Towards a Theory of Thinking pp 35-48 | Cite as
Analogical Processes in Human Thinking and Learning
Abstract
Much of humankind’s remarkable mental aptitude can be attributed to analogical ability - the ability to perceive and use relational similarity. In this chapter, we present an overview of analogy and describe its component processes, including structural alignment and inference projection, evaluation, schema abstraction and re-representation. We discuss how these component processes lead to learning and the generation of new knowledge, and review evidence that suggests that greater use of analogy during learning can improve relational retrieval and transfer.
Keywords
Relational Structure Structural Alignment Alignment Process Object Match Progressive AlignmentNotes
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by ONR Grant N00014-08-1-0040. Correspondence concerning this chapter should be addressed to gentner@northwestern.edu or Dedre Gentner, Psychology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.
References
- Bowdle B, Gentner D (1997) Informativity and asymmetry in comparisons. Cogn Psychol 34(3):244-286CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Clement J (1988) Observed methods for generating analogies in scientific problem solving. Cogn Sci 12(4):563-586CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Clement CA, Gentner D (1991) Systematicity as a selection constraint in analogical mapping. Cogn Sci 15(1):89-132CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- DeLoache JS (1987) Rapid change in the symbolic functioning of very young children. Science 238:1556-1557CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Falkenhainer B, Forbus KD, Gentner D (1989) The structure-mapping engine: algorithm and examples. Artif Intell 41:1-63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Forbus KD, Gentner D, Law K (1995) MAC/FAC: a model of similarity-based retrieval. Cogn Sci 19:141-205CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Forbus K, Gentner D, Everett J, Wu M (1997) Towards a computational model of evaluating and using analogical inferences. In: Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. LEA, Inc., NJ, London, pp 229-234Google Scholar
- Gentner D (1983) Structure-mapping: a theoretical framework for analogy. Cogn Sci 7:155-70CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D (1989) The mechanisms of analogical learning. In S. Vosniadou, A. Ortony (eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning. London: Cambridge University Press, pp 199-241 (Reprinted in knowledge acquisition and learning, 1993, 673-694).Google Scholar
- Gentner D (2003) Why we’re so smart. In: Gentner D, Goldin-Meadow S (eds) Language in mind: advances in the study of language and cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 195-236Google Scholar
- Gentner D (2005) The development of relational category knowledge. In: Gershkoff-Stowe L, Rakison DH (eds) Building object categories in developmental time. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 245-275Google Scholar
- Gentner D, Christie S (2008) Relational language supports relational cognition in humans and apes. Behav Brain Sci 31:136-137CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D, Markman AB (1995) Similarity is like analogy: structural alignment in comparison. In: Cacciari C (ed) Similarity in language, thought and perception. Brepols, Brussels, pp 111-147Google Scholar
- Gentner D, Markman AB (1997) Structure mapping in analogy and similarity. Am Psychol 52:45-56CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D, Medina J (1998) Similarity and the development of rules. Cognition 65:263-297CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D, Rattermann MJ (1991) Language and the career of similarity. In: Gelman SA, Brynes JP (eds) Perspectives on thought and language: Interrelations in development. Cambridge University Press, London, pp 225-277Google Scholar
- Gentner D, Toupin C (1986) Systematicity and surface similarity in the development of analogy. Cogn Sci 10(3):277-300CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D, Wolff P (1997) Alignment in the processing of metaphor. J Mem Lang 37:331-355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D, Rattermann MJ, Forbus KD (1993) The roles of similarity in transfer: Separating retrievability from inferential soundness. Cogn Psychol 25:524-575CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D, Loewenstein J, Thompson L (2003) Learning and transfer: A general role for analogical encoding. J Educ Psychol 95(2):393-408CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gentner D. Loewenstein J, Thompson L, Forbus K (in press) Reviving inert Knowledge: Analogical abstraction supports relational retrieval of past events. Cogn SciGoogle Scholar
- Gick ML, Holyoak KJ (1980) Analogical problem solving. Cogn Psychol 12:306-355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gick ML, Holyoak KJ (1983) Schema induction and analogical transfer. Cogn Psychol 15:1-38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Glucksberg S, McGlone MS, Manfredi DA (1997) Metaphor comprehension: how metaphors create new categories. In: Ward T, Smith S, Vaid J (eds) Creative thought: an investigation of conceptual structures and processes. APA, Washington, DCGoogle Scholar
- Goldstone, Day and Son, (2009) Comparison. -- this volume Google Scholar
- Goldstone RL, Medin DL, Gentner D (1991) Relational similarity and the non-independence of features in similarity judgments. Cogn Psychol 23:222-264CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Greiner R (1988) Learning by understanding analogies. Artif Intell 35:81-125CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Heit E, Rubinstein J (1994) Similarity and property effects in inductive reasoning. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 20:411-422CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Holyoak KJ, Koh K (1987) Surface and structural similarity in analogical transfer. Mem Cogn 15:323-340Google Scholar
- Holyoak KJ, Thagard P (1989) Analogical mapping by constraint satisfaction. Cogn Sci 13:295-355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Holyoak KJ, Novick LR, Melz ER (1994) Component processes in analogical transfer: Mapping, pattern completion, and adaptation. In: Holyoak KJ, Barnden JA (eds) Advances in connectionist and neural computation theory, Analogical connections, vol 2. Norwood, NJ Ablex, pp. 113-180Google Scholar
- Hummel JE, Holyoak KJ (1997) Distributed representations of structure: A theory of analogical access and mapping. Psychol Rev 104:427-466CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Keane MT (1988) Analogical problem solving. Chichester, W. Sussex, England: E. Horwood. Halsted Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Keane MT (1996) On adaptation in analogy: tests of pragmatic importance and adaptability in analogical problem solving. Q J Exp Psychol 49/A(4):1062-1085Google Scholar
- Kotovsky L, Gentner D (1996) Comparison and categorization in the development of relational similarity. Child Dev 67:2797-2822CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Kuehne SE, Forbus KD, Gentner D, Quinn B (2000a) SEQL - Category learning as progressive abstraction using structure mapping. In: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Philadelphia, PA, pp 770-775Google Scholar
- Kuehne SE, Gentner D Forbus KD (2000b) Modeling infant learning via symbolic structural alignment. In: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Philadelphia, PA, pp 286-291Google Scholar
- Kurtz KJ, Gentner D, Gunn V (1999) Reasoning. In: Rumelhart DE, Bly BM (eds) Cognitive science: handbook of perception and cognition, 2nd edn. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 145-200Google Scholar
- Lakoff G, Johnson M (1980) Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, ChicagoGoogle Scholar
- Loewenstein J, Gentner D (2001) Spatial mapping in preschoolers: close comparisons facilitate far mappings. J Cogn Dev 2(2):189-219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Marcus GF, Vijayan S, Bandi Rao S, Vishton PM (1999) Rule-learning in seven-month-old infants. Science 283:77-80CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Markman AB (1997) Constraints on analogical inference. Cogn Sci 21(4):373-418CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Markman AB (1999) Knowledge representation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJGoogle Scholar
- Markman AB, Gentner D (1993a) All differences are not created equal: a structural alignment view of similarity. In: Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Boulder, CO, pp 682-686Google Scholar
- Markman AB, Gentner D (1993b) Splitting the differences: a structural alignment view of similarity. J Mem Lang 32:517-535CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Markman AB, Gentner D (1993c) Structural alignment during similarity comparisons. Cogn Psychol 25:431-467CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Medin DL, Goldstone RL, Gentner D (1993) Respects for similarity. Psychol Rev 100(2):254-278CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Novick LR (1988a) Analogical transfer: processes and individual differences. In: Helman DH (ed) Analogical reasoning: perspectives of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and philosophy. Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 125-145Google Scholar
- Novick LR (1988b) Analogical transfer, problem similarity, and expertise. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 14:510-520CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Ortony A (1979) Beyond literal similarity. Psychol Rev 86:161-180CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Paik JH, Mix KS (2006) Preschoolers’ similarity judgments: Taking context into account. J Exp Child Psychol 95:194-214CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Penn DC, Holyoak KJ, Povinelli DJ (2008) Darwin’s mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. Brain Behav Sci 31:109-178Google Scholar
- Reed SK (1987) A structure-mapping model for word problems. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 13:124-139CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Ross BH (1984) Remindings and their effects in learning a cognitive skill. Cogn Psychol 16:371-416CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Ross BH (1987) This is like that: the use of earlier problems and the separation of similarity effects. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 13(4):629-639CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Ross BH (1989) Distinguishing types of superficial similarities: Different effects on the access and use of earlier problems. J Exp Psycho Learn Mem Cogn 15(3):456-468CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Seidenberg MS, Elman J (1999) Do infants learn grammar with algebra or statistics? Lett Sci 284:434-436Google Scholar
- Shepard RN (1962) The analysis of proximities: multidimensional scaling with an unknown distance function, I. Psychmetrika 27(2):125-140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Tversky A (1977) Features of similarity. Psychol Rev 84(4):327-352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Wolff P, Gentner D (2000) Evidence for role-neutral initial processing of metaphors. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 26:529-541CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Wolff P, Gentner, D. (under review) Structure-mapping in metaphor: evidence for a multi-stage model of metaphor processing. Cogn SciGoogle Scholar
- Yan J, Forbus K, Gentner, D (2003) A theory of rerepresentation in analogical matching. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (eds) Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Boston MA, pp 1265-1270Google Scholar