Cognitive Science Learning Laboratory
www.lrdc.pitt.edu/nokes/CSL-lab-home.html
Summary
The research of the Cognitive Science Learning Laboratory is motivated by a pursuit to understand cognitive change. That is, how and by what means does the human mind change over time? Research is conducted on how people acquire, represent, and use complex knowledge. Topics of particular interest include: abstraction, analogy, conceptual change, implicit versus explicit knowledge formation, problem solving, skill acquisition, and transfer. Both experimental and formal modeling methodologies are used to investigate these phenomena. Other interests include the application of dynamical systems theory to learning processes, educational and technological applications of cognitive theory, and the philosophy of science.
People
Project Publications
- Nokes, T. J., & Ash, I. K. (in press). Investigating the role of instructional focus in incidental pattern learning. Journal of General Psychology.
- Meade, M. L., Nokes, T. J., & Morrow, D. G. (2009). Expertise promotes facilitation on a collaborative memory task. Memory, 17, 38-48.
- Nokes, T. J. (2009). Mechanisms of knowledge transfer. Thinking & Reasoning, 15, 1-36.
- Ross, B. H., Taylor, E. G., Middleton, E. L., & Nokes, T. J. (2008). Concept and category learning. In H. L. Roediger III (Ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference-Cognitive Psychology. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Ltd.
- Nokes, T. J., & Ross, B. H. (2007). Facilitating conceptual learning through analogy and explanation. In L. Hsu, C. Henderson, and L. McCullough (Eds.), 2007 Physics Education Research Conference (pp. 7-10). American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings.
- Nokes, T. J., & Ohlsson, S. (2005). Comparing multiple paths to mastery: What is learned? Cognitive Science, 29, 769-796. (Abstract-html)
- Nokes, T. J., & Ohlsson, S. (2003). Declarative transfer from a memory task to a problem solving task. Cognitive Science Quarterly, 3, 259-296. (Abstract-html)
