Il-Ho Yang

The Development of the Analytic Coding Frames on the Abductive Reasoning in Scientific Inquiry

The purpose of this study was to identify the scientists` abductive reasoning in three stages of hypothetical-deductive inquiry process; generating hypothesis, designing, and interpreting data and to suggest new analytic coding frames on abductive reasoning in each of the stages. For this purpose, the interview protocols collected through in-depth interviews with eight scientists were analyzed by the early frame with sub-elements derived from the literature reviews. The need of a new frame of analysis beyond the previously established elements arose from the result of this analysis because the processes of abductive reasoning were found in all three stages. Based on scientists` interview data, this study then designed a new frame of analytic coding frames on the abductive reasoning in each of the stages. The content validity index from four experts was 0.90, and these frames showed a good fit to analyze the scientists` real process of abduction in three stages of hypothetical-deductive inquiry process.

Neural Substrates During Finding Target Objects and Observing Natural Phenomena: An fMRI Study

This study investigated neural substrates underlying subjects’ intentional visual search while finding target objects and observing natural phenomena using fMRI. Eight healthy, male, right-handed subjects participated in this study. Sets of finding target objects and observing natural phenomena tasks were presented to and performed by the subjects. The bilateral SPL and the occipital gyrus were activated by both task sets, bilateral fusiform gyrus was activated only during finding target objects tasks. The left precentral gyrus, the left inferior frontal gyrus and the culmen were activated only during observing natural phenomena tasks. The right inferior frontal gyrus was found to be active in the main effect of observing natural phenomena and the left postcentral gyrus was activated in the main effect of finding target objects. Thus, expectation-controlled search may be associated with comparison processes and goal-controlled search is related to both spatial and attentional processes.