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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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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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Cognitive-historical approaches to the understanding of scienceIn Gregory J. Feist & Michael E. Gorman (eds.), Handbook of the psychology of science, Springer Pub. Company, Llc. 2013.
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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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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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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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14Representing the Electromagnetic Field: How Maxwell’s Mathematics Empowered Faraday’s Field TheoryScience & Education 20 (7-8): 687-700. 2011.
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Hypothesis testing: The role of confirmationIn Ryan D. Tweney, Michael E. Doherty & Clifford R. Mynatt (eds.), On Scientific Thinking, Columbia University Press. pp. 115--128. 1981.
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Null hypothesis testing, confirmation bias and strong inferenceIn Ryan D. Tweney, Michael E. Doherty & Clifford R. Mynatt (eds.), On Scientific Thinking, Columbia University Press. pp. 262--267. 1981.
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Two Reviews of B. F. Skinner's "The Shaping of a Behaviorist" No. 1 (review)Behavior and Philosophy 9 (1): 95. 1981.
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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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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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9Occurrence and nonoccurrence of random sequences: Comment on Hahn and Warren (2009)Psychological Review 117 (2): 697-703. 2010.
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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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The Future of Cognitive Studies of Science and TechnologyIn M. Gorman, R. Tweney, D. Gooding & A. Kincannon (eds.), Scientific and Technological Thinking, Erlbaum. 2005.
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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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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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34Toward a cognitive-historical understanding of Michael faraday's research: Editor's introductionPerspectives on Science 14 (1): 1-6. 2006.
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15Psychology and the foundations of rational beliefBehavioral and Brain Sciences 6 (2): 262-263. 1983.
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36The pseudodiagnosticity trap: Should participants consider alternative hypotheses?Thinking and Reasoning 16 (4): 332-345. 2010.
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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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Reflections on the History of Behavioral Theories of LanguageBehavior and Philosophy 7 (1): 91. 1979.
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3On 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 |