Are There Any Situated Cognition Concepts of Memory Functioning as Investigative Kinds in the

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Hibbert, Ruth (2015) Are There Any Situated Cognition Concepts of Memory
Functioning as Investigative Kinds in the Sciences of Memory? Doctor
of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,.
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Are There Any Situated Cognition Concepts
of Memory Functioning as Investigative Kinds
in the Sciences of Memory?

Ruth Hibbert

PhD Thesis in Philosophy
June 2015
University of Kent
School of European Culture and Languages

Word count: 98 590
Abstract

This thesis will address the question of whether there are any situated cognition
concepts of memory functioning as investigative kinds in the sciences of memory.
Situated cognition is an umbrella term, subsuming extended, embedded, embodied,
enacted and distributed cognition. I will be looking closely at case studies of
investigations into memory where such concepts seem prima facie most likely to be
found in order to establish a) whether the researchers in question are in fact
employing such concepts, and b) whether the concepts are functioning well –
functioning as investigative kinds – and should therefore continue to be employed, or
whether something has gone wrong in the practice of the science and they should
employ a different kind of concept. An historically situated approach to the case
studies will allow me to answer part b) here.

Along the way, I will argue for a way of construing scientific research that I call the
dynamic framework account, an account of (im)maturity for science, a variety of
conceptual role semantics with respect to scientific concepts, and the historically
situated case study-based method I will employ in answering the central question.
My conclusions, and the way I reach them, constitute contributions to debates about
situated cognition particularly, and to philosophy of science more generally, as well
as recommendations for scientific practice.
1
Acknowledgements

I would particularly like to thank my supervisors David Corfield and Kristoffer
Ahlstrom-Vij, and other members of the University of Kent Philosophy Department,
especially Julia Tanney, and past and present members of the postgraduate
community. Their feedback on all or part of this thesis has been invaluable. Thanks
also go to conference and reading group participants, students, friends and family for
inspiration and support of many and various kinds.
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Contents
1. The Question .................................................................................................................... 8
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 8
Situated cognition and a question about memory .................................................................. 9
Extended cognition ........................................................................................................... 9
Other situated cognition perspectives ............................................................................. 11
Situated cognition and memory ...................................................................................... 14
Why study science? ............................................................................................................. 16
Why study concepts? ........................................................................................................... 21
From natural kinds to investigative kinds ........................................................................... 25
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 30
2. The Dynamic Framework Account of Science: How Science Investigates .............. 32
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 32
The aims of science ............................................................................................................. 32
Subdisciplines, domains and frameworks ........................................................................... 34
Domains ........................................................................................................................... 34
Frameworks ..................................................................................................................... 36
The framework as dynamic ............................................................................................ 40
Frameworks and levels: An example ............................................................................. 42
Using the dynamic framework account ......................................................................... 47
Conceptual development ..................................................................................................... 48
Water ............................................................................................................................... 52
The gene .......................................................................................................................... 53
An example from cognitive science ................................................................................ 57
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 60
3. The Sciences of Memory as Immature Sciences ......................................................... 62
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 62
The received view ................................................................................................................ 62
Pluralism in the cognitive and social sciences..................................................................... 65
A new account of immaturity .............................................................................................. 67
Introducing Shapere’s internal/external distinction ..................................................... 67
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Making use of the distinction ......................................................................................... 74
Immature sciences and the situated cognition question....................................................... 80
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 81
4. A Theory of Scientific Concepts ................................................................................... 83
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 83
Conceptual role semantics and the dynamic framework account ........................................ 84
Why does Brigandt construe conceptual role narrowly? .............................................. 87
Why does Brigandt separate reference, inferential role, and epistemic goal as distinct
components of conceptual content? ...................................................................... 89
Advantages of my account .............................................................................................. 93
Concepts in psychology ....................................................................................................... 95
The problem of concept individuation and communication .............................................. 100
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 109
5. Methods ........................................................................................................................ 111
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 111
Investigating the sciences of memory: Descriptive and normative projects ..................... 112
The descriptive project ...................................................................................................... 113
Experimental philosophy .............................................................................................. 113
Case studies ................................................................................................................... 117
The normative project ........................................................................................................ 121
Coherent Lysenkoist cases ............................................................................................ 128
Swampman cases .......................................................................................................... 130
Choosing case studies ........................................................................................................ 134
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 135
6. Locked-In Syndrome and Brain-Computer Interfaces: A Case Study .................. 137
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 137
The case study ................................................................................................................... 138
Concepts of memory .......................................................................................................... 141
Neuropsychologists and neurologists ........................................................................... 141
Allain et al. ................................................................................................................. 141
Schnakers et al. .......................................................................................................... 142
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León-Carrión et al. ..................................................................................................... 144
Philosophers .................................................................................................................. 146
Fenton and Alpert (F&A) ........................................................................................... 146
Walter ......................................................................................................................... 149
Kyselo ......................................................................................................................... 151
Heersmink .................................................................................................................. 153
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 154
Identifying and assessing the epistemic niches ................................................................. 154
Neuropsychologists and neurologists ........................................................................... 154
Focus on the brain ..................................................................................................... 155
Need for easy testability ............................................................................................. 159
Patient-centred care ................................................................................................... 161
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 164
Philosophers .................................................................................................................. 165
Questioning concepts ................................................................................................. 166
Science fiction ............................................................................................................ 168
Social explanations .................................................................................................... 168
Ethics .......................................................................................................................... 169
Having an impact on another field ............................................................................. 171
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 171
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 173
7. Constructing Memory in Political Scandals: A Case Study .................................... 175
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 175
The case study ................................................................................................................... 176
Concepts of memory .......................................................................................................... 180
Neisser ........................................................................................................................... 180
Edwards and Potter ....................................................................................................... 183
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 186
Identifying and assessing the epistemic niches ................................................................. 186
Neisser ........................................................................................................................... 186
Rejection of the dominant paradigm .......................................................................... 186
Bartlett ........................................................................................................................ 191
The computer metaphor ............................................................................................. 194
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The Gibsons ................................................................................................................ 199
1980s intellectual milieu ............................................................................................ 203
Constructed memory .................................................................................................. 205
Mnemonists ................................................................................................................ 207
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 209
Edwards and Potter ....................................................................................................... 211
Setting up a new subdisipline ..................................................................................... 211
Influence of other disciplines ..................................................................................... 212
Bartlett ........................................................................................................................ 216
1980s intellectual milieu ............................................................................................ 218
The Gulf War .............................................................................................................. 219
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 220
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 221
8. Transactive Memory Systems: A Case Study ........................................................... 223
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 223
The case study ................................................................................................................... 224
Concepts of memory .......................................................................................................... 230
Social psychology .......................................................................................................... 230
Communication studies ................................................................................................ 232
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 235
Identifying and assessing the epistemic niches ................................................................. 235
Social psychology .......................................................................................................... 235
Rejection of old group mind ideas ............................................................................. 236
New group mind ideas ................................................................................................ 240
Cognitivism ................................................................................................................ 241
Success ....................................................................................................................... 242
Aims .......................................................................................................................... 246
Consolidating the subdiscipline ................................................................................. 247
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 249
Communication studies ................................................................................................ 251
Previous TMS research .............................................................................................. 251
Rejection of old group mind ideas ............................................................................. 253
Cognitivism ................................................................................................................ 255
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Aims .......................................................................................................................... 257
Consolidating the subdiscipline ................................................................................. 259
Success ....................................................................................................................... 260
Summary ..................................................................................................................... 264
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 265
9. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 267
Specific conclusions .......................................................................................................... 267
Broader context of these conclusions ................................................................................ 271
Sources of reflexivity......................................................................................................... 274
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 278

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1. The Question

Introduction
In recent years, a number of perspectives on cognition which could be grouped under
the umbrella term situated cognition have come to prominence. These perspectives,
in one way or another, take into account the world beyond the brain – in which the
brain is situated – when studying cognition. Such perspectives, including the theories
of extended cognition, embedded cognition, embodied cognition, enacted cognition
and distributed cognition, raise a number of perplexing issues, and one of these will
be explored in what follows. I will be asking whether any situated cognition
approaches are legitimately being employed in cognitive science, focussing
particularly on situated cognition concepts of memory. Concepts are legitimately
employed if they are functioning as investigative kinds (this term will be explained
below). I will refer to this question (the title question of the thesis) as the situated
cognition question for short.

I will be taking a philosophy of science approach, in particular using a historically
situated case-study-based conceptual ecology to analyse the concept(s) of memory
(MEMORY1) that scientists employ in their research. This method will allow me to
look for situated cognition concepts of memory that have been in use in recent
practice, and assess the extent to which they are legitimate.

This work will make a contribution to the philosophy of particular sciences that
study memory, and also to the philosophy of science more generally. I hope that it
will also be of use to scientists working on memory, particularly those trying to
engage in the tricky but essential practice that is interdisciplinary scientific research.
One of the biggest problems facing interdisciplinary research is the partial nature of
communication between subdisciplines, which I hope can be better understood by
the analysis of MEMORY in various case studies that is undertaken here.

In this chapter, I will clarify various aspects of the situated cognition question and its
importance. The central aspect of the question is situated cognition theories, so that
is where the chapter begins. I will then go on to justify my focus on science, justify

1 I will follow the practice of using small capital letters to denote the concept (MEMORY).
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