Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Fundamental Technical Elements of Freeze-fracture/Freeze-etch in Biological Electron Microscopy
Published on: September 11, 2014
The science of cycology: failures to understand how everyday objects work
1School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool L69 7ZA, England. rlawson@liverpool.ac.uk
Abstract:
When their understanding of the basics of bicycle design was assessed objectively, people were found to make frequent and serious mistakes, such as believing that the chain went around the front wheel as well as the back wheel. Errors were reduced but not eliminated for bicycle experts, for men more than women, and for people who were shown a real bicycle as they were tested. The results demonstrate that most people's conceptual understanding of this familiar, everyday object is sketchy and shallow, even for information that is frequently encountered and easily perceived. This evidence of a minimal and even inaccurate causal understanding is inconsistent with that of strong versions of explanation-based (or theory-based) theories of categorization.
Related Concept Videos
Studying the Cytoskeleton
Flow Cytometry
In...
Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
Karyotyping
Cell Diversity
Multicellular organisms...
