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Abstraction: An alternative neurocognitive account of recognition, prediction, and decision making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2020

Valerie F. Reyna  and
David A. Broniatowski Open the ORCID record for David A. Broniatowski [Opens in a new window]
Valerie F. Reyna
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development, Human Neuroscience Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY14853 vr53@cornell.edu https://www.human.cornell.edu/hd/research/labs/lrdm/publications
David A. Broniatowski
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC20052. broniatowski@gwu.edu https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~broniatowski/index.html
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Abstract

Gilead et al. offer a thoughtful and much-needed treatment of abstraction. However, it fails to build on an extensive literature on abstraction, representational diversity, neurocognition, and psychopathology that provides important constraints and alternative evidence-based conceptions. We draw on conceptions in software engineering, socio-technical systems engineering, and a neurocognitive theory with abstract representations of gist at its core, fuzzy-trace theory.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e144
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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