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Categorization and abstract understanding in analogy.

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Call No.	QP385 .G74 2007
Author	Green, Adam E.
Title	Categorization and abstract understanding in analogy.
Date	2007
Abstract	This thesis represents a program of behavioral and brain-based research directed at elucidating the mechanisms of analogical reasoning. The studies that comprise this thesis took convergent experimental approaches to extend knowledge concerning two key components of the analogy process. Specifically, these studies addressed (1) the role of categorization in aligning terms for analogical mapping, and (2) the integration of abstractly similar relations to form and/or understand whole analogies. Two preliminary thesis studies represented critical steps in this program of thesis research and are thus included within this thesis document. In preliminary thesis Study 1, a color-naming interference paradigm revealed strong priming of category relations in when subjects evaluated analogies, implicating categorization in an analogical alignment for mapping. Concurrently, in preliminary thesis Study 2, fMRI was employed to compare analogical reasoning to two other complex verbal tasks, including a semantic categorization task. This study also provided evidence for the importance of categorization in analogical mapping, based on highly similar patterns of neural activity for the analogical and categorical tasks. Further, this study implicated frontopolar cortex in mediating the abstract relational integration function necessary for comprehending the many parts of an analogy as a single whole. In main thesis Study 1, results obtained through a word-reading facilitation priming paradigm indicated that simple semantic association cannot account for the priming of category relations in analogy. This study provided the basis for the introduction of the 'Micro-category' account of analogy, in which categorization of component terms is conceptualized as an alignment mechanism. In main thesis Study 2, a memory paradigm tested and support the Micro-category account's prediction that category-based alignment would lead to false recognition of category co-members for both cross-domain and within-domain analogies. In main thesis Study 3, fMRI analyses demonstrated that the same region of frontopolar cortex identified in preliminary thesis Study 2 was recruited more strongly for more creative analogies (cross-domain) analogies than less creative analogies (within-domain). This finding confirms the importance of this brain region for the most abstract aspects of analogical reasoning, and newly demonstrates that this region is critical for analogical reasoning that underlies creative insight.
Description	ix, 145 leaves : ill. (some col.) 28 cm.
Format	application/pdf
Advisor	Kevin N. Dunbar, Paul J. Whalen, Peter U. Tse, Walter P. Sinnott-Armstrong
Subject	Brain -- Localization of functions. Analogy. Frontal lobes. Neuropsychology.
College	Dartmouth College -- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
Issuing Body	Dartmouth Dissertations are made available through the Dartmouth Digital Library.
Degree	Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dartmouth College.
Copyright	All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the author.
DOI	http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/ddlp.150

Title	Page 1
Format	application/pdf
Issuing Body	Dartmouth Dissertations are made available through the Dartmouth Digital Library.
Degree	Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dartmouth College.
Full Text	Categorization and Abstract Understanding in Analogy A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cognitive Neuroscience by Adam E. Green DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Hanover, New Hampshire 1/26/2007 Examining Committee: ________________________________ Kevin N. Dunbar, Ph.D. ________________________________ Paul J. Whalen, Ph.D. ________________________________ Peter U. Tse, Ph.D. ________________________________ Walter P. Sinnott-Armstrong, Ph.D. ___________________________ Charles K. Barlowe, Ph.D. Dean of Graduate Studies

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Categorization and abstract understanding in analogy.