Representing Time in Scientific Diagrams

William Bechtel University of California, San Diego

Daniel Burnston University of California, San Diego

Benjamin Sheredos University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Adele Abrahamsen University of California, San DiegoCognitive scientists have shown increased interest in dia-grams in recent years, but most of the focus has been on spa-tial representation, not conventions for representing time. We explore a variety of ways in which time is represented in dia-grams by one research community: scientists investigating circadian rhythms at the behavioral and molecular levels. Di-agrams that relate other variables to time or indicate a mecha-nism’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).

Abstract

Cognitive 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).

Files

Representing Time in Scientific Diagrams (3.2 MB)

William Bechtel	University of California, San Diego
Daniel Burnston	University of California, San Diego
Benjamin Sheredos	University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Adele Abrahamsen	University of California, San DiegoCognitive scientists have shown increased interest in dia-grams in recent years, but most of the focus has been on spa-tial representation, not conventions for representing time. We explore a variety of ways in which time is represented in dia-grams by one research community: scientists investigating circadian rhythms at the behavioral and molecular levels. Di-agrams that relate other variables to time or indicate a mecha-nism’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).