Understanding phylogenies in biology: The influence of a Gestalt perceptual principle.

Novick, Laura R.; Catley, Kefyn M.

doi:10.1037/1076-898x.13.4.197

Cited by 83 publications

(125 citation statements)

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“…Recent work has repeatedly demonstrated that detailed physical properties and relations-and the perceptual systems that process them-play an important role in reasoning using visual displays in a variety of abstract contexts including puzzles (Patsenko & Altmann, 2010), biological taxa (Novick & Catley, 2007), weather diagrams (Hegarty Canham, and Fabrikant 2010), and algebra (Kirshner, 1989). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abstract numeric relations and the visual structure of algebra.

Landy¹,

Brookes²,

Smout³

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Formal algebras are among the most powerful and general mechanisms for expressing quantitative relational statements, and yet even university engineering students, who are relatively proficient with algebraic manipulation, struggle with and often fail to correctly deploy basic aspects of algebraic notation (Clement, 1982). In the cognitive tradition, it has often been assumed that skilled users of these formalisms treat situations in terms of semantic properties encoded in an abstract syntax that governs the use of notation without particular regard to the details of the physical structure of the equation itself (Anderson, 2005;Hegarty, Mayer, & Monk, 1995). We explore how the notational structure of verbal descriptions or algebraic equations (e.g., the spatial proximity of certain words, or the visual alignment of numbers and symbols in an equation) plays a role in the process of interpreting or constructing symbolic equations. More specifically, we propose that construction processes involve an alignment of notational structures across representation systems, biasing reasoners toward the selection of formal notations that maintain the visuo-spatial structure of source representations. For example, in the statement "There are five elephants for every three rhinoceroses," the spatial proximity of "five" and "elephants; and "three" and "rhinoceroses" will bias reasoners to write the incorrect expression 5E = 3R because that expression maintains the spatial relationships encoded in the source representation. In three experiments, participants construct equations with given structure, based on story problems with a variety of phrasings. We demonstrate how the notational alignment approach accounts naturally for a variety of previously reported phenomena in equation In the case of symbolic algebra, a tension between formal syntactic rules and visual patterns can arise. The formal syntax of algebra encodes relations among quantities by abstract rules specified in terms of ordinal relations among symbol tokens. The same mathematical expression can be rearranged in a number of different ways without altering the formal content of the equation. On Abstract numeric relations 4 the other hand, a particular symbol system such as mathematics uses spatial relations in unique ways to convey additional meaning (Sherin, 2001). In the usual algebraic syntax, this tension creates visual structures that are sometimes aligned with (Landy & Goldstone, 2007a), and sometimes opposed to (Kirshner, 1989;Kirshner & Awtry, 2004;Marquis, 1988), underlying mathematical content. A rich notational calculus such as modern algebra replaces some conceptual relations with concrete organizational relations specified by principles of visualization and perceptual organization (Dantzig, 1930;Malle, 1993;Goldstone, Landy, & Son, 2010). For example, the relatively large space surrounding the equals sign in an arithmetic equation allows spatial grouping to serve as a proxy for the conceptual separation of an equation into left-hand and right-hand sides ...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abstract numeric relations and the visual structure of algebra.

Landy¹,

Brookes²,

Smout³

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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“…Although the tree format is much more common in the professional systematics literature (see Novick and Catley 2007), the ladder format is somewhat more common in high school and college biology texts (for both nonmajors and majors at the college level; Catley and Novick 2008). This disconnect between professional and educational practice is unfortunate.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…They are usually depicted in one of two formats-tree or ladder. Previous research (Novick and Catley 2007) has found that college students have much greater difficulty understanding a cladogram's hierarchical structure when it is depicted in the ladder format. Such understanding would seem to be a prerequisite for successful tree thinking.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In the present research, we tested an implication of Novick and Catley's (2007) finding that understanding the hierarchical structure of the ladder format is impaired because it is difficult to mentally break good continuation to recognize distinct line segments (phylogenetic branches representing lineages) as conveying the critical structural information. In particular, if some method can be devised to encourage students to break good continuation at the appropriate places, accuracy at translating from the ladder to the tree format should improve.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Type of translation problem interacted with biology background: the difference in translation accuracy between students with stronger versus weaker backgrounds in biology was smaller for the circle to tree translation problems (means of 0.87 and 0.70, respectively) than for the ladder to tree translation problems (means of 0.71 and 0.33, respectively). Novick and Catley (2007) showed through a perceptual segmentation experiment and error analyses of students' translations that an important source of students' difficulty in understanding the hierarchical structure of the ladder format is that it is obscured by the Gestalt principle of good continuation (e.g., Kellman 2000). This perceptual principle states that a continuous (straight or curved) line is interpreted as a single entity.…”

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Characters Are Key: The Effect of Synapomorphies on Cladogram Comprehension

2010

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Cladograms, phylogenetic trees that depict evolutionary relationships among a set of taxa, are one of the most powerful predictive tools in modern biology. They are usually depicted in one of two formats-tree or ladder. Previous research (Novick and Catley 2007) has found that college students have much greater difficulty understanding a cladogram's hierarchical structure when it is depicted in the ladder format. Such understanding would seem to be a prerequisite for successful tree thinking. The present research examined the effect of a theoretically guided manipulation-adding a synapomorphy on each branch that supports two or more taxa-on students' understanding of the hierarchical structure of ladder cladograms. Synapomorphies are characters shared by a group of taxa due to inheritance from a common ancestor. Thus, their depiction on a cladogram may facilitate the understanding of evolutionary relationships. Students' comprehension was assessed in terms of success at translating relationships depicted in the ladder format to the tree format. The results indicated that adding synapomorphies provided powerful conceptual scaffolding that improved comprehension for students with both weaker and stronger backgrounds in biology. For stronger background students, the benefit of adding synapomorphies to the ladders was comparable to that of approximately two hours of instruction in phylogenetics that emphasized the ladder format.Keywords Cladograms . Synapomorphies . Evolution education . Phylogenetics . Evolutionary relationships Cladograms are phylogenetic trees that depict evolutionary relationships among a set of taxa in terms of nested levels of common ancestry. Synapomorphies are (morphological, molecular, or behavioral) characters shared by a group of taxa due to their inheritance from a common ancestor. Synapomorphies thus constitute evidence for historical relationships and their associated hierarchical structure. For example, the cladogram in Fig. 1a shows the evolutionary relationships, supported by synapomorphies, among genera of Mollusca. Cladograms are one of the most powerful predictive tools in modern biology. Using monophyly-groupings comprising all descendent taxa and their most recent common ancestor (a.k.a. clades)-to organize and make sense of the 3.5 billion year history of life on Earth, they provide a conceptual framework for basic and applied biology in fields as disparate as conservation, ecology, behavior, molecular biology, epidemiology, and pharmacology (e.g., Futuyma 2004;Hillis 2004;Nickels and Nelson 2005;Yates et al. 2004). Given the importance of cladograms in biology, it is not surprising that a number of researchers and educators have called for the inclusion of tree thinking in biology curricula for both biology majors and nonmajors, as well as at the high school level (e.g., Baum et al.

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Accepting, understanding, teaching, and learning (human) evolution: Obstacles and opportunities

Pobiner

2016

American J Phys Anthropol

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Questions about our origin as a species are universal and compelling. Evolution-and in particular human evolution-is a subject that generates intense interest across the world, evidenced by the fact that fossil and DNA discoveries grace the covers of major science journals and magazines as well as other popular print and online media. However, virtually all national polls indicate that the majority of Americans strongly reject biological evolution as a fact-based, well-tested, and robust understanding of the history of life. In the popular mind, no topic in all of science is more contentious or polarizing than evolution and media sources often only serve to magnify this polarization by covering challenges to the teaching of evolution. In the realm of teaching, debates about evolution have shaped textbooks, curricula, standards, and policy. Challenges to accepting and understanding evolution include mistrust and denial of science, cognitive obstacles and misconceptions, language and terminology, and a religious worldview, among others. Teachers, who are on the front lines of these challenges, must be armed with the tools and techniques to teach evolution in formal education settings across grades K-16 in a straightforward, thorough, and sensitive way. Despite the potentially controversial topic of human evolution, growing research is demonstrating that a pedagogical focus on human examples is an effective and engaging way to teach core concepts of evolutionary biology. Am J Phys Anthropol 159:S232-S274,

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Understanding phylogenies in biology: The influence of a Gestalt perceptual principle.

Cited by 83 publications

References 61 publications

Abstract numeric relations and the visual structure of algebra.

Abstract numeric relations and the visual structure of algebra.

Characters Are Key: The Effect of Synapomorphies on Cladogram Comprehension

Accepting, understanding, teaching, and learning (human) evolution: Obstacles and opportunities

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