---
abstract: 'One of the things you learn if you read books and articles in (or about) cognitive science is that the brain does a lot of "filling in"--not filling in, but "filling in"--in scare quotes. My claim today will be that this way of talking is not a safe bit of shorthand, or an innocent bit of temporizing, but a source of deep confusion and error. The phenomena described in terms of "filling in" are real, surprising, and theoretically important, but it is a mistake to conceive of them as instances of something being filled in, for that vivid phrase always suggests too much--sometimes a little too much, but often a lot too much. Here are some examples (my boldface throughout).'
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- family: Dennett
given: Daniel
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date: 1992
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given: Van den Broek
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publication: 'Cognition, Conception, and Methodological Issues'
publisher: American Psychological Association
refereed: TRUE
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rev_number: 8
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status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:26:12
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- phil-mind
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title: 'Filling in versus finding out: A ubiquitous confusion in cognitive science'
type: bookchapter
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