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The Explanatory Force of Dynamical and Mathematical Models in Neuroscience: A Mechanistic Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

David Michael Kaplan  and
Carl F. Craver
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Abstract

We argue that dynamical and mathematical models in systems and cognitive neuroscience explain (rather than redescribe) a phenomenon only if there is a plausible mapping between elements in the model and elements in the mechanism for the phenomenon. We demonstrate how this model-to-mechanism-mapping constraint, when satisfied, endows a model with explanatory force with respect to the phenomenon to be explained. Several paradigmatic models including the Haken-Kelso-Bunz model of bimanual coordination and the difference-of-Gaussians model of visual receptive fields are explored.

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Type
Research Article
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 78 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 601 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Lindley Darden, Peter French, Peter Machamer, Gualtiero Piccinini, Dan Weiskopf, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

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