Thinking: Readings in Cognitive Science

First published in 1977, this is a volume about the scientific study of thinking: its possibility, its part state and its future prospects. The editors have brought together a set of readings which draw on work in cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, psycholinguistics and philosophy. It is not, however, a mechanical or merely routine collection. At the time of publication there had been rapid and important advances in several different disciplines concerned with human thinking; many of these advances seem to be fundamental and convergent, to point towards a genuine cognitive science. The editors have tried to capture this sense of readiness, excitement and impetus in their selection of readings and their presentation of them. There are substantial introductions to each of the seven parts of the book as a whole to connect and explain the material, with the student and general reader particularly in mind.

Table of Contents:
Preface; Acknowledgements; An introduction to the study of thinking; Part I. Problem Solving: 1. Introduction: Wertheimer's seminars revisited: diagnostic testing for understanding of structure A. S. Luchins and E. H. Luchins; 2. Mental calculation M. L. Hunter; 3. On the analysis of human problem solving protocols A. Newell; 4. Formalisms for knowledge T. Winograd; Part II. Deduction: 5. Introduction: constructing spatial images: a strategy in reasoning J. Huttenlocher; 6. Linguistic processes in deductive reasoning H. H. Clark; 7. Self-contradictions P. C. Wason; 8. Reasoning with quantifiers P. N. Johnson-Laird; 9. A theoretical analysis of insight into a reasoning task P. N. Johnson-Laird and P. C. Wason; 10. Intellectual evolution from adolescence to childhood J. Piaget; Part III. Conceptual Thinking: 11. Classification: purposes, principles, progress, prospects R. R. Sokal; 12. Learning to identify toy block structures P. H. Winston; 13. Classification of real-world objects: origins and representations in cognition E. Rosch; 14. Some evidence for the cognitive primacy of categorization and its functional basis K. Nelson; 15. The acquisition of word meaning: an investigation of some current conflicts M. Bowerman; Part IV. Hypotheses: 16. Introduction: on hypotheses K. R. Popper; 17. A function for thought experiments T. S. Kuhn; 18. 'If you want to get ahead, get a theory' A. Karmiloff-Smith and B. Inhelder; 19. 'On the failure to eliminate hypotheses …' - a second look P. C. Wason; 20. Confirmation bias in a simulated research environment: an experimental study of scientific inference C. R. Mynatt, M. E. Doherty and R. D. Tweney; 21. Judgement under uncertainty: heruristics and biases A. Tversky and D. Kahneman; Part V. Inference and Comprehension: 22. Introduction: frame-system theory M. Minsky 23. A sketch of a cognitive approach to comprehension: some thoughts about understanding what it means to comprehend J. D. Bransford and N. S. McCarrell; 24. Practical and lexical knowledge G. A. Miller; 25. Bridging H. H. Clark; 26. Scripts, plans, and knowledge R. C. Schank and R. P. Abelson; Part VI. Language, Culture, and Thinking: 27. Introduction: likeness and likelihood in everyday thought: magical thinking and everyday judgements about personality R. A. Shweder; 28. An ethnographic psychology of cognition M. Cole; 29. Modes of thinking and ways of speaking: culture and logic reconsidered S. Scribner; 30. Linguistic relativity E. Rosch; Part VII. Imagery and Internal Representation: 31. Introduction: mental rotation of three-dimensional objects R. N. Shepard and J. Metzler; 32. Inference, navigation and cognitive maps K. G. Oatley; 33. Perception in game playing: internal representation and scanning of board positions M. Eisenstadt and Y. Kareev; 34. Some necessary conditions for a master chess program H. J. Berliner; Bibliography (and citation index).