Cognitive Science and Genetic Epistemology: A Case Study of Understanding

ISBN-13: 9781468456516 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 216 str.

David Leiser; Christiane Gillieron

Opis

Some 10 years ago, Leo Apostel presented an analysis of developments taking place in genetic epistemology and artificial intelligence, and re marked that the two disciplines appeared to be converging, without one dominating or assimilating the other. In his view, significant formal and experimental progress would be required in the post-Piagetian era: ge netic epistemology would need to take into account developments in artificial intelligence, while remaining an independent discipline at the frontiers of biology, logic, and psychology. The work of David Leiser and Christiane Gillieron, both psychol ogists with a Genevan training who are concerned by the procedural aspects of intelligence, is an important contribution. Their studies, which open up new theoretical perspectives, are carried out with metic ulous attention to research methodology. Going beyond merely ad dressing criticisms about the status of Piagetian operational structures, their work will help fill the gap between genetic epistemology and cog nitive science.

Spis treści

1. Introduction.- Knowledge, Representation, and Operational Structure: Toward a Confluence.- Between Representation and Operational Structure.- On Computational and Operational Structures.- I. Understanding Seriation Algorithms.- 2. The Basic Algorithm—Experimental Approach.- Method.- Analysis of the Task: Space, Time, and Length.- Space.- Time.- Length.- The Transformations Performed by the Algorithm.- Hierarchy of Protocols.- Uncoordinated Couples.- The Ascending Row.- Inhibition of Composition.- The Longest to the Right.- Progress in Representation.- 3. Procedure Representations.- Representing the Execution Space.- Understanding the Effects of the Procedure.- Execution and Simulation.- Temporal Indexation.- From Partial Results to General Conclusions.- Equivalence of the Part and the Whole.- Representativity.- Continuation.- Reformulation.- An Idiosyncratic Confusion.- Summary.- 4. Simulation and Understanding.- Formalizing Mental Simulation.- Discussion of the Notation.- The Cursor.- Rules and Meanings.- Selective Individualization—Optional Quantification.- Summary.- 5. The Extraction Algorithm beneath the Basic Algorithm.- Description of the Extraction Algorithm.- The Components.- The Transfer Operations.- The Psychological Reality of the Underlying Structure: Transfer between Problem Isomorphs.- Transfer Experiment.- Method.- Results.- Discussion.- Transfer to a More Complex Variant: The Triplets Algorithm.- Summary.- II. The Structural Approach.- 6. Seriation Strategies and Anticipatory Schemata.- Anticipatory Schemata.- Strategies of Seriation.- Piaget’s Classification.- Detailed Classification.- Absence of Anticipatory Scheme.- Inadequate Construction Scheme.- Anticipatory Scheme and Procedural Scheme.- Method of Final Positions.- Method of the Extremum.- Insertion.- 7. Experiments with Children.- Experiment 1: Weight.- Method.- Classification of Behavior According to Piaget.- Experiment 1b: Control with Weight.- Method.- Results.- Experiment 2: Lengths.- Method.- Results.- Experiment 2b.- Method.- Classification.- Results.- Comparison of Experiments 2 and 2b.- Experiment 3: Questions/Lengths.- Method.- Results.- Experiment 3b: Length/Screen.- Experiment 4: Questions/Position.- Method.- Results.- 8. General Discussion.- Main Components.- Implementation Aspects.- The Role of Spatial Structure.- Anticipatory Schemes.- Logico-Mathematical Operational Structure.- Procedures and Operational Structures.- References.