Francken, Jolien C. and Slors, Marc and Craver, Carl F. (2020) Cognitive Ontology and the Search for Neural Mechanisms: Three Foundational Problems. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Mapping cognitive capacities on neural mechanisms faces three interlocking problems. First, when do different tasks elicit similar cognitive capacities? To address this operationalization problem, scientists often assess whether tasks engage the same neural mechanisms. To determine whether mechanisms are of the same kind, however, we need to solve the abstraction problem by determining which physical differences we can gloss over, and the boundary problem by distinguishing the mechanism from its background conditions. Solving these problems requires understanding how cognitive capacities are elicited in tasks. We argue that this ‘cycle of kinds’ is an iterative process that yields progress only incrementally.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Francken, Jolien C. j.c.francken@uva.nl Slors, Marc m.slors@ftr.ru.nl Craver, Carl F. ccraver@wustl.edu
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science General Issues > Experimentation General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Neuroscience General Issues > Operationalism/Instrumentalism Specific Sciences > Psychology General Issues > Reductionism/Holism General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User:	Dr. Jolien C. Francken
Date Deposited:	16 Dec 2020 16:00
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2020 16:00
Item ID:	18517
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Biology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science General Issues > Experimentation General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Neuroscience General Issues > Operationalism/Instrumentalism Specific Sciences > Psychology General Issues > Reductionism/Holism General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date:	6 October 2020
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/18517

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• Cognitive Ontology and the Search for Neural Mechanisms: Three Foundational Problems. (deposited 16 Dec 2020 16:00) [Currently Displayed]
  • Cognitive Ontology and the Search for Neural Mechanisms: Three Foundational Problems. (deposited 02 Jun 2022 15:35)

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