S2E13: The Science of Analogy, Reasoning, and Creativity with Professor Keith Holyoak

In this episode, I speak with Professor Keith Holyoak, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UCLA, a Guggenheim Fellow, and one of the world's leading researchers on human reasoning and analogy. By combining behavioral research, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modeling, his research has transformed our understanding of how analogy serves as a fundamental building block of human thought.

We explore how analogy helps us solve problems, transfer knowledge across domains, and fuel creativity, while also examining the situations in which it can lead us astray. Professor Holyoak discusses what distinguishes human analogical thinking from today's large language models, why current AI lacks biological consciousness, and what insights from his recent book and research reveal about AI-generated writing. We also discuss how relational thinking develops from childhood and the role of the prefrontal cortex in complex reasoning.