[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-657876-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-657876-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","representing-time-in-scientific-diagrams","Representing Time in Scientific Diagrams","","Cognitive scientists increasingly use diagrams, yet most research emphasizes spatial representation rather than conventions for representing time. This work examines multiple diagram formats used within chronobiology, focusing on scientists studying circadian rhythms across behavioral and molecular levels. It analyzes how diagrams map time to spatial dimensions or circular structures, how they incorporate explicit time markers, and how they indicate mechanistic states across time to support mechanistic explanation.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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science?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Many reasoning tasks require considering temporal information, and integrating time with spatial representations creates special difficulties for diagram design.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What field of science does the paper focus on to study time representation in diagrams?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The paper examines published diagrams from chronobiology, the study of circadian and other biological rhythms.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How do circadian researchers commonly map time in diagrams?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"A common approach assigns time to one spatial dimension (such as time on the abscissa with a dependent variable on the ordinate), while an alternative uses a circle to represent a 24-hour 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([dburnston@ucsd.edu](dburnston@ucsd.edu))  \nBenjamin Sheredos ([bsheredos@ucsd.edu](bsheredos@ucsd.edu))  \nDepartment of Philosophy and Center for Circadian Biology, University of California, San Diego  \nLa Jolla, CA, 92093-0119 USA  \nAdele Abrahamsen ([aabrahamsen@ucsd.edu](aabrahamsen@ucsd.edu))  \nCenter for Research in Language and Center for Circadian Biology, University of California,  \nSan Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA  \nAbstract  \nCognitive scientists have shown increased interest in diagrams in recent years, but most of the focus has been on spatial representation, not conventions for representing time. We explore a variety of ways in which time is represented in diagrams by one research community: scientists investigating circadian rhythms at the behavioral and molecular levels. Diagrams that relate other variables to time or indicate a mechanism’s states across time use one or two spatial dimensions or circles to represent time and sometimes include explicit time markers (e.g., the hours on a clockface) .  \nKeywords: Circadian rhythms; diagrams; mechanistic explanation; time  \nIntroduction  \nA number of cognitive scientists have become interested in the interaction between human reasoning and external visualizations. Projects in such areas as knowledge representation, human-computer interaction, and situated cognition have all focused on how information can be represented in a range of distinct formats and used as reasoning tools. Experimental and theoretical work on diagrams in particular has made great strides in recent years (Cheng, 2002, 2011; Gooding, 2010; Hegarty, 2004, 2011; Nersessian, 2008; Tversky, 2011) . Still, significant challenges remain in understanding visualization. Our focus is on how diagrams support reasoning in complex empirical domains (Sheredos, Burnston, Abrahamsen, & Bechtel, 2013) . A critical challenge researchers face in developing diagrams is how to represent multiple aspects of a problem space. For instance, while two-dimensional diagrams readily support spatial reasoning tasks, many tasks require reasoning about time, and representing time and integrating both spatial and temporal information pose special challenges.  \nOur strategy in this paper is to examine published diagrams from a field in empirical science that has dedicated significant attention to ways of representing events in time: chronobiology, the study of circadian and other biological rhythms. What is learned here has broader implications.  \nThe term diagram is used in both inclusive and restricted senses. In its inclusive sense, indicated by the etymology of the word, diagrams are visuospatial representations. All the figures in a scientific paper, including line graphs, typically count as diagrams. Sometimes the term is used more restric-  \ntively for graphical representations of the parts and operations of a mechanism. We refer to these as mechanism diagrams, and they are of particular interest as they play crucial roles in developing, evaluating, and presenting mechanistic explanations. Biologists often begin by identifying a system that in relevant conditions generates a phenomenon of interest and then seek a mechanistic account of how it does so. This involves identifying its parts, determining the operations they perform, and showing how, when organized appropriately, the parts and operations generate the phenomenon of interest (Bechtel & Abrahamsen, 2005; Bechtel & Richardson, 1993/2010; Machamer, Darden, & Craver, 2000) . This practice is often supported by mechanism diagrams in which icons or glyphs (Tversky, 2011) specify parts of the mechanism and arrows indicate the operations by which parts affect other parts or are transformed into other types of parts. However, these mechanism diagrams do not stand alone. To relate parts and operations represented in the diagram to a phenomenon, researchers","cbCaivxi8Lkoj1eq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivxi8Lkoj1eq","pdf",3357158,"English","# Introduction\n## Representing Time on One or More Dimensions\n## Representing Time with Circles and Spatial Dimensions\n## Mechanism Diagrams and Temporal State Changes","[{\"question\":\"Why is representing time in diagrams challenging in cognitive science?\",\"answer\":\"Many reasoning tasks require considering temporal information, and integrating time with spatial representations creates special difficulties for diagram design.\"},{\"question\":\"What field of science does the paper focus on to study time representation in diagrams?\",\"answer\":\"The paper examines published diagrams from chronobiology, the study of circadian and other biological rhythms.\"},{\"question\":\"How do circadian researchers commonly map time in diagrams?\",\"answer\":\"A common approach assigns time to one spatial dimension (such as time on the abscissa with a dependent variable on the ordinate), while an alternative uses a circle to represent a 24-hour duration.\"}]","Representing Time in Scientific Diagrams | PDF",1792993035,15]