Research
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Analogical gestures foster understanding of causal systems
Abstract
Sensitivity to the causal structure underlying phenomena is critical to expert understanding. Fostering such understanding in learners is therefore a key goal in education. We hypothesized that observing analogical gestures—which repres...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Children's spontaneous comparisons from 26 to 58 months predict performance in verbal and non-verbal analogy tests in 6th grade
Abstract
Comparison supports the development of children’s analogical reasoning. The evidence for this claim comes from laboratory studies. We describe spontaneous comparisons produced by 24 typically developing children from 26 to 58 months. Ch...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Extending SME to Handle Large-Scale Cognitive Modeling
Abstract
Analogy and similarity are central phenomena in human cognition, involved in processes ranging from visual perception to conceptual change. To capture this centrality requires that a model of comparison must be able to integrate with ot...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Analogical Processes in Children’s Understanding of Spatial Representations
Abstract
We propose that map reading can be construed as a form of analogical mapping. We tested 2 predictions that follow from this claim: First, young children’s patterns of performance in map reading tasks should parallel those found in analo...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Do Relationality and Aptness Influence Conventionalization?
Abstract
The conventionalization of figurative comparisons is one source of lexical evolution. For example, anchor once only meant a device for mooring a ship, but may now be used to describe any source of stability or confidence. Our goal is to...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Relational Categories are More Mutable than Entity Categories
Abstract
Across three experiments, we explore differences between relational categories—whose members share common relational patterns—and entity categories, whose members share common intrinsic properties. Specifically, we test the claim that r...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Part-whole categorization is culture-specific
Abstract
We present two experiments on the role of culture in the categorization of object part-whole structures. A triadic categorization task pitted shape against function as factors driving similarity judgments on selected parts of different ...
Publication · October 16, 2024
Comparison within pairs promotes analogical abstraction in three-month-olds
Publication · October 16, 2024