Conceptual Analogy

Katy Böorner

Conceptual analogy (CA) is an approach that in tegrates conceptualizati on, i.e., memory organization based on prior experiences and analogical reasoning (Böorner 1994a). It was implemented prototypically and tested to support the design process in building engineering (Böorner and Janetzko 1995, Böorner 1995). There are a number of features that distinguish CA from standard approaches to CBR and AR. First of all, CA automatically extracts the knowledge needed to support design tasks (i.e., complex case representations, the relevance of object features and relations, and proper adaptations) from attribute-value representations of prior layouts. Secondly, it effectively determines the similarity of complex case representations in terms of adaptability. Thirdly, implemented and integrated into a highly interactive and adaptive system architecture it allows for incremental knowledge acquisition and user support. This paper surveys the basic assumptions and the psychological results which influenced the development of CA. It sketches the knowledge representation formalisms employed and characterizes the sub-processes needed to integrate memory organization and analogical reasoning.
