The Cognition and Learning Research Group, led by Dr. Margarita Pavlova, investigates questions about the mechanisms underlying learning, and in particular, how analogy and self-explanation support forming abstract concepts. We investigate these questions in both children and adults.
Learn about our projects here!
Undergraduate and graduate students at New Bulgarian University can join the Group as research assistants for course credit.
Our Group primarily investigates what factors help people learn. Learn more about current projects here.
I regularly mentor students in the undergraduate and graduate programs at the Department at NBU. Students actively participate in research for a course (capstone) project and science-driven students further develop their projects into BA or MA/MSc theses. Research assistants in the Cognition & Learning Research Group participate at all levels of the research process.
Analogical Minds is a weekly online seminar dedicated to exploring the role of analogy, metaphor, and relational processes in cognition and learning. See the current series' speakers or watch past talks.
Website for Boicho Kokinov, who brought cognitive science to Bulgaria and pioneered analogy research at NBU. You can find almost all of his published papers there.
Website for the Fifth Analogy Conference which took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on July 23, 2024
Kokinov, B., Holyoak, K., Gentner, D., eds. (2009). New Frontiers in Analogy Research. Sofia: NBU Press.
Gentner, D., Holyoak, K., Kokinov, B., eds. (2001). The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Holyoak, K. J., & Thagard, P. (1996). Mental leaps: Analogy in creative thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Holyoak, K., Gentner, D., Kokinov, B., eds., (1998). Advances in Analogy Research: Integration of Theory and Data from the Cognitive, Computational, and Neural Sciences. Sofia: NBU Press.
Gentner, D., Holyoak, K., Kokinov, B., eds. (2001). The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
(2024). Analogy 2024: Fifth International Conference on Analogy Book of Abstracts (online)