The Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge - Mapping Scientific Frontiers: The Quest for Knowledge Visualization - page 20

Many insights revealed by TRACES have implications on today's discussions
and policies concerning peer review and transformative research. Perhaps the most
important lesson learned is the role of basic research, or non-mission research.
As shown in the timeline diagrams of TRACES, an ultimate invention, at least
in all the inventions studied by TRACES, emerged as multiple lines of research
converged. Each line of research was often led by years and even decades of non-
mission research, which was then in turn followed by mission-oriented research and
development and application events.
In other words, it is evident that it is unlikely for non-mission research to foresee
how their work will evolve and that it is even harder for non-mission research in
one subfield to recognize potential connections with critical development in other
subfields. Taken these factors together, we can start to appreciate the magnitude of
the conceptual gulf that transformative research has to bridge.

1.2 Visual Thinking

Vision is a unique source for thinking. We often talk about hindsight, insight,
foresight, and oversight. Our attention is first drawn to the big picture, the Gestalt,
before we attend to details (McKim 1980 ). Visual thinking actively operates on
structural information, not only to see what is inside, but also to figure out how the
parts are connected to form the whole.

1.2.1 Gestalt

The history of science and technology is full of discoveries in which visual thinking
played a critical role. Visual thinking from the abstract to the concrete is a powerful
strategy. In abstraction, the thinker can readily restructure even transform a concept.
Then the resulting abstraction can be represented in a concrete form and tested in
reality. When abstract and concrete ideas are expressed in graphic form, the abstract-
to-concrete thinking strategy becomes visible.
As everyone looking at Leonard de Vinci's Mona Lisa is probably seeing a
“Mona Lisa” quite different from what others see, the individual perceptual ability
can be vital in science as not only does it often distinguish an expert from a
novice, but also means whether one can catch a passing chance of discovery. The
English novelist and essayist Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote: “The experienced
microscopist will see certain details on a slide; the novice will fail to see them.
Walking through a wood, a city dweller will be blind to a multitude of things which
the trained naturalist will see without difficulty. At sea, the sailor will detect distant
objects which, for the landsman, are simply not there at all.” A knowledgeable
observer sees more than a less knowledgeable companion because he or she has
a richer stock of memories and expectations to draw upon to make sense of what is
perceived.