Free-viewing as experimental system to test the Temporal Correlation Hypothesis: A case of theory-generative experimental practice

Wainer, Juan Manuel Garrido; Espinosa, Juan Felipe Salazar; Hirmas, Natalia; Trujillo, Nicolas Alejandro

doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2020.101307

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Although the experimental system of free-viewing is guided from the outset by the purpose of confirming a pre-existing hypothesis, the effective conditioning that this pre-existing hypothesis (and the pre-existing conceptuality associated with it) exerts appears to be very limited. Even when the system generates testable predictions, the pre-existing hypothesis shows little or no operational role (Garrido Wainer et al, 2020). The new experimental paradigm of free-viewing and its technical capacities are not conceptually or analytically contained in the theoretical and empirical knowledge supporting the TCH.…”

Section: Data Production and Data Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It could be further suggested that the experimental system of free-viewing proves to have a theory-generative character-we have developed this suggestion elsewhere (Garrido Wainer, Espinosa, Hirmas, & Trujillo, 2020). Experimental predictions that an experimental system can test refer to patterns of data bearing the system's technical and operational potential that produced these data.…”

Section: Data Production and Data Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Arche-writing and data-production in theory-oriented scientific practice: the case of free-viewing as experimental system to test the temporal correlation hypothesis

Wainer

Fardella

Espinosa-Cristia

2021

HPLS

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Section: Data Production and Data Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Data Production and Data Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arche-writing and data-production in theory-oriented scientific practice: the case of free-viewing as experimental system to test the temporal correlation hypothesis

Wainer

Fardella

Espinosa-Cristia

2021

HPLS

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Understanding the development and use of tools in neuroscience: the case of the tungsten micro-electrode

Wainer

2022

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The philosophical interest in experimental practice in neuroscience has brought renewed attention to the study of the development and use of techniques and tools for data production. John Bickle has argued that the construction and progression of theories in neuroscience are entirely dependent on the development and ingenious use of research tools. In Bickle's account, theory plays a tertiary role, as it depends on what the tools allow researchers to manipulate, and the tools, in turn, are developed not in order to test theories but as solutions to engineering problems. However, Bickle's account is not entirely precise in explaining what informs researchers' decision-making in their atheoretical laboratory tinkering. Identifying the sources that guide researchers in tool development and use is crucial if one wishes to contribute to the philosophical or meta-scientific understanding of experimental practice in neuroscience. In the following paper, I claim that decision-making in tools' development and use in neuroscience is doubly guided. Pre-existing theory and concepts determine information's relevance, whereas tools' functioning in controlled situations determines information's reliability. Accordingly, experimenters' decision-making is situated both in the context of analysing, modelling or interpreting information and in the context of producing information. I study the case of the tungsten microelectrode developed by David Hubel during the 1950s. First, I show that pre-existing theory and concepts (in particular, the "neuron doctrine" and the concepts of "receptive field" and "cortical column") determine in advance what information would be relevant to obtain from the microelectrode. Second, I show that Hubel's tinkering follows the guidelines derived from the very structure of what we recognise as reliable experimentally produced information. Finally, I suggest that data-production processes allow experimenters to assess what to expect from an experimental system in terms of concept-and theory-generation and confirmation, thereby endorsing Bickle's tenet on the tertiary role of theory in neuroscience.

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Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences 2021

2021

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Free-viewing as experimental system to test the Temporal Correlation Hypothesis: A case of theory-generative experimental practice

Cited by 3 publications

References 63 publications

Arche-writing and data-production in theory-oriented scientific practice: the case of free-viewing as experimental system to test the temporal correlation hypothesis

Arche-writing and data-production in theory-oriented scientific practice: the case of free-viewing as experimental system to test the temporal correlation hypothesis

Understanding the development and use of tools in neuroscience: the case of the tungsten micro-electrode

Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences 2021

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