My current research is primarily on representation, reasoning, and the scope and limits of alternative systems of representation and of alternative modes of thought. My teaching includes courses on logic (all levels), judgment and decision making, philosophy of science, and critical reasoning.

I currently have two main projects. The first is on the nature and use of structural representations in human reasoning. Structural representations (which include many formal languages, measurement scales, logical diagrams, and mental representations like semantic networks and schemas) work as they do because of a common structure between the representation, on the one hand, andthe phenomenon it depicts, on the other. This allows us to reason directly about the representation, sometimes even by manipulating it, in order to draw conclusions about the phenomena it depicts. I am interested in both the logical and computational properties of various types of structural representations and in empirical investigations of how well people use different representations of this sort. The emphasis is on the kinds of structures that support various kinds of cognition, with a consideration of a number of case studies, including spatial representations of space (e.g., maps), spatial representations of other structures (e.g., logic diagrams, multidimensional scaling), analytic geometry, measurement, some formal languages, and some (but not all) types of mental representations. The second project is on empirical and normative issues involving differing modes of representation and reasoning.

©2005, OU Department of Psychology. All rights reserved.
Contact Information | Site Map