The in vivo/in vitro approach to cognition: the case of analogy

A new way of investigating cognition is proposed that combines naturalistic (in vivo) and experimental (in vitro) methods into a single approach. Inve stigating analogical reasoning by scientists 'live' at laboratory meetings (in vivo) we found that the types of analogies they use change with their g oals. Unlike subjects in many cognitive 'reminding' experiments, scientists frequently used structural similarities in their analogies, as opposed to superficial similarities. By subsequently using the in vitro approach, we f ound that the use of structural information was associated with being asked to generate analogies and with the use of complex scenarios. Similar resul ts are obtained in other areas of reasoning such as hypothesis testing and causal reasoning.