The Cognitive Style of American Inventors
{'Code': '08080301', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DBI', 'LongName': 'Div Of Biological Infrastructure'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Ronald J. Overmann', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
In the history of technology, nothing is more mysterious yet more               central than the act of invention.  Technological historians,                   however, have yet to develop a precise interpretation of how an                 inventor identifies an opportunity, develops a new idea, and                    manifests it in a physical device.  In response to this                         conceptual lacuna, Dr. Carlson and Dr. Gorman are studying                      invention as an intellectual or cognitive process.  To do so,                   they will examine the invention and development of the telephone                from 1870 to 1880.  They will investigate and compare the work of               Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Elisha Gray.  They have               chosen to focus on these inventors because their work is well                   documented by notebooks, sketches, and artifacts and because                    their efforts to perfect this invention have received limited                   scholarly attention.  To analyze and compare the work of these                  inventors, they will employ concepts from cognitive science.  In                particular, they will consider three elements of the cognitive                  process of invention:  how an inventor conceptualizes an                        invention (mental representation);  the strategies used to                      develop an invention (heuristics); and the specific technical                   devices used to construct the invention (mechanical                             representations).  In their investigation, they will examine how                an inventor's personal style may be viewed as the synthesis of                  these different elements.  Through this research, they will: 1)                 enrich the history of technology with a new conceptual framework                and a detailed study of a major invention; 2)suggest to                         cognitive scientists how technological creativity may be                        effectively studies; and 3) help interested laypersons to see                   inventors not as mysterious geniuses but as individuals with                    specific talents and skills.
{'FirstName': 'W.', 'LastName': 'Carlson', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'B', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'W. B Carlson', 'EmailAddress': 'wc4p@virginia.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000202285', 'StartDate': '09/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of Virginia Main Campus', 'CityName': 'CHARLOTTESVILLE', 'ZipCode': '229034833', 'PhoneNumber': '4349244270', 'StreetAddress': '1001 EMMET ST N', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Virginia', 'StateCode': 'VA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '05', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'VA05', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'JJG6HU8PA4S5', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'RECTOR & VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '1353', 'Text': 'Hist & Philosophy of SET'}
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