An Autocatalytic Network Model of Conceptual Change

Abstract

In reflexively autocatalytic foodset (RAF)-generated networks, nodes are not only passive transmitters of activation, but they also actively galvanize, or "catalyze" the synthesis of novel ("foodset-derived") nodes from existing ones (the "foodset"). Thus, RAFs are uniquely suited to modeling how new structure grows out of currently available structure, and analyzing phase transitions in potentially very large networks. RAFs have been used to model the origins of evolutionary processes, both biological (the origin of life) and cultural (the origin of cumulative innovation), and may potentially provide an overarching framework that integrates evolutionary and developmental approaches to cognition. Applied to cognition, the foodset consists of information obtained through social learning or individual learning of pre-existing information, and foodset-derived items arise through mental operations resulting in new information. Thus, mental representations are not only propagators of spreading activation, but they also trigger the derivation of new mental representations. To illustrate the application of RAF networks in cognitive science, we develop a step-by-step process model of conceptual change (i.e., the process by which a child becomes an active participant in cultural evolution), focusing on childrens' mental models of the shape of the Earth. Using results from (Vosniadou & Brewer, 1992), we model different trajectories from the flat Earth model to the spherical Earth model, as well as the impact of other factors, such as pretend play, on cognitive development. As RAFs increase in size and number, they begin to merge, bridging previously compartmentalized knowledge, and get subsumed by a giant RAF (the maxRAF) that constrains and enables the scaffolding of new conceptual structure. At this point, the cognitive network becomes self-sustaining and self-organizing. The child can reliably frame new knowledge and experiences in terms of previous ones, and engage in

Modeling Discontinuous Cultural Evolution: The Impact of Cross-Domain Transfer

“…Treating MRs as not merely passive participants in spreading activation, but active catalysts of conceptual change is central to our strategy for capturing the flexibility of human cognition. It enables RAFs to be used to model cognitive development during childhood of the kind of conceptual structure that actively participates in the generation of cultural novelty, i.e., the emergence of new “hubs” in the cultural evolution machinery (Gabora et al, 2021 ).…”

Beyond two modes of thought: A quantum model of how three cognitive variables yield conceptual change

“…Since cognitive change is particularly rapid and noticeable in children (Piaget and Cook, 1952 ), we will model child cognitive development in our example, though we note that the model is equally applicable to cognitive change in adults, and indeed the process of conceptual change in children is not unlike the development of scientific theories by adults (Gopnik, 1988 ; Borsboom et al, 2021 ; Young, 2021 ). The example comes from a study of how children of different ages conceptualize the shape of the planet Earth (Vosniadou and Brewer's, 1992 ), and a subsequent formal analysis of it (Gabora et al, 2022 ). In the original study, researchers asked 50 first-, third-, and fifth-grade children increasingly probing questions to ascertain the child's mental representation of the Earth.…”

“…Dual Earth combines mental representations of the Flat Earth or Disc Earth with concepts of the spherical Earth, but maintains two separate representations. From Gabora et al ( 2022 ).…”

“…A subsequent analysis of Vosniadou and Brewer's ( 1992 ) original study focused on developmental change to the global structure of a child's network of concepts (and specifically, the transition from fragmented segments of conceptual structure to an integrated worldview) (Gabora et al, 2022 ). Reflexively Autocatalytic Foodset-generated (RAF) networks were used to model change in the global structure of a child network of understandings as they transition between these mental models of the Earth.…”

Editors' Introduction to Networks of the Mind: How Can Network Science Elucidate Our Understanding of Cognition?

“…How does knowledge evolve? In “An autocatalytic network model of conceptual change,” Gabora, Beckage, and Steel (2021) focus on how networks can evolve through self‐catalysis: New nodes are formed from interactions of existing nodes. These networks structures are reflexively autocatalytic, with nodes capable of interacting with one another to produce new nodes, which can then act on the network and in turn produce additional novel nodes.…”