Neural substrates of data-driven scientific discovery: An fMRI study during performance of number series completion task

This paper introduces an epistemological model of scientific reasoning which can be described in terms of abduction, deduction and induction. The aim is to emphasize the significance of abduction in order to illustrate the problem-solving process and to propose a unified epistemological model of scientific discovery. The model first describes the different meanings of the word abduction (creative, selective, to the best explanation, visual) in order to clarify their significance for epistemology and artificial intelligence. In different theoretical changes in theoretical systems we witness different kinds of discovery processes operating. Discovery methods are "data-driven," "explanation-driven" (abductive), and "coherence-driven" (formed to overwhelm contradictions). Sometimes there is a mixture of such methods: for example, an hypothesis devoted to overcome a contradiction is found by abduction. Contradiction, far from damaging a system, help to indicate regions in which it can be changed and improved. I will also consider a kind of "weak" hypothesis that is hard to negate and the ways for making it easy. In these cases the subject can "rationally" decide to withdraw his or her hypotheses even in contexts where it is "impossible" to find "explicit" contradictions and anomalies. Here, the use of negation as failure (an interesting technique for negating hypotheses and accessing new ones suggested by artificial intelligence and cognitive scientists) is illuminating

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Neuroimaging of Direction-Selective Mechanisms for Second-Order Motion

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00693.2003 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 90 (5) ◽

pp. 3242-3254 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Shin'ya Nishida ◽

Yuka Sasaki ◽

Ikuya Murakami ◽

Takeo Watanabe ◽

Roger B. H. Tootell

Keyword(s):

Neural Substrates ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Selective Adaptation ◽

Motion Processing ◽

Motion Adaptation ◽

Motion Stimulus ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Wide Range ◽

Contingent Response ◽

Visual Cortical

Psychophysical findings have revealed a functional segregation of processing for 1st-order motion (movement of luminance modulation) and 2nd-order motion (e.g., movement of contrast modulation). However neural correlates of this psychophysical distinction remain controversial. To test for a corresponding anatomical segregation, we conducted a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to localize direction-selective cortical mechanisms for 1st- and 2nd-order motion stimuli, by measuring direction-contingent response changes induced by motion adaptation, with deliberate control of attention. The 2nd-order motion stimulus generated direction-selective adaptation in a wide range of visual cortical areas, including areas V1, V2, V3, VP, V3A, V4v, and MT+. Moreover, the pattern of activity was similar to that obtained with 1st-order motion stimuli. Contrary to expectations from psychophysics, these results suggest that in the human visual cortex, the direction of 2nd-order motion is represented as early as V1. In addition, we found no obvious anatomical segregation in the neural substrates for 1st- and 2nd-order motion processing that can be resolved using standard fMRI.

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