2003).Visual Re-Representation in Creative Analogies

Abstract. Visual representations seem to play a significant role in many creative analogies. In this paper, we describe a specific role of visual representations: two situations that appear dissimilar non-visually may appear similar when re-represented visually. We present a computational theory of multi-modal analogy in which visual re-representation enables analogical transfer in cases where there are ontological mismatches in the non-visual representation. We have developed a computer program, called Galatea, that implements a core part of our theory: it transfers problem-solving procedures between analogs containing only visual knowledge. In this paper, we describe both how Galatea accomplishes the transfer task using only visual knowledge and how it might be extended to support visual re-representation in multi-modal analogies.