How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

Author: Valerie Gray Hardcastle

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1996-04-04

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780791428863

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Articulates a method for integrating the individual disciplines that compose the cognitive sciences so that unified interdisciplinary theories are possible.


How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

Author: Valerie Gray Hardcastle

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1996-04-04

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1438405766

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How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science specifies the characteristics of fruitful interdisciplinary theories in cognitive science and shows how they differ from the successful theories in the individual disciplines composing the cognitive sciences. It articulates a method for integrating the various disciplines successfully so that unified, truly interdisciplinary theories are possible. This book makes three contributions of utmost importance. First, it provides a long overdue, systematic examination of the field of cognitive science itself. Second, it provides a template for linking domains without loss of autonomy. This philosophical treatment of integration serves as a blueprint for future endeavors. Third, the book provides a solid theoretical foundation that will prevent future missteps and enhance collaboration.


Building Theories

Building Theories

Author: David Danks

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-01-18

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 3319727877

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This book explores new findings on the long-neglected topic of theory construction and discovery, and challenges the orthodox, current division of scientific development into discrete stages: the stage of generation of new hypotheses; the stage of collection of relevant data; the stage of justification of possible theories; and the final stage of selection from among equally confirmed theories. The chapters, written by leading researchers, offer an interdisciplinary perspective on various aspects of the processes by which theories rationally should, and descriptively are, built. They address issues such as the role of problem-solving and heuristic reasoning in theory-building; how inferences and models shape the pursuit of scientific knowledge; the relation between problem-solving and scientific discovery; the relative values of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic view of theories in understanding theory construction; and the relation between ampliative inferences, heuristic reasoning, and models as a means for building new theories and knowledge. Through detailed arguments and examinations, the volume collectively challenges the orthodox view’s main tenets by characterizing the ways in which the different “stages” are logically, temporally, and psychologically intertwined. As a group, the chapters provide several attempts to answer long-standing questions about the possibility of a unified conceptual framework for building theories and formulating hypotheses.


Cognitive Science and the Social

Cognitive Science and the Social

Author: Stephen P. Turner

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-09

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 1351180509

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The rise of cognitive neuroscience is the most important scientific and intellectual development of the last thirty years. Findings pour forth, and major initiatives for brain research continue. The social sciences have responded to this development slowly--for good reasons. The implications of particular controversial findings, such as the discovery of mirror neurons, have been ambiguous, controversial within neuroscience itself, and difficult to integrate with conventional social science. Yet many of these findings, such as those of experimental neuro-economics, pose very direct challenges to standard social science. At the same time, however, the known facts of social science, for example about linguistic and moral diversity, pose a significant challenge to standard neuroscience approaches, which tend to focus on "universal" aspects of human and animal cognition. A serious encounter between cognitive neuroscience and social science is likely to be challenging, and transformative, for both parties. Although a literature has developed on proposals to integrate neuroscience and social science, these proposals go in divergent directions. None of them has a developed conception of social life. This book surveys these issues, introduces the basic alternative conceptions both of the mental world and the social world, and show how, with sufficient modification, they can be fit together in plausible ways. The book is not a "new theory " of anything, but rather an exploration of the critical issues that relate to the social aspects of cognition which expands the topic from the social neuroscience of immediate interpersonal interaction to the whole range of places where social variation interacts with the cognitive. The focus is on the conceptual problems produced by any attempt to take these issues seriously, and also on the new resources and considerations relevant to doing so. But it is also on the need for a revision of social theoretical concepts in order to utilize these resources. The book points to some conclusions, especially about how the process of what was known as socialization needs to be understood in cognitive science friendly terms. But there is no attempt to resolve the underlying issues within cognitive science, which will doubtless persist.


Knowing What Students Know

Knowing What Students Know

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-10-27

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 0309293227

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Education is a hot topic. From the stage of presidential debates to tonight's dinner table, it is an issue that most Americans are deeply concerned about. While there are many strategies for improving the educational process, we need a way to find out what works and what doesn't work as well. Educational assessment seeks to determine just how well students are learning and is an integral part of our quest for improved education. The nation is pinning greater expectations on educational assessment than ever before. We look to these assessment tools when documenting whether students and institutions are truly meeting education goals. But we must stop and ask a crucial question: What kind of assessment is most effective? At a time when traditional testing is subject to increasing criticism, research suggests that new, exciting approaches to assessment may be on the horizon. Advances in the sciences of how people learn and how to measure such learning offer the hope of developing new kinds of assessments-assessments that help students succeed in school by making as clear as possible the nature of their accomplishments and the progress of their learning. Knowing What Students Know essentially explains how expanding knowledge in the scientific fields of human learning and educational measurement can form the foundations of an improved approach to assessment. These advances suggest ways that the targets of assessment-what students know and how well they know it-as well as the methods used to make inferences about student learning can be made more valid and instructionally useful. Principles for designing and using these new kinds of assessments are presented, and examples are used to illustrate the principles. Implications for policy, practice, and research are also explored. With the promise of a productive research-based approach to assessment of student learning, Knowing What Students Know will be important to education administrators, assessment designers, teachers and teacher educators, and education advocates.


How to Build a Brain

How to Build a Brain

Author: Chris Eliasmith

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-04-16

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 0199794693

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How to Build a Brain provides a detailed exploration of a new cognitive architecture - the Semantic Pointer Architecture - that takes biological detail seriously, while addressing cognitive phenomena. Topics ranging from semantics and syntax, to neural coding and spike-timing-dependent plasticity are integrated to develop the world's largest functional brain model.


How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

Author: Valerie Gray Hardcastle

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780791428856

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How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science specifies the characteristics of fruitful interdisciplinary theories in cognitive science and shows how they differ from the successful theories in the individual disciplines composing the cognitive sciences. It articulates a method for integrating the various disciplines successfully so that unified, truly interdisciplinary theories are possible. This book makes three contributions of utmost importance. First, it provides a long-overdue, systematic examination of the field of cognitive science itself. Second, it provides a template for linking domains without loss of autonomy. This philosophical treatment of integration serves as a blueprint for future endeavors. Third, the book provides a solid theoretical foundation that will prevent future missteps and enhance collaboration.


On Task

On Task

Author: David Badre

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-02-22

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0691234701

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A look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives Why is it hard to text and drive at the same time? How do you resist eating that extra piece of cake? Why does staring at a tax form feel mentally exhausting? Why can your child expertly fix the computer and yet still forget to put on a coat? From making a cup of coffee to buying a house to changing the world around them, humans are uniquely able to execute necessary actions. How do we do it? Or in other words, how do our brains get things done? In On Task, cognitive neuroscientist David Badre presents the first authoritative introduction to the neuroscience of cognitive control—the remarkable ways that our brains devise sophisticated actions to achieve our goals. We barely notice this routine part of our lives. Yet, cognitive control, also known as executive function, is an astonishing phenomenon that has a profound impact on our well-being. Drawing on cutting-edge research, vivid clinical case studies, and examples from daily life, Badre sheds light on the evolution and inner workings of cognitive control. He examines issues from multitasking and willpower to habitual errors and bad decision making, as well as what happens as our brains develop in childhood and change as we age—and what happens when cognitive control breaks down. Ultimately, Badre shows that cognitive control affects just about everything we do. A revelatory look at how billions of neurons collectively translate abstract ideas into concrete plans, On Task offers an eye-opening investigation into the brain’s critical role in human behavior.


Hack the Experience

Hack the Experience

Author: Ryan Dewey

Publisher: punctum books

Published: 2018-09-04

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1947447653

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"This is a book for artists, but it is also for curators, art school faculty, landscape architects, gallerists, archivists, post-disciplinary multi-hyphenates, museum program staff, and anyone who wants to know about the ways art and congnitive science come together to engage an audience."--Cover


Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science

Author: Jay Friedenberg

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2015-09-23

Total Pages: 829

ISBN-13: 1483347427

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In Cognitive Science 3e Friedenberg and Silverman provide a solid understanding of the major theoretical and empirical contributions of cognitive science. Their text, thoroughly updated for this new third edition, describes the major theories of mind as well as the major experimental results that have emerged within each cognitive science discipline. Throughout history, different fields of inquiry have attempted to understand the great mystery of mind and answer questions like: What is the mind? How do we see, think, and remember? Can we create machines that are conscious and capable of self-awareness? This books examines these questions and many more. Focusing on the approach of a particular cognitive science field in each chapter, the authors describe its methodology, theoretical perspective, and findings and then offer a critical evaluation of the field. Features: Offers a wide-ranging, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary introduction to the field of cognitive science and issues of mind. Interdisciplinary Crossroads” sections at the end of each chapter focus on research topics that have been investigated from multiple perspectives, helping students to understand the link between varying disciplines and cognitive science. End-of-chapter “Summing Up” sections provide a concise summary of the major points addressed in each chapter to facilitate student comprehension and exam preparation “Explore More” sections link students to the Student Study Site where the authors have provided activities to help students more quickly master course content and prepare for examinations Supplements: A password-protected Instructor’s Resource contains PowerPoint lectures, a test bank and other pedagogical material.The book's Study Site features Web links, E-flash cards, and interactive quizzes.