Similarity and analogy are fundamental in human cognition. They are crucial for recognition and classification, and have been associated with scientific discovery and creativity. Any adequate understanding of similarity and analogy requires the integration of theory and data from diverse domains. This interdisciplinary volume explores current development in research and theory from psychological, computational, and educational perspectives, and considers their implications for learning and instruction. The distinguished contributors examine the psychological processes involved in reasoning by similarity and analogy, the computational problems encountered in simulating analogical processing in problem solving, and the conditions promoting the application of analogical reasoning in everyday situations.

Preface; Similarity and analogical reasoning: a synthesis Stella Vosniadou and Andrew Ortony; Part I. Similarity and the Structure of Concepts: 1. Similarity, typicality, and categorization Lance J. Rips; 2. Similarity and decision making Edward E. Smith and Daniel N. Osherson; 3. Intraconcept similarity and its implications for interconcept similarity Lawrence W. Barsalou; 4. Two-tiered concept meaning, inferential matching, and conceptual cohesiveness Ryszard S. Michalski; 5. From global similarities to kinds of similarities: the construction of dimensions in development Linda B. Smith; 6. Comments on Part I. Psychological essentialism Douglas Medin and Andrew Ortony; Part II. Analogical Reasoning: 7. The mechanisms of analogical learning Dedre Genter; 8. A computational model of analogical problem solving Keith J. Holyoak and Paul R. Thagard; 9. Use of analogy in production system architecture John R. Anderson and Ross Thompson; 10. Toward a microstructural account of human reasoning David E. Rumelhart; 11. Analogy and the exercise of creativity Philip N. Johnson-Laird; 12. Comments on Part II. Levels of description in information-processing theories of analogy Stephen E. Palmer; 13. Comments on Part II. The role of explanation in analogy; or, the curse of an alluring name Gerald Dejong; Part III. Similarity and Analogy in Development, Learning and Instruction: 14. Analogical learning and transfer: what develops? Ann L. Brown; 15. Analogical reasoning as a mechanism in knowledge acquisition: a developmental perspective Stella Vosniadou; 16. Remindings in learning and instruction Brian H. Ross; 17. New approaches to instruction: because wisdom can't be told John D. Bransford, Jeffery J. Franks, Nancy J. Vye and Robert Sherwood; 18. Multiple analogies for complex concepts: antidotes for analogy-induced misconception in advanced knowledge acquisition Rand J. Spiro, Paul J. Feltovich, Richard L. Coulson and Daniel K. Anderson; 19. Comments on Part III. The activation and acquisition of knowledge William F. Brewer; Afterword Allan Collins and Mark Burstein; Name index; Subject index.