The 2nd International Analogy Conference is a successor of the first such conference, which took place in July 1998 in Sofia at NBU and resulted in The Analogical Mind, edited by Gentner, Holyoak & Kokinov (MIT Press, 2001). Ten years after this highly successful event, we are planning a new conference to discuss the key ideas in the field and to analyze the progress that has been made over the past decade.



Topics to be covered by the conference (not an exclusive list):

· Computational models of analogy and its development

· Neural basis of analogy and relational mapping

· Integrated models of cognition with a focus on analogy

· Analogical learning

· Typical and atypical development of analogical thinking and relational mapping

· The role of analogy in cognitive development

· Comparative studies of relational processing abilities

· Implicit and explicit analogizing, conscious and unconscious processes involved in analogical thinking

· Analogy as a form of embodied cognition

· Psychological studies of the interaction of analogy with other cognitive processes, including perception, learning, memory, decision making, problem solving, metaphor, and creative processes

· Analogy in various domains (e.g., politics, science, religion, medicine, therapy, education, law, invention, design)



The conference will bring together researchers who work on many aspects of analogy to discuss progress and limitations of the field, and to highlight frontier issues. We aim to meet in a friendly social environment that will encourage establishing new cooperative ties between researchers from different labs, disciplines, and countries.



Publications: The NBU Press will publish the Proceedings of the conference with all accepted papers. A post-conference edited book will follow, with extended chapters presenting the main results reported during the conference.

Symposia: In addition to the paper sessions the conference will run a series of symposia on specific topics, such as brain mechanisms of analogy-making and relational mapping; development of relational mapping mechanisms; analogies in the wild: analogies in science and arts; etc. These are example topics. The organizers expect proposals for symposia containing a brief description of the topic and a list of potential speakers, who agreed to participate. Each symposium will have 4-6 speakers, including the discussant and will last about 90 min.

Organizers: Boicho Kokinov, Dedre Gentner, Keith Holyoak

Host: New Bulgarian University

Sponsored by:

the Central and East European Center for Cognitive Science

the New Bulgarian University

the ANALOGY project funded by the European Commission (NEST program)



Deadline for submission: April 20th, 2009 – papers in cogsci format, 6pp max

Deadline for symposia proposals: December 1st, 2008



Embracing events:

· Summer School in Cognitive Science, Sofia, July 6-24, 2009

· Cognitive Science Conference, Amsterdam, July 29-Aug 1