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What happened to cognitive science?

Author

Listed:
  • Rafael Núñez

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Michael Allen

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Richard Gao

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Carson Miller Rigoli

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Josephine Relaford-Doyle

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Arturs Semenuks

    (University of California, San Diego)

Abstract

More than a half-century ago, the ‘cognitive revolution’, with the influential tenet ‘cognition is computation’, launched the investigation of the mind through a multidisciplinary endeavour called cognitive science. Despite significant diversity of views regarding its definition and intended scope, this new science, explicitly named in the singular, was meant to have a cohesive subject matter, complementary methods and integrated theories. Multiple signs, however, suggest that over time the prospect of an integrated cohesive science has not materialized. Here we investigate the status of the field in a data-informed manner, focusing on four indicators, two bibliometric and two socio-institutional. These indicators consistently show that the devised multi-disciplinary program failed to transition to a mature inter-disciplinary coherent field. Bibliometrically, the field has been largely subsumed by (cognitive) psychology, and educationally, it exhibits a striking lack of curricular consensus, raising questions about the future of the cognitive science enterprise.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Núñez & Michael Allen & Richard Gao & Carson Miller Rigoli & Josephine Relaford-Doyle & Arturs Semenuks, 2019. "What happened to cognitive science?," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(8), pages 782-791, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:3:y:2019:i:8:d:10.1038_s41562-019-0626-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0626-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Blaž Remic, 2021. "Environment as a Resource, not a Constraint," Journal of Contextual Economics (JCE) – Schmollers Jahrbuch, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 141(1-2), pages 85-107.
    2. Joshua Eykens & Raf Guns & Raf Vanderstraeten, 2022. "Subject specialties as interdisciplinary trading grounds: the case of the social sciences and humanities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 7193-7213, December.

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