emerge in the real‐time processing of comprehending …Read more
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14Representing the Electromagnetic Field: How Maxwell’s Mathematics Empowered Faraday’s Field TheoryScience & Education 20 (7-8): 687-700. 2011.
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13Procedural Representation in Michael Faraday's Scientific ThoughtPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986. 1986.The scientific activity of Michael Faraday is examined by focusing on the procedural aspects of his activity. Procedurality is shown to be a fundamental characteristic of his work at a variety of levels: metacognitive, heuristic, schematic, and theoretical. The evolution of his ideas about the goals of science is shown to reflect fundamental roots in a procedural epistemology, closely tied to his concept of field. The implications of this analysis for the philosophy of science are briefly consid…Read more
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12The effect of sign language grammatical structure on recallBulletin of the Psychonomic Society 10 (4): 331-334. 1977.
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11Alice Jenkins , Michael Faraday's Mental Exercises: An Artisan Essay Circle in Regency London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2008. Pp. xii+250. ISBN 978-1-84631-140-6. £47.50, $85.00 (review)British Journal for the History of Science 42 (2): 306. 2009.
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10Lorenzo Magnani & Ping Li (Eds.) Philosophy and cognitive science: Western & Eastern studies: Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 2012, x+287pp (review)Mind and Society 12 (2): 273-276. 2013.Based upon papers given at a 2011 conference at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, this book crosses many boundaries. Most obviously, it includes a balanced set of contributions by philosophers and cognitive scientists from a variety of countries: Nine of the authors are based in Europe, eight in Asia, and one in North America. The conference was the latest of three held in Guangzhou between 2004 and 2011; the editors are to be congratulated for their extensive and continuing efforts to…Read more
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9The effect of thematic content on cognitive strategies in the four-card selection taskBulletin of the Psychonomic Society 19 (2): 87-90. 1982.
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9Occurrence and nonoccurrence of random sequences: Comment on Hahn and Warren (2009)Psychological Review 117 (2): 697-703. 2010.
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4On bureaucracy and science a response to FullerPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 21 (2): 203-213. 1991.
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Bowling Green State UniversityRegular Faculty
Bowling Green, Ohio, United States of America
Areas of Interest
19th Century Philosophy |
Philosophy of Physical Science |