Keywords in science research
from Ruben Coen Cagli
MODEL (in science): a set of equations or algorithms that takes the same inputs used in an experiment, and outputs numbers that are similar/compatible with the experimental outcomes, or predict the outcomes of future experiments.
- Descriptive model: addressing the ‘what’ question “what are the key variables that determine the observed phenomenon?”
- Mechanistic model: addressing the ‘how’ question “what are the physical mechanisms that produce the observed phenomenon?”
- Normative model: addressing the ‘why’ question “what are the principles from which the observed phenomenon can be derived? or, why does nature behave the way it does?”
EXPERIMENT (in science): ideally, a set up in which, all but one variables of the system of interest are fixed; the remaining variable is varied under the experimenters control, and changes in the behavior of the system are recorded as a function of the controlled variable. In practice, typically many variables are not under the control of the experimenter, and repeating the same experiment several times will give different outcomes -> statistical analysis of uncertainty, experimental errors/noise, significance
- Exploratory experiment: “let’s try to change this variable and see what happens”
- Hypothesis-based: “I think if I change this variable in this direction, the system will behave in this way; let’s check if that’s true”
- Model-based: “My model predicts that this and that will happen if I run this and that experiment: let’s check if that’s true, and if not I’ll change the model”
from Angie Brew (drawing teacher and artist)
some words and questions:
GESTURE – within drawing pedagogy itself there are different understandings of gesture eg the hand gesture made in the drawing act itself, versus Nikolaides (very brilliant) concept, referring to the energy and dynamism of static objects – this may be to do with how things stand in space, and how gravity operates on them. To connect the two definitions, drawers may develop a particular dynamic view of things – ie affordances of the object. The drawer may perceive the ACT of drawing (ie the gesture) when they look at objects with intent to draw, ie they perceive their motor plan.
WORKING MEMORY – seems that there is confusion about this – maybe the word memory is confusing? My understanding is that it is more of a scratch pad / working area, that eg transforms information – I think that in some drawing research it becomes confused with the idea that a snapshot of visual information is briefly remembered.
VISUO-MOTOR Do people in different fields variously include / exclude motor perception within term visual memory? Maybe for psychophysics etc they try to distinguish them, but sometimes use a wider definition of visual?
PROCEDURAL – used differently in computation versus psychology? Seems that in computational research procedural refers to systematic procedures, whereas in psychology refers to implicit processes – that are proceduralised.
From Tara Geer
‘Practice’?