What levels of explanation in the behavioural sciences? / edited by Giuseppe Boccignone and Roberto Cordeschi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roberto Cordeschi

Contributor:

Boccignone, Giuseppe, editor.

Cordeschi, Roberto, editor.

Series:

Frontiers research topics.

Frontiers Research Topics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cognitive psychology--Methodology.

Cognitive psychology.

Social sciences--Methodology.

Social sciences.

Human behavior.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (91 pages) : illustrations; digital file(s).

Contained In:

Frontiers in Psychology

Place of Publication:

Frontiers Media SA 2015

[Lausanne, Switzerland] : Frontiers Media SA, [2015]

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Complex systems are to be seen as typically having multiple levels of organization. For instance, in the behavioural and cognitive sciences, there has been a long lasting trend, promoted by the seminal work of David Marr, putting focus on three distinct levels of analysis: the computational level, accounting for the What and Why issues, the algorithmic and the implementational levels specifying the How problem. However, the tremendous developments in neuroscience knowledge about processes at different scales of organization together with the complexity of today cognitive theories suggest that there will hardly be only three levels of explanation. Instead, there will be many different degrees of commitments corresponding to the different granularities--from high-level (behavioural) models to low-level (neural and molecular) models of the cognitive research program. For instance, Bayesian approaches, that are usually advocated for formalizing Marr's computational level and rational behaviour, have even been adopted to model synaptic plasticity and axon guidance by molecular gradients. As a result, we can consider the behavioural scientist as dealing with models at a multiplicity of levels. The purpose of this Research Topic in Frontiers in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is to promote an approach to the role of the levels and explanation and models which is of interest for cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, behavioural scientists, and philosophers of science.

Notes:

"Published in: Frontiers in Psychology" -- front cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on e-publication, viewed on July 19, 2021.

Creative Commons NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC by-nc-nd https://creativecommons.org/licenses/http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/1674/what-levels-of-explanation-in-the-behavioural-sciences

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9782889195978

Access Restriction:

Unrestricted online access