Talk Title:
Empirically investigating question-asking in- and outside of the lab
Abstract:
Questions are central to human cognition: they guide information seeking, support problem finding, and shape creative problem solving. Yet, its cognitive mechanisms remain poorly understood due to challenges in studying it naturally. To address this challenge, we have been exploring ways to quantitatively assess question asking, and its role in creativity, inside and outside of the lab. First, I will introduce the Alternative Questions Task, a tool designed to assess individuals’ ability to generate questions about everyday objects, and discuss evidence linking question complexity, based on Bloom’s taxonomy, with creative thinking. I will then describe ongoing efforts to move beyond traditional lab tasks by developing interactive question-asking games, including Spot the Spy and The Martian Game, which allow large-scale assessment of how people ask questions to solve open- and closed-ended problems. I will conclude by considering future directions for studying what makes questions effective across contexts, domains, and levels of complexity.
Bio:
Dr. Yoed Kenett is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. His research computationally and empirically investigates the role of knowledge in high-level cognition, focusing on creativity, associative thinking, memory search, and question asking, in typical and atypical populations. To investigate these issues, he applies computational tools from network science, natural language processing, and machine learning, coupled with empirical cognitive and neural research. Prof. Kenett is the Research Director in the Executive Committee of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity, has won the 2021 Berlyne award for excellent research by a junior scientist, and in 2025 was recognized as a rising star in creativity research by the European ISSCI.
