On 2 June 2025, we held a Workshop on “similarity” and its relevant concepts at the Suzaku Campus of Ritsumeikan University in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, with 30 participants.

(Titles omitted.)

Organizer: (Local)    Yuko Ishihara, A02

Program & Topic:　Hayato Saigo, Nao Tsuchiya,  Michiko Asano, A01  and Noburo Saji, C02

Goals

“Similarity” has been a central concept in our Qualia Structure paradigm. Yet, the term “similarity” has been used differently among different fields. There are also various concepts that are related to “similarity”, such as “analogy”, “metaphor”, “crossmodal correspondence”, “iconicity” and so on. Their conceptual relationships are not very clear as well. In this workshop, we would like to have an opportunity to discuss these issues, from the various interdisciplinary viewpoints, centered around cognitive science and psychology. We also want to shed light from category theory and structural approach. The seat is limited (max 48). And it would be best if you at least skim through the papers mentioned below to make the most of this discussion-oriented MTG.

Program

9:00 Opening Remark

9:10 Michiko Asano : Similarity in crossmodal correspondence and synesthesia 

10:00 Tamami Nakano: onomatopoeia in autism 

10:50 Hayato Saigo :Meanings, metaphors and m

orphisms: Category- theoretic approaches to sameness

11:40 Noburo Saji : iconicity and ts classification 

12:30 Masafumi Oizumi : Optimal transport for cross modal correspondence

13:00 lunch + discussion 

Afternoon Stream 1 (Basho & Category theory)

15:00 - 16:00, Yuko Ishihara, Steve Phillips, Nao Tsuchiya

Afternoon Stream 2 (Continued discussion on similarity and other related concepts?) 

16:30 - 17:30

18:00 dinner

References: 

• Category theory approach 
  • A category theoretic approach to metaphor comprehension: Theory of indeterminate natural transformation
  • https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jcss/28/1/28_2020.065/_pdf/-char/ja
• Synesthesia 
  • Cross-modal associations and synesthesia: Categorical perception and structure in vowel–color mappings in a large online sample
• Various concepts related to similarity (perceptual similarity, relational similarity, primary iconicity, secondary iconicity, direct iconicity) 
  • Perceptual Similarity: Insights From Crossmodal Correspondences
  • Structural Alignment during Similarity Comparisons 
  • Perceptual symbol systems
  • Iconicity ratings for 14,000+ English words

What are the relationships among the terms that are similar to “similarity”, which have been used in cognitive science,  e.g., perceptual similarity, relational similarity? 

What are the relationships between similarity and iconicity? (e.g., primary iconicity, secondary iconicity, direct iconicity, gestalt iconicity, relative iconicity) 

Analogy models:

• Doumas, L. A. A., Hummel, J. E., & Sandhofer, C. M. (2008). A theory of the discovery and predication of relational concepts. Psychological Review , 115 (1), 1–43. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.115.1.1
• Doumas, L. A. A., Puebla, G., Martin, A. E., & Hummel, J. E. (2022). A theory of relation learning and cross-domain generalization. Psychological Review , 129 (5), 999–1041. doi: 10.1037/rev0000346
• Hummel, J. E., & Holyoak, K. J. (1997). Distributed representations of structure: A theory of analogical access and mapping. Psychological review , 104 (3), 427–466. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.104.3.427
• Hummel, J. E., & Holyoak, K. J. (2003). A symbolic-connectionist theory of relational inference and generalization. Psychological Review , 110 (2), 220–264. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.110.2.220
• Lu, H., Chen, D., & Holyoak, K. J. (2012). Bayesian analogy with relational transformations. Psychological review , 119 (3), 617. doi: 10.1037/a0028719
• Lu, H., Ichien, N., & Holyoak, K. J. (2022). Probabilistic analogical mapping with semantic relation networks. Psychological Review , 129 (5), 1078–1103. doi: 10.1037/rev0000358

Afternoon Stream 1:

• Nishida’s Basho & Category theory
  • The Influence of Heraclitus on Modern Mathematics. Scientific Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge. Edited by J. Agassi and RS Cohen. DJ Lambek - 1981
    • Lambek discusses Lawvere's approach to dialectic (via adjoints) in the context of philosophy (Heraclitus) with examples from mathematics.
    • Chapter 8 on Nishida and Hegel by Krummel from his book, Nishida Kitaro's Chiasmatic Chorology. Krummel discusses the main differences between Hegel's dialectic and that of Nishida, and what Nishida means by "dialectic of place".