Jackie Sullivan

Associate Professor

Philosophy of Neuroscience, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind

BA Clark University; MS, PhD University of Pittsburgh

Office: Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB) 7170
E-mail: jsulli29@uwo.ca
Website: jacquelineannesullivan.wordpress.com

My research is situated at the intersection of philosophy of neuroscience, philosophy of mind and philosophy of science and has its origin in a single basic question: What light does contemporary neuroscience shed on the relationship between mind and brain? My approach to this question is unique insofar as I contend that answering it requires directing analytical scrutiny at the investigative strategies neuroscientists use to probe this relationship. To this end, the project at the heart of my research program is to develop and refine a conceptual framework for analyzing experiments and experimental practice in the neurosciences of cognition.
 
I am happy to supervise projects in philosophy of neuroscience, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of psychiatry and philosophy of scientific experimentation. Students whom I supervise may be interested in the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and the Brain and Mind Institute’s Lab Associates’ program, which offers some interdisciplinary training in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience.

Recent Publications

Articles

"Understanding Stability in Cognitive Neuroscience Through Hacking’s Lens." Philosophical Inquiries.

"New Frontiers in Translational Research: Touchscreens, Open Science, and The Mouse Translational Research Accelerator Platform (MouseTRAP)," with Julie R. Dumont, Sara Memar, Miguel Skirzewski, Jinxia Wan, Maryam H. Mofrad, Hassam Zafar Ansari, Yulong Li, Lyle Muller, Vania F. Prado, Marco A.M. Prado, Lisa M. Saksida, Timothy J. Bussey. Genes, Brain and Behavior (2021).

"Sensory inflow manipulation induces learning-like phenomena in motor behavior," with Samuele Contemori, Cristina V Dieni, Aldo Ferraresi, Chiara Occhigrossi, Francesco Calabrese, Vito E Pettorossi, Andrea Biscarini, Roberto Panichi. European journal of applied physiology 120: 811-828 (2020).

“Classification, Kinds, Taxonomic Stability, and Conceptual Change” (with J. Mattu). In Aggression and Violent Behavior(2020).

"Understanding Crime: A Mutilevel Approach" (with D. Ward). In Psychology, Crime & Law, 25(6): 709-711 (2020).

"Achieving Cumulative Progress in Understanding Crime: Some Insights from the Philosophy of Science". In Psychology, Crime & Law, 25(6): 561-576 (2019). 

"Optogenetics, Pluralism and Progress". In Philosophy of Science 85 (00):1090-1101 (2018).

"Judging Mechanistic Neuroscience: A preliminary conceptual-analytic framework for evaluating scientific evidence in the courtroom" (with E. Baron). In Psychology, Crime and Law 24(3): 334-351 (2018). 

"Coordinated Pluralism as a Means to Facilitate Integrative Taxonomies of Cognition". In Philosophical Explorations Issue 2: 129-145 (2017). 

"Construct Stabilization and the Unity of the Mind-Brain Sciences". In Philosophy of Science 83: 662-673 (2016). 

"Response to Commentary on Stabilizing constructs through collaboration across different research fields as a way to foster the integrative approach of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project". In  Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2016).

"Stabilizing constructs through collaboration across different research fields as a way to foster the integrative approach of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project". In Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2016).

Chapters

"Mechanisms in neuroscience", (with C. Stinson). Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Mechanisms, Stuart Glennan and Phyllis Illari (eds.). Routledge (2017). 

“Long-term potentiation: One Kind or Many?”. In Eppur Si Muove: Doing History and Philosophy of Science: A Collection of Essays in Honor of Peter Machamer. Marcus Adams, Zvi Biener, Uljana Feest and Jackie Sullivan, eds., Springer. pp. 127-140 (2016). 

“Models of Mental Illness”. In Harold Kincaid, Jeremy Simon & Miriam Solomon (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Medicine. Routledge. pp. 455-464 (2016). 

“Neuroscientific Kinds Through the Lens of Scientific Practice”. In Catherine Kendig (ed.), Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice. Routledge. pp. 47-56 (2016). 

Journal Book Forum Contribution

Are there Model Behaviours for Model Organism Research? Commentary on Nicole Nelson's Model Behavior. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences82:101266 (2020).