The Cognitive and Neural Sciences

Laboratories and Projects

The CNS programs at the University of Evansville currently support two laboratories, one for neuroscience and another for cognitive psychology, along with a research project in cognitive technology:

• The Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory

• The Language and Cognitive Development Laboratory

• Noesis: Philosophical Research Online

Noesis: Philosophical Research Online

Noesis is dedicated to providing quality-controlled access to academic philosophy on the Internet. As such, it falls under the heading of applied cognitive technology. From a theoretical point of view, the study of cognitive technology investigates the role that various technologies have in enabling and improving our cognitive initiatives. Such technologies range from the simple, pencil and paper, for instance, to the complex, as with many modern, computer-mediated technologies.

From an applied perspective, work in cognitive technology seeks to design technologies that are maximally efficient for enhancing cognition. With Noesis, our tasks center around three primary issues: where on the Internet to search for academic philosophy, how should this information be organized internally, and, most importantly, how is this information best presented to the user. One goal, of course, is to help users find reliable, philosophical content in a quick and efficient manner. Another goal, which addresses a more difficult problem, is to help users find information that they do not yet know they want because they are unaware that it is available. This "discovery problem," as it is sometimes called, may be tackled from a variety of perspectives, such as analyzing the "search and browse" habits of users interacting with the site and the use of language in the online documents themselves.

Current research on how best to confront these issues is being conducted in conjunction with the Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO) at Indiana University. The InPhO project is working to develop an emergent taxonomy for the profession of philosophy as a whole that uses artificial intelligence algorithms along with feedback from selected human representatives. The result will be a comprehensive topic-tree of the discipline of philosophy that will be made available to assist a variety of needs, including those pertinent to Noesis.

Grants

Beavers, A. F. (2008-2009). Digital Humanities Fellowship (to work on Noesis at Indiana University). National Endowment for the Humanities, $75,400.

Beavers, A. F. (2008). Noesis: Philosophical Research Online (for travel expenses to and from Indiana University). Alumni Research and Scholarly Activity Fellowship, University of Evansville, $750.

Beavers, A. F. (2007). Noesis: Philosophical Research Online (for travel expenses to and from Indiana University). Alumni Research and Scholarly Activity Fellowship, University of Evansville, $750.

Beavers, A. F. (1998). Noesis: Philosophical Research Online (for hardware and compensation for research assistants). EXCEL Grant, University of Evansville, $7500.

Beavers, A. F. (1997). Exploring Plato's Dialogues (including the prototype engine for Noesis). EXCEL Grant, University of Evansville, $2500.

Reports

Suber, Peter. (2002). Noesis: Is it a library with built-in searching or a search engine with a built-in library?" Campus Technology.

Uzgalis, Bill. (2000). Searching phenomenology and cyberspace: An interview with Anthony Beavers. Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers, American Philosophical Association, 00(1).

Beavers, A. F. (1999). Noesis: Philosophical Research Online: An experiment in progress. Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers, American Philosophical Association, 98(2).

Beavers, A. F. (1998). Evaluating search engine models for scholarly purposes: A report from the Internet Applications Laboratory. D-Lib Magazine. Corporation for National Research Initiatives.

Presentations

Beavers, A. F. (2000). Noesis and the electronic dissemination of professional philosophy: Problems and prospects," Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Beavers, A. F. (2000). Noesis: From search engine/index to information network. 15th Annual Computing and Philosophy Conference, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Beavers, A. F. (2000). The Noesis model of academic publishing. American Sociological Association. Washington, D.C.

Beavers, A. F. (1999). Managing quality content on the web. Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Boston, Massachusetts.

Beavers, A. F. (1999). The Noesis model: A progressive experiment for the dissemination of professional philosophy. The 12th Triennial Conference of the International Association of University Presidents: Touchstones for a Modern University Culture, Brussels.

Beavers, A. F. (1999). Noesis: Philosophical Research On-Line. The 14th Annual Computing and Philosophy Conference, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Beavers, A. F. (1999). Philosophy on the internet: Questions of standards. Panel participant. Special Session Arranged by the APA Board of Officers, Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Boston, Massachusetts.

Research Assistants

Past: Josh Burger, Jeff Carlyle, Scott Glenn, Trent Kriete, Kyle Michel, Brian Moffat, Michelle Morse, Ted Morse, Siddartha Naidu, Jason Schindler, Hiten Sonpal and Dan Wolf.