A treasure trove of Dedre Gentner links, titled “Analogy, Similarity, Metaphor and Mental Models” at Northwestern University, where she is Director of Cognitive Science Program.
The link to document to “Similarity and the development of rules” ( PDF ) may be important in extending the standard definition of rule-based systems to include patterns ( or patterned-based ) inference.
Another gem is “Structure Mapping in Analogy and Similarity” ( PDF ). Note the description of the Structure Mapping Engine and “candidate inferences”.
From the article:
Comparison processes foster insight. They highlight commonalities and relevant differences, they invite new inferences, and they promote new ways of construing situations. This creative potential is easiest to notice when the domains compared are very different, as in Kepler’s analogies or John Donne’s metaphors.
Good syncretic stuff and much needed in the veritable babylon of academic models encountered in rule-based systems.
For details about Structure Mapping, see:
- The definition of Structure Mapping Engine on Wikipedia.
- The article Similarity-based Cognitive Architecture, authored with Kenneth Forbus in 1990. Scanned from original.
- Easier on the eyes but almost too much detail in The Structure-Mapping Engine: Algorithm and Examples ( PDF over 3 Meg ! ).
Also at Northwestern:
- The classic How People Construct Mental Models, written with Allan Collins, also of Northwestern.
- Links to a large number of resources for the Qualitative Reasoning Group at Northwestern.