1. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 1 Visual Analogy in Scientific Discovery Jim Davies, Nancy J. Nersessian, Ashok K. Goel {jimmyd, nancyn, goel}@cc.gatech.edu Program in Cognitive Science Georgia Institute of Technology

2. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 2 Outline Background: where these ideas are coming from Our computational analysis How our visual analogy theory contributes back to cognitive science

3. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 3 Background: Cognitive- historical Analysis Focuses on the creation, change, and communication of representations of nature (Nersessian 1994). Sources of data for cognitive history are things like: diaries, notebooks, publications, correspondence, equipment, drawings, diagrams, and pedagogical notes.

4. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 4 Cognitive-historical Analysis of James Clerk Maxwell Nersessian did an extensive study of Maxwell’s writings and his context She reviewed the relevant psychological research (e.g. Analogy, mental models) This lead to hypotheses about conceptual change and scientific reasoning Conceptual change as problem solving

5. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 5 James Clerk Maxwell

6. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 6 Maxwell’s Subsequent Model

7. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 7 Our Hypothesis: Generic Abstraction

8. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 8 What Is the Nature of the Source Analog? The solution very much looks like an idle wheel from a gear system. Maxwell’s knowledge of gear systems allowed him to generate an abstract model of spinning wheels with idle wheels between them.

9. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 9 Gear System Retrieval Hypothesis This generic abstraction representation visually resembled the model of the gears system in memory.

10. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 10 Computational Models Bhatta & Goel (1997). –Computational work on generic abstraction, e.g. Generic Teleological Mechanisms for devices Griffith et al. (2000). –Analysis of a problem solving protocol

11. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 11 System: Galatea Davies & Goel (2001) created a model (Galatea) of visual analogical problem solving for Duncker’s radiation/tumor problem.

12. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 12 This Work This work combines the Nersessian’s Cognitive-Historical analysis of the Maxwell case with the computational theory of visual analogy from Davies and Goel. The computational theory will flesh out, contribute to, and test our hypotheses about Maxwell’s case.

13. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 13 Visual Analogy Visual analogy is analogy with visual elements

14. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 14 Symbols Are Mapped

15. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 15 Primitive Visualization Language (Privlan) Primitive visual elements (privels) –Circle, line, generic visual element Primitive visual transformations (privits) –Add-component, decompose-line, move Symbolic images (simages)

16. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 16 Privels Circle (size, location) Line (thickness, start point, end point) Generic-Visual-Element (size, location)

17. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 17 Privits Decompose-line (object, number) Add-component (kind) Move (object, new-location) Put-between (object, object1, object2)

18. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 18 System: Galatea

19. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 19 Maxwell’s Case

20. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 20 Cognitive Contributions Our computational theory of visual analogy has been applied to two examples, supporting Privlan and the simage representation structure. We conjecture that visual representations and generic abstractions are useful for a wide variety of problem-solving instances, within scientific discovery and without.

21. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 21 Conclusions The cognitive-historical approach can contribute to our understanding of general cognitive processes Visual analogy was generative in the development of Maxwell’s models Visual analogy can be useful for problem solving Privlan provides a useful level of abstraction for analogy

22. Davies, J., Nersessian, N. J., & Goel, A. K. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research/visual-analogy/ March 2001 22 Thank you http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/research /visual-analogy/