The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science

Analogy has been the focus of extensive research in cognitive science over the pasttwo decades. Through analogy, novel situations and problems can be understood in terms of familiarones. Indeed, a case can be made for analogical processing as the very core of cognition. This isthe first book to span the full range of disciplines concerned with analogy. Its contributorsrepresent cognitive, developmental, and comparative psychology; neuroscience; artificialintelligence; linguistics; and philosophy.The book is divided into three parts. The first partdescribes computational models of analogy as well as their relation to computational models of othercognitive processes. The second part addresses the role of analogy in a wide range of cognitivetasks, such as forming complex cognitive structures, conveying emotion, making decisions, andsolving problems. The third part looks at the development of analogy in children and the possibleuse of analogy in nonhuman primates.Contributors Miriam Bassok, Consuelo B. Boronat, Brian Bowdle,Fintan Costello, Kevin Dunbar, Gilles Fauconnier, Kenneth D. Forbus, Dedre Gentner, Usha Goswami,Brett Gray, Graeme S. Halford, Douglas Hofstadter, Keith J. Holyoak, John E. Hummel, Mark T. Keane,Boicho N. Kokinov, Arthur B. Markman, C. Page Moreau, David L. Oden, Alexander A. Petrov, StevenPhillips, David Premack, Cameron Shelley, Paul Thagard, Roger K. R. Thompson, William H. Wilson,Phillip Wolff.

Dedre Gentner is Professor of Psychology and Education and Director of the Cognitive Science Program at Northwestern University.