scholarly journals The Oxford Handbook of Causal Reasoning

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Final Section ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Causal Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Causal Theories

Causal reasoning is one of our most central cognitive competencies, enabling us to adapt to our world. Causal knowledge allows us to predict future events, or diagnose the causes of observed facts. We plan actions and solve problems using knowledge about cause-effect relations. Without our ability to discover and empirically test causal theories, we would not have made progress in various empirical sciences. In the past decades, the important role of causal knowledge has been discovered in many areas of cognitive psychology. Despite the ubiquity of causal reasoning, textbooks of cognitive psychology have neglected this growing field. The goal of The Oxford Handbook of Causal Reasoning is to fill this gap. The handbook brings together the leading researchers in the field of causal reasoning and offers state-of-the-art presentations of theories and research. It provides introductions of competing theories of causal reasoning, and discusses its role in various cognitive functions and domains. The final section presents research from neighboring fields.

Causal Reasoning

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Waldmann
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Final Section ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Wide Scope ◽  
Causal Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
The Relationship

Although causal reasoning is a component of most human cognitive functions, it has been neglected in cognitive psychology for many decades. To date, textbooks on cognitive psychology do not contain chapters on causal reasoning. The goal of this Handbook is to fill this gap, and to offer state-of-the-art reviews of the field. This introduction to the Handbook provides a general review of different competing theoretical frameworks modeling causal reasoning and learning. It outlines the relationship between psychological theories and their precursors in normative disciplines, such as philosophy and machine learning. It reviews the wide scope of tasks and domains in which the important role of causal knowledge has been documented. In the final section it previews the chapters of the handbook.

scholarly journals Social Criticism and the Exclusion of Ethics

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Keat
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Social Criticism ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
The Past ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Action Taking

AbstractAs Axel Honneth has recently noted, the critical concerns of social philosophers during the past three decades have been focused primarily on questions of justice, with ethical issues about the human good being largely excluded. In the first section I briefly explore this exclusion in both ‘Anglo-American’ political philosophy and ‘German’ critical theory. I then argue, in the main sections, that despite this commitment to their exclusion, distinctively ethical concepts and ideals can be identified both in Rawls’s Theory of Justice and in Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action, taking these as exemplary, representative texts for each theoretical school. These ethical elements, and their implications for the critical evaluation of economic institutions, have gone largely unnoticed. In the final section I indicate the kinds of debates that might be generated, were these to be given the attention they arguably deserve. I focus especially on the significance of empirical issues, and hence on the role of social science in social criticism.

scholarly journals Political motivation: A referent evaluation mathematical model

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-23
Author(s):  
Francesco Rigoli
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Political Psychology ◽  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Communist Manifesto ◽  
The Past ◽  
Incentive Value ◽  
Political Motivation

Mathematical modelling is popular in cognitive psychology because it enables clear and formal descriptions of the processes at play; yet, this approach has rarely been applied to political psychology. Here we adopt mathematical modelling to develop a theory of political motivation, which is a central concept in political psychology. The theory assumes that, in certain contexts, individuals entertain a set of representations of society, for example of the past, present and future (but also of fictive societies such as utopias). To each representation of society, an incentive value is attached which is not absolute, but (following theories of motivation in cognitive psychology) reference-dependent; namely, dependent on the context, corresponding to the whole set of representations of society. In turn, the model proposes that these subjective values determine two central aspects: a motivation for performing an appropriate political action and the ensuing political mood. We discuss the model with respect to theoretical and empirical research (and we examine Marx and Engel’s communist manifesto as an example of the latter). In short, we offer a new mathematical perspective on political motivation which emphasises the role of multiple representations of society in determining political motivation and the ensuing political mood.

scholarly journals Constructive memory: past and future

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Neuroimaging Techniques

Human memory is not a literal reproduction of the past, but instead relies on constructive processes that are sometimes prone to error and distortion. Understanding of constructive memory has accelerated during recent years as a result of research that has linked together its cognitive and neural bases. This article focuses on three aspects of constructive memory that have been the target of recent research: (i) the idea that certain kinds of memory distortions reflect the operation of adaptive cognitive processes that contribute to the efficient functioning of memory; (ii) the role of a constructive memory system in imagining or simulating possible future events; and (iii) differences between true and false memories that have been revealed by functional neuroimaging techniques. The article delineates the theoretical implications of relevant research, and also considers some clinical and applied implications.

The Role of Past in the Simulation of Autobiographical Future Episodes

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 419-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Gamboz ◽  
Maria A. Brandimonte ◽  
Stefania De Vito
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Delayed Recognition

Human beings’ ability to envisage the future has been recently assumed to rely on the reconstructive nature of episodic memory ( Schacter & Addis, 2007 ). In the present research, young adults mentally reexperienced and preexperienced temporally close and distant autobiographical episodes, and rated their phenomenal characteristics as well as their novelty. Additionally, they performed a delayed recognition task including remember-know judgments on new, old-remember, and old-imagine words. Results showed that past and future temporally close episodes included more phenomenal details than distant episodes, in line with earlier studies. However, future events were occasionally rated as already occurred in the past. Furthermore, in the recognition task, participants falsely attributed old-imagine words to remembered episodes. While partially in line with previous results, these findings call for a more subtle analysis in order to discriminate representations of past episodes from true future events simulations.

Technological Revolutions, Structural Change, and Catching up

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-155
Author(s):  
Jan Fagerberg ◽  
Bart Verspagen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Foreign Technology ◽  
Technological Revolution ◽  
The Past ◽  
Catching Up

This chapter interprets the transition to a more sustainable type of growth as a technological revolution in progress. The chapter opens with a general discussion of the role of technological revolutions and structural change and economic growth, with special emphasis on the acquisition of foreign technology, exports, and catching-up-based growth. It then goes on to examine whether the transition to renewable energy can be seen as a technological revolution in line with the great technological revolutions of the past. The answer to this question is in the affirmative. The final section discusses the implications of this for catching-up-based growth in China and other developing countries.

ROLE OF EMOTIONAL LAYER IN MUSEUM EXPERIENCE. NARRATION ON THE HOLOCAUST IN CONTEMPORARY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

2012 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-185
Author(s):  
Elżbieta NIEROBA
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Museum Experience ◽  
Mechanisms Of Memory

The starting point for the discussion are the concepts of Pierre Nora and Alison Landsberg. According to P. Nora, the passing away of eyewitnesses to history transfers the obligation to store the traces of the past onto archiving institutions (including museums). A. Landsberg, in turn, reveals the process in which the mechanisms of memory shaping in the contemporary society become dependent on the state-of-the-art technologies and pop-culture products. Museums of the Holocaust are searching for an appropriate language to talk about the Holocaust in a situation where, like other museum institutions, they have to adjust to the new expectations of the audience, and tailor their space and ways of exhibition to the current cultural conditions and new means of learning. Empirical investigations have proven that nowadays receivers do not merely expect to approach the past intellectually, but also to cross the passive boundary of observation, and desire to have sensual experience of history. From this perspective, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum as a physical trace of the past, in accordance with Aleida Assmann’s concept of “a memory of place”, provides the visitors with sensual and emotional experience. In its further part, the article presents strategies for using the products of popular culture for processing and describing historical events, the ways of organizing museum space which affects the emotions and the imagination of receivers and invites them to discover history for themselves. Also, it discusses the resulting concerns about the potential trivialization of the communicated message.

scholarly journals The Immune Response toTrypanosoma cruzi: Role of Toll-Like Receptors and Perspectives for Vaccine Development

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio M. Rodrigues ◽  
Ana Carolina Oliveira ◽  
Maria Bellio
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Toll Like Receptor ◽  
Vaccine Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Acquired Immune Responses ◽  
Molecular Patterns

In the past ten years, studies have shown the recognition ofTrypanosoma cruzi-associated molecular patterns by members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family and demonstrated the crucial participation of different TLRs during the experimental infection with this parasite. In the present review, we will focus on the role of TLR-activated pathways in the modulation of both innate and acquired immune responses toT. cruziinfection, as well as discuss the state of the art of vaccine research and development against the causative agent of Chagas disease (or American trypanosomiasis).

scholarly journals Guided Generation of Cause and Effect

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongyang Li ◽  
Xiao Ding ◽  
Ting Liu ◽  
J. Edward Hu ◽  
Benjamin Van Durme
Keyword(s):  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Text Generation ◽  
Causal Knowledge ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Cause And Effect ◽  
Knowledge Graphs ◽  
Human Assessment

We present a conditional text generation framework that posits sentential expressions of possible causes and effects. This framework depends on two novel resources we develop in the course of this work: a very large-scale collection of English sentences expressing causal patterns (CausalBank); and a refinement over previous work on constructing large lexical causal knowledge graphs (Cause Effect Graph). Further, we extend prior work in lexically-constrained decoding to support disjunctive positive constraints. Human assessment confirms that our approach gives high-quality and diverse outputs. Finally, we use CausalBank to perform continued training of an encoder supporting a recent state-of-the-art model for causal reasoning, leading to a 3-point improvement on the COPA challenge set, with no change in model architecture.

Remembering the Past to See the Future

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole C. Rust ◽  
Stephanie E. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Science Volume ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Vision Science ◽  
The Past ◽  
Future Events ◽  
The Relationship

In addition to the role that our visual system plays in determining what we are seeing right now, visual computations contribute in important ways to predicting what we will see next. While the role of memory in creating future predictions is often overlooked, efficient predictive computation requires the use of information about the past to estimate future events. In this article, we introduce a framework for understanding the relationship between memory and visual prediction and review the two classes of mechanisms that the visual system relies on to create future predictions. We also discuss the principles that define the mapping from predictive computations to predictive mechanisms and how downstream brain areas interpret the predictive signals computed by the visual system. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 7 is September 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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