School of Psychology

Research Summary

My current research falls into four broad areas, several of which are interlinked:

1. argumentation--- what makes a good argument, in the sense of an argument that will convince a rational critic?

2. similarity--- Key issues here are cognitive constraints on similarity and a new theoretical account of similarity based on transformations between mental representations.

3. concepts and concept acquisition--- I am currently particularly interested in spontaneous categorization, and the question of what makes a good category.

 4. language and language acquisition--- work here has tended to involve both experiments and modeling. My current research in language acquisition is mainly concerned with the relationship between comprehension and production in children, and the role of imitative learning in acquisition.

Teaching Summary

I currently teach part of a final year module on Language Development, as well as a part of our year 2 Cognitive Psychology that concerns itself with foundational issues in studying cognition, such as “what makes something a science”, the nature of scientific explanation, and the mind-body problem.

Selected Publications (2008 onwards)

Harris, A.J.L. & Hahn, U. (in press) Unrealistic optimism about future life events: A cautionary note. Psychological Review.

Chater, N., Oaksford, M., Heit, E., & Hahn, U. (in press). Inductive logic and empirical psychology. In S. Hartmann, & J. Woods (Eds.), The Handbook of Philosophical Logic (Volume 10), Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Close, J., Hahn, U., Hodgetts, C. & Pothos, E.M. (in press) Rules versus similarity in concept learning, In, D. Mareschal, P.C. Quinn & S. Lea (eds.) The making of human concepts. Oxford University Press.

Hahn, U. & Oaksford, M. (in prep.) The Fallacies. Contracted by Oxford University Press.

Hahn, U. and Warren, P.A. (2010). Why three heads are a better bet than four: A reply to Sun, Tweney and Wang. Psychological Review, 117, 706-711.

Hahn, U. and Warren, P.A. (2010). Postscript: All together now: “Three heads are better than four”. Psychological Review, 117, 711.

Pothos, E.M., Hahn, U. & Prat-Sala, M. (2010) Contingent necessity vs. logical necessity in categorization. Thinking & Reasoning, 16, 45-64.

Corner, A.J. & Hahn, U. (2010) Message Framing, Normative Advocacy & Persuasive Success. Argumentation, 24, 153-163.

Hahn, U., Prat-Sala, M., Pothos, E.M. & Brumby, D.P. (2010) Exemplar similarity and rule application. Cognition, 114, 1-18. [pdf]

Pothos, E.M., Hahn, U. & Prat-Sala, M. (2009) Similarity chains in the transformational paradigm. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 29, 1100-1120.

Hodgetts, C.J., Hahn, U. & Chater, N. (2009) Transformation and alignment in similarity. Cognition, 113, 62-79.  [pdf]

Harris, A.J.L. & Hahn, U. (2009) Bayesian rationality in evaluating multiple testimonies: Incorporating the role of coherence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 35, 1366-73.

Maio, G.R., Hahn, U., Frost, J.-M. & Cheung, W.-Y. (2009) Applying the Value of Equality Unequally: Effects of Value Instantiations that Vary in Typicality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 598-614.

Close, J., Hahn, U. & Honey, R. (2009) Contextual modulation of stimulus generalization in rats. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35, 509-515.

Hahn, U., Harris, A.J.L., & Corner, A.J. (2009). Argument Content and Argument Source: An Exploration. Informal Logic, 29, 337-367.

Corner, A.J. & Hahn, U. (2009) Evaluating Science Arguments: Evidence, Uncertainty & Argument Strength. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 199-212.

Hahn, U. & Warren, P.A. (2009) Perceptions of randomness: Why three heads are better than four. Psychological Review. 116, 454-461.  [pdf]

Hahn, U., Close, J. & Graf, M. (2009) Transformation direction influences shape similarity judgments. Psychological Science, 20, 447-454.  [pdf]

Harris, A.J.L., Corner, A. & Hahn, U. (2009) Estimating the Probability of Negative Events. Cognition, 10, 51-64. [pdf]

Hahn, U, (2009) Explaining more by drawing on less. Commentary on Oaksford, M. & Chater, N. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 90-91.