Question-Driven Explanatory Reasoning

    Authors

    A. C. Graesser; W. Baggett;K. Williams

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Cogn. Psychol.

    Keywords

    INFORMATION; DISCOURSE; CLASSROOM; CONTEXT; STORIES; ASKING; MODEL; Psychology, Experimental

    Abstract

    The primary claim in this paper is that questions are one of the fundamental cognitive components that guide human reasoning. That is, threads of coherent reasoning are built around the questions that humans ask and their answers to these questions. Explanatory reasoning is elicited by particular classes of questions (such as why, how, and what-if) that invite the construction of causal chains, goal-plan-action hierarchies, and logical justifications. This paper identifies the psychological mechanisms that underlie human question asking and question answering, along with some empirical findings that support these mechanisms. We also discuss some ways that educational software can be designed to facilitate question-driven explanatory reasoning.

    Journal Title

    Applied Cognitive Psychology

    Volume

    10

    Publication Date

    1-1-1996

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    S17

    Last Page

    S31

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:A1996VY39500003

    ISSN

    0888-4080

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