Mechanisms and Model-Based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Issue 5 (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Povich, Mark
• Is Part Of: Philosophy of science. Volume 82:Issue 5(2015)
• Page Start: 1035
• Page End: 1046
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Science -- Periodicals; Science -- Philosophy; Science; Science -- Philosophy; Philosophie des sciences; Epistemology; Periodicals; 501
• DOI: 10.1086/683438
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1539-767X

Abstract

Abstract : Mechanistic explanations satisfy widely held norms of explanation: the ability to manipulate and answer counterfactual questions about the explanandum phenomenon. A currently debated issue is whether any nonmechanistic explanations can satisfy these explanatory norms. Weiskopf argues that the models of object recognition and categorization, JIM, SUSTAIN, and ALCOVE, are not mechanistic yet satisfy these norms of explanation. In this article I argue that these models are mechanism sketches. My argument applies recent research using model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging, a novel neuroimaging method whose significance for current debates on psychological models and mechanistic explanation has yet to be explored.