#1212 Marina Dubova: The Cognitive Foundations of Science
RECORDED ON NOVEMBER 12th 2025.
Dr. Marina Dubova is an Omidyar postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. Her research aims to reveal and inform the cognitive mechanisms of discovery. She develops formal (e.g., computational models) and empirical methods (e.g., cognitive experiments with scientists) to put the foundations of scientific method to rigorous tests. She uses insights from cognitive science to learn how theories and data can be integrated and lead to better understandings of the world.
In this episode, we first talk about the cognitive mechanisms of discovery. We discuss the cognitive foundations of the scientific method. We talk about experimentation, and how it can be randomized. We discuss concept-laden evidence, and the importance of cultural and cognitive diversity in science. Finally, we talk about parsimony and complexity.
Time Links:
Intro
The cognitive mechanisms of discovery
The cognitive foundations of the scientific method
Experimentation
Randomizing experimentation
Concept-laden evidence
Parsimony and complexity
Follow Dr. Dubova’s work!
Follow Dr. Dubova’s work:
University page: https://tinyurl.com/2w6532xs
Website: https://www.mdubova.com/
Twitter handle: @dubova_marina