ABSTRACT
Many cognitive tasks involving analogy, such as understanding metaphors, problem-solving, and learning, require the ability to extend mappings as new information is found. This paper describes a new version of SME, called I-SME, that operates incrementally. I-SME is inspired by Keane’s IAM model and the use of incremental mapping in Falkenhainer’s PHINEAS learning system. We describe the I-SME algorithm and discuss tradeoffs introduced by incremental mapping, including parallel versus serial processing and pragmatic influences. The utility of I-SME is illustrated by two examples. First, we show that I-SME can account for the psychological results found by Keane on a serial version of the Holyoak & Thagard attribute mapping task. Second, we describe how I-SME is used in the Minimal Analogical Reasoning System (MARS), which uses analogy to solve engineering thermodynamics problems.
