School of Psychology

Contact Us School of Psychology
Aras an Phiarsaigh
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 2
Ireland

+353 1 896 1886

View the contact page for more contact and location information

psychology@tcd.ie
Professor Ruth Byrne

Professor Ruth Byrne

Professor of Cognitive Science, Psychology

Professor of Cognitive Science

3531896 4054https://reasoningandimagination.com/

Biography

Ruth Byrne is the Professor of Cognitive Science at Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, in the School of Psychology and the Institute of Neuroscience, a chair created for her by the university in 2005. Her research expertise is in the cognitive science of human thinking, including experimental and computational investigations of reasoning and imaginative thought. She has published over 100 articles in journals and her books include, 'The rational imagination: how people create alternatives to reality' (2005, MIT press), 'Deduction', co-authored with Phil Johnson-Laird (1991, Erlbaum Associates), and most recently, 'Thinking, reasoning, and decision-making in autism', co-edited with Kinga Morsanyi (2019, Routledge). She is the former Vice Provost of Trinity College Dublin (the 68th Vice Provost since the university was established in 1592; the first was Henry Ussher in 1594). Prior to that she was the head of the School of Psychology, and she has also served as deputy director of the Institute of Neuroscience. She is a senior editor for Cognitive Science, journal of the US Cognitive Science Society, and former chair of the European Research Council's advanced grants panel on the human mind. She currently teaches a foundation module on Thinking to first and second year undergraduates, and advanced modules on Human Reasoning, and Creative Cognition, to third and fourth year undergraduates. She supervises final year project students and postgraduate students carrying out research on thinking, reasoning, and imagination. Her BA degree was awarded by University College Dublin in 1983 and she completed her PhD at Trinity College Dublin in 1986. She subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, and as a lecturer in the psychology department at the University of Wales at Cardiff, and in the computer science department at University College Dublin. She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Senior Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and a Fellow of the US Association for Psychological Science. She was awarded the 2021 Gold Medal for Social Sciences by the Royal Irish Academy.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Counterfactual thinking in, editor(s)Kind, Amy , The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Imagination, London, Routledge, 2016, pp339 - 352, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2016
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Counterfactual Thought, Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 2016, p135 - 157Journal Article, 2016
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. & Byrne, R.M.J, Conditionals: A theory of meaning, pragmatics and inference, Psychological Review, 109, 2002, p646 - 678Journal Article, 2002
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Mental models and counterfactual thoughts about what might have been, Trends in cognitive sciences, 6, 2002, p426 - 431Journal Article, 2002
  • Evans, J.St.B.T., Newstead, S. and Byrne, R.M.J., Human Reasoning: The Psychology of Deduction, Hove UK, Hillsdale, NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1993, 310ppBook, 1993
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. and Byrne, R.M.J., Deduction, Hillsdale NJ & Hove UK, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991, 243ppBook, 1991
  • Keane, M.T., Cunningham, P., Brady, M. and Byrne, R.M.J. , AICS'94. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Irish Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, Dublin, Dublin University Press, 1994, 246ppBook, 1994
  • Cognitive Science: A Special Issue of the Irish Journal of Psychology, (1989), 352p, Byrne, R.M.J. and Keane, M.T.G., [eds.]Journal, 1989
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Quelhas, C., Raciocinio contrafactual e modelos mentais, Analise Psicologia, 2000, p713 - 721Journal Article, 2000
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Spatial mental models in counterfactual thinking about what might have been, Kognitionswissenschaft, 7, 1998, p19 - 26Journal Article, 1998, DOI
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Espino, O. & Santamaria, C., Context suppresses inferences, Analise Psicologica, 1998, p210 - 214Journal Article, 1998
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Cognitive processes in counterfactual thinking about what might have been, The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Advances in Research and Theory, 37, 1997, p105 - 154Journal Article, 1997
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., and Byrne, R.M.J., Mental models and syllogisms, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 19, 1996, p543 - 546Journal Article, 1996, URL
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., and Byrne, R.M.J., A model point of view, Thinking and Reasoning, 1, 1995, p339 - 350Journal Article, 1995
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., and Byrne, R.M.J., Models, necessity, and the search for counterexamples, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 17, 1994, p775 - 777Journal Article, 1994, URL
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J., and Schaeken, W., Why models rather than rules give a better account of propositional reasoning: a reply to Bonatti, and to O'Brien, Braine, and Yang, Psychological Review, 101, 1994, p734 - 739Journal Article, 1994, URL
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. and Byrne, R.M.J., Modal reasoning, models, and Manktelow and Over, Cognition, 43, 1992, p173 - 182Journal Article, 1992, URL
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J., and Tabossi, P., In defense of reasoning: A reply to Greene, Psychological Review, 99, 1992, p188 - 190Journal Article, 1992, URL
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Can valid inferences be suppressed?, Cognition, 39, 1991, p71 - 78Journal Article, 1991
  • 'Whether, although and other conditional connectives' in, editor(s)W. Schaeken, Vandierendonck, A., Schroyens, W., and d'Ydewalle, G. , The Mental Models Theory of Reasoning: Refinements and Extensions, Mahwah: New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007, pp53 - 62, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2007
  • Cowley, M., Byrne, R. M. J., Chess Masters' Hypothesis Testing, Proceedings of the Twenty- Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, edited by K. D. Forbus, D. Gentner, T. Rogers , Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2004, pp250 - 255Conference Paper, 2004, TARA - Full Text
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Walsh, C.R., Contradictions and counterfactuals: Generating belief revisions in conditional inference, Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society edited by W. Gray and C. Schunn, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002, pp160 - 165Conference Paper, 2002, TARA - Full Text
  • Walsh, C.R., Byrne, R.M.J., A computational model of counterfactual thinking: The temporal order effect, Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, edited by J.D. Moore, K. Stenning , Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001, pp1078 - 1083Conference Paper, 2001, TARA - Full Text
  • Supresion de inferencias en condicionales in, editor(s)Fernandez Berrocal, P. and Santamaria, C. , Manual practico de psicologia del pensamiento, Barcelona, Ariel, 2001, pp37 - 49, [Espino, O. Santamaria, C., Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2001
  • Effetto dell'azione nel pensiero controfattuale: una teoria basata sui modelli mentali in, editor(s)Cherubini, P., Giaretta, Pierdaniele, Mazzocco, A. , Ragionamento: Psicologia e logica, Firenze, Giunti, 2000, pp283 - 291, [Byrne, R.M.J., and McEleney, A.]Book Chapter, 2000
  • Counterfactual thinking and causal explanation in, editor(s)García-Madruga, J., Carriedo, N., González-Labra, M. J , Mental Models in Reasoning, Madrid, UNED, 2000, pp301 - 314, [McEleney, A., Byrne, R. M. J.]Book Chapter, 2000
  • Latencies to understand and reasoning from counterfactual conditionals in, editor(s)J. A. Garcia Madruga , Mental models and reasoning, Madrid, UNED, 2000, pp315 - 326, [Quelhas, C., Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2000
  • Temporal and causal relations in counterfactual thinking in, editor(s)J. A. Garcia Madruga , Mental models and reasoning, Madrid, UNED, 2000, pp327 - 336, [Segura, S., Berrocal, P., Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2000
  • McEleney, A., Byrne, R. M. J., Consequences of counterfactual reasoning and causal reasoning, European Conference on Cognitive Science '99, Siena, Italy:University of Siena, edited by Bagnara, S. , 1999, pp199 - 205Conference Paper, 1999
  • Counterexample availability in, editor(s)W. Schaeken, G. De Vooght, A. Vandierendonck, G. d'Ydewalle , Deductive reasoning and strategiess, Hillsdale, Erlbaum, 1999, pp97 - 110, [Byrne, R.M.J., Espino, O., Santamaria, C.]Book Chapter, 1999
  • McCloy, R., Byrne, R.M.J., Thinking about what might have been: if only, even if, causality and emotions, Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, edited by N. Hahn, S.C. Stoness , Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1999Conference Paper, 1999
  • Counterfactual thinking and causal explanation in, editor(s)J. Dunnion, G. O'Hare, S. O'Nuaillain, R. Reilly, B. Smyth , AI and Cognitive Science '98, London, Springer-Verlag, 1998, [McEleney, A., Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1998
  • Thinking about what might have been different and what might have been the same in, editor(s)J. Dunnion, G. O'Hare, S., O'Nuaillain, R. Reilly, B. Smyth , AI and Cognitive Science '98, London, Springer-Verlag, 1998, [McCloy, R.A., Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1998
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Tasso, A. and Thompson, V., Cognitive processes in Counterfactual Conditionals, Cognition, Agency, and Rationality: Proceedings of the Fifth International Colloquium on Cognitive Science, edited by K. Korta, E. Sosa and X. Arrazola , Nertherlands: Kluwer, 1998, pp113 - 129Conference Paper, 1998
  • Razonamiento contrafactual: la posición serial y el número de antecedentes en los pensamientos sobre lo que podría haber sido in, editor(s)D. Valiña, M. J. Blanco , I Jornadas de Psicologia del Pensamiento, Santiago de Compostela, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 1998, pp179 - 187, [Segura, S., Fernandez-Berrocal, P., Byrne, R. M. J.]Book Chapter, 1998
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and McEleney, A., Cognitive processes in regret for actions and inactions, Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society edited by M. Shafto and P. Langley, Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1997, pp73 - 78Conference Paper, 1997
  • The coming of age of the psychology of thinking and reasoning in, editor(s)R. Fuller, P. Noonan Walsh, P. McGinley , A Century of Psychology, London, Routledge, 1997, pp207 - 223, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1997
  • Towards a model theory of imaginary thinking in, editor(s)J. Oakhill and A.Garnham , Mental Models in Cognitive Science: Essays in honour of Phil Johnson-Laird, Hove, UK, Erlbaum, Taylor & Francis, 1996, pp155 - 174, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1996
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Culhane, R., and Tasso, A., The temporality effect in thinking about what might have been, Proceedings of the 17th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society edited by J.D. Moore and J.F. Lehman, Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1995, pp385 - 390Conference Paper, 1995
  • Encyclopedia of Intelligence, R.J. Sternberg, Deductive reasoning, New York, MacMillan, 1994, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, 1994
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and Tasso, A., Counterfactual Reasoning: Inferences from hypothetical conditionals, Proceedings of the 16th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, edited by Ram, A. and Eiselt, K. , Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1994, pp124 - 129Conference Paper, 1994
  • The nature and development of meta-deductive reasoning strategies in, editor(s)K. Ryan and R.F.E. Sutcliffe , AI and Cognitive Science '92, London, Springer-Verlag, 1993, pp59 - 70, [Byrne, R.M.J., and Handley, S.]Book Chapter, 1993
  • Who's telling the truth...Cognitive processes in meta-deductions in, editor(s)H. Sorenson , AI and Cognitive Science '91, London, Springer-Verlag, 1993, pp221 - 233, [Byrne, R.M.J., Johnson-Laird, P.N., and Handley, S.]Book Chapter, 1993
  • Models and deductive rationality in, editor(s)Manktelow, K.I. and Over, D.E. , Rationality: Psychological and philosophical perspectives, London, Routledge, 1993, pp177 - 210, [Johnson-Laird, P.N. and Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1993
  • The model theory of deduction in, editor(s)Rogers, Y, Rutherford, A. and Bibby, P. , Models in the Mind: Theory, Perspective, and Applications, London, Academic, 1992, pp11 - 28, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1992
  • Advances in the Psychology of Reasoning: Meta-deduction in, editor(s)Keane, M. T. and Gilhooly, K. , Advances in the Psychology of Thinking, Vol. 1, London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992, pp127 - 145, [Byrne, R.M.J., Handley, S., and Johnson-Laird, P.N.]Book Chapter, 1992
  • The construction of explanations in, editor(s)McTear, M.and Creaney, N. , AI and Cognitive Science '90, London, Springer-Verlag, 1991, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 1991
  • Models and deductive reasoning in, editor(s)Gilhooly, K.J., Keane, M.T.G, Logie, R.H., Erdos, G. , Lines of Thinking: Reflections on the Psychology of Thought. Volume 1: Representation, Reasoning, Analogy and Decision Making, London, Wiley, 1990, pp139 - 152, [Byrne, R.M.J. and Johnson-Laird, P.N.]Book Chapter, 1990
  • Remembering conclusions we have inferred: what biases reveal in, editor(s)J.-P. Caverni, J.-M. Fabre, M. Gonzalez , Cognitive Biases: Their Contribution for Understanding Human Cognitive Processes, Amsterdam, North-Holland, 1990, pp109 - 120, [Byrne, R.M.J., Johnson-Laird, P.N.]Book Chapter, 1990
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J., Mental models, Proceedings of the IFIP WG 5.2 Second Workshop on CAD edited by H. Yoshikawa and T. Holden, CAD, Cambridge, 1990, pp3 - 15Conference Paper, 1990
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. & Byrne, R.M.J, Mental models and pragmatics: Author's response, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 2000, p284 - 286Journal Article, 2000, DOI , URL
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. & Byrne, R.M.J, Mental models rule ok? A reply to Fetzer, Minds and machines, 9, 1999, p111 - 117Journal Article, 1999, URL
  • Mental models, Eysenck, M., Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1990, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, 1990
  • Rasga, C., Quelhas, A. C., & Byrne, R. M.J., Children's reasoning about other's intentions: False-belief and counterfactual conditional inferences., Cognitive Development, , 40, 2016, p46 - 59Journal Article, 2016
  • Couto, C., Quelhas, A.C., & Byrne, R.M.J. , Advice conditionals about tips and warnings: interpretations and inferences. , Journal of Cognitive Psychology., 29, (3), 2017, p364 - 380Journal Article, 2017
  • Parkinson, M. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Judgments of moral responsibility and wrongness for intentional and accidental harm and purity violations., Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology., 71, (3), 2018, p779 - 789Journal Article, 2018
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Counterfactual thinking: From logic to morality, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26, (4), 2017, p314 - 322Journal Article, 2017
  • Parkinson, M. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Moral judgments of risky choices: a moral echoing effect, Judgment & Decision Making, 12, (3), 2017, p236 - 252Journal Article, 2017
  • Rasga, C., Quelhas, A. C., & Byrne, R. M.J., How children with autism reason about other's intentions: false-belief and counterfactual inferences. , Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, (6), 2017, p1806 - 1817Journal Article, 2017
  • Moreno-Rios, S. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Inferences from disclosures about the truth and falsity of expert testimony, Thinking and Reasoning., 24, (1), 2018, p41 - 78Journal Article, 2018
  • Parkinson, M. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Counterfactual and semifactual thoughts in moral judgments about failed attempts to harm. , Thinking and Reasoning, 23, (4), 2017, p409 - 448Journal Article, 2017
  • Counterfactual reasoning and imagination in, editor(s)L.J. Ball & V.A. Thompson , International Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning, London, Routledge, 2018, pp71 - 87, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2018
  • Byrne, R.M.J. & Timmons, S., Moral hindsight for good actions and the effects of imagined alternatives to reality, Cognition, 178, 2018, p82 - 91Journal Article, 2018
  • Timmons, S & Byrne, R.M.J., Moral Fatigue: The Effects of Cognitive Fatigue on Moral Reasoning, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72 , (4), 2019, p943 - 954Journal Article, 2019, DOI
  • Khemlani, S., Byrne, R.M.J., & Johnson-Laird, P.N., Facts and possibilities: A model- based theory of sentential reasoning, Cognitive Science, 42, (6), 2018, p1887 - 1924Journal Article, 2018
  • Espino, O. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Thinking about the opposite of what is said: counterfactual conditionals and symbolic or alternate simulations of negation, Cognitive Science, 42, (8), 2018, p2459 - 2501Journal Article, 2018
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Counterfactuals in explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI): Evidence from Human Reasoning, Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2019, p6276 - 6282Journal Article, 2019, DOI
  • Byrne, R.M.J. & Johnson-Laird, P.N., If and or: real and counterfactual possibilities in their truth and probability, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 46, (4), 2020, p760 - 780Journal Article, 2020, DOI
  • Orenes, I., García Madruga, J.A.,Gómez-Veiga, I., Espino, O. & Byrne, R.M.J. , The comprehension of counterfactual conditionals: evidence from eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm. , Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2019, p1172-Journal Article, 2019, DOI
  • Morsanyi, K. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Thinking, reasoning, and decision-making in autism., 1, London, Routledge, 2020, 1 - 162ppBook, 2020
  • How do individuals with autism think? in, editor(s)Morsanyi, K. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Thinking, reasoning, and decision-making in autism. , London, Routledge, 2020, pp1 - 12, [Morsanyi, K. & Byrne, R.M.J. ]Book Chapter, 2020
  • Counterfactual and false-belief reasoning in individuals with autism. in, editor(s)K. Morsanyi & R.M.J. Byrne , Thinking, reasoning, and decision-making in autism., London, Routledge, 2020, pp88 - 112, [Rasga, C., Quelhas, A.C. & Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2020
  • The Counterfactual Imagination: The Impact of Alternatives to Reality on Morality in, editor(s)A. Abraham , Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp529 - 547, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2020
  • Timmons, S., Gubbins, E., Almeida, T. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Imagined alternatives to episodic memories of morally good acts., Journal of Positive Psychology. , 2019Journal Article, 2019, DOI , URL
  • Espino, O., & Byrne, R. M. J., The suppression of inferences from counterfactual conditionals. , Cognitive Science, 44 , 2020, pe12827Journal Article, 2020, DOI , URL
  • Espino, O., Byrne, R. M. J. & Johnson-Laird, P.N. , Possibilities and the parallel meanings of factual and counterfactual conditionals., Memory & Cognition, 48, 2020, p1263 - 1280Journal Article, 2020, DOI
  • Espino, O., & Byrne, R. M. J., How people keep track of what is real and what is imagined: the epistemic status of counterfactual alternatives to reality, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. , 47, (4), 2021, p547 - 570Journal Article, 2021, DOI
  • Pighin, S., Byrne, R. M., & Tentori, K. , "If only" counterfactual thoughts about cooperative and uncooperative decisions in social dilemmas. , Thinking & Reasoning, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI , URL
  • Orenes, I., Espino, O., & Byrne, R. M.J., Similarities and Differences in Understanding Negative and Affirmative Counterfactuals and Causal Assertions: Evidence from Eye-Tracking., Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology., 75, (4), 2021, p633 - 651Journal Article, 2021, DOI , URL
  • Conditional and counterfactual reasoning. in, editor(s)Knauff, M., & Spohn, W. , Handbook of Rationality., Cambridge, MA., MIT Press., 2021, pp405 - 418, [Byrne, R. M.J. & Espino, O.]Book Chapter, 2021
  • Dai, X., Keane, M.T., Shalloo, L., Ruelle, E., & Byrne, R.M.J., Counterfactual explanations for prediction and diagnosis in XAI., Proceedings of the 5th AAAI/ACM conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, & Society, AIES'22, 5th AAAI/ACM conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, & Society, AIES'22, Oxford, UK, 1st-3rd August 2022, edited by Conitzer, V. & Tasioulas, J. , Association for Computing Machinery, 2022, pp215 - 226Conference Paper, 2022, DOI
  • Tepe, B., & Byrne, R. M. J., Cognitive processes in imaginative moral shifts: How judgments of morally unacceptable actions change., Memory & Cognition, 50, 2022, p1103 - 1123Journal Article, 2022
  • Celar, L. & Byrne, R.M.J., How people reason with counterfactual and causal explanations for Artificial Intelligence decisions in familiar and unfamiliar domains, Memory & Cognition, 2023, p1 - 16Journal Article, 2023, DOI
  • Warren, G., Byrne, R.M.J., & Keane, M.T. , Categorical and Continuous Features in Counterfactual Explanations of AI Systems., 28th ACM Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, ACM IUI'23., Sydney, Australia, 27th-31st March 2023, Association for Computing Machinery, 2023, pp1 - 26Conference Paper, 2023, DOI
  • How People Think About Moral Excellence: The Role of Counterfactual Thoughts in Reasoning about Morally Good Actions in, editor(s)Paul Henne & Samuel Murray , Advances in Experimental Philosophy of Action, London, UK, Bloomsbury, 2023, pp1 - 27, [Timmons, S, & Byrne, R.M.J. ]Book Chapter, 2023
  • Johnson-Laird, P. N., Byrne, R. M., & Khemlani, S. S., (2023). Human verifications: Computable with truth values outside logic., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120, (40), 2023, pe2310488120Journal Article, 2023, DOI
  • Byrne, R.M.J., How people think about the truth of hypothetical impossibilities., Memory and Cognition., 52, 2023, p182 - 196Journal Article, 2023, DOI
  • Johnson-Laird, P. N., Byrne, R. M.J. & Khemlani, S. S., Models of possibilities instead of logic as the basis of human reasoning., Minds and Machines., 34, (19), 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI
  • RMJ Byrne, How people think about possibilities., Possibility Studies and Society, 1, (1), 2023, p29 - 36Journal Article, 2023
  • Warren, G., Byrne, R.M.J., & Keane, M. T., Categorical and Continuous Features in Counterfactual Explanations of AI Systems., ACM Transactions on Intelligence Systems, 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Good Explanations in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI): Evidence from Human Explanatory Reasoning., Proceedings of the Thirty-Second International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI, 2023, 2023, pp6536 - 6544Conference Paper, 2023, DOI
  • McEleney, A. and Byrne, R.M.J. , Spontaneous causal and counterfactual thoughts. , Thinking and Reasoning., 12, (2), 2006, p235 - 255Journal Article, 2006
  • Santamaria, C., Espino, O. and Byrne, R.M.J., Counterfactual and semifactuals prime alternative possibilities., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31, (5), 2005, p1149 - 1154Journal Article, 2005, DOI , URL
  • Cowley, M. & Byrne, R.M.J., When falsification is the only path to truth, Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2005, edited by Bara, B.G., Barsalou, L. & Bucciarelli, M. , Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates , 2005, pp512 - 517Conference Paper, 2005, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Meehan, J.E. & Byrne, R.M.J. , The Temporal Order Effect in Children's Counterfactual Thinking, Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, edited by Bara, B.G., Barsalou, L. & Bucciarelli, M. , Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates , 2005, pp1467 - 1473Conference Paper, 2005, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • 'Conditionals and Possibilities' in, Oaksford, M. and Chater, N. , Cognition and Conditionals: Probability and Logic in Human Thinking, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, pp55 - 68, [Byrne, R.M.J. & Johnson-Laird, P.N. ]Book Chapter, 2010
  • 'Cognitive processes in counterfactual thinking' in, Markman, K., Klein, W. & Suhr, J. , Handbook of Imagination and Mental Simulation, Hove, Psychology Press, 2009, pp151 - 160, [Byrne, R.M.J. & Girotto, V.]Book Chapter, 2009
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Precis of The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 2007, p439 - 453Journal Article, 2007, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Moreno-Rios, S., Garcia-Madruga, J. & Byrne, R.M.J., Inferences from semifactual 'even if' conditionals, Acta Psychologica, 128, 2008, p197 - 209Journal Article, 2008, DOI
  • Byrne, R.M.J., The rational imagination and other possibilities: Author's response, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 2007, p470 - 480Journal Article, 2007, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Espino, O., Santamaria, C. & Byrne, R.M.J., People think about what is true for conditionals, not what is false: only true possibilities prime the comprehension of "if", Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 2009, p1072 - 1078Journal Article, 2009, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Byrne, R.M.J. & Johnson-Laird, P.N. , 'If' and the problems of conditional reasoning, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 2009, p282 - 287Journal Article, 2009, DOI
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J., and Girotto, V., The Mental Model Theory of Conditionals: A Reply to Guy Politzer, Topoi - International Review of Philosophy, 28 , 2009, p75 - 80Journal Article, 2009, DOI
  • McCloy, R.A., Byrne, R.M.J. & Johnson-Laird, P.N, Understanding cumulative risk, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, (3), 2010, p499 - 515Journal Article, 2010, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Egan, S., Garcia-Madruga, J. & Byrne, R.M.J., Indicative and counterfactual 'only if' conditionals, Acta Psychologica, 132, (3), 2009, p240-249Journal Article, 2009, DOI
  • Schaeken, W., Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J., d'Ydewalle, G., A comparison of conditional and disjunctive inferences: a case study of the mental model theory of reasoning., Psychologica Belgica., 35, 1995, p57 - 70Journal Article, 1995
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Espino, O. & Santamaria, C. , Counterexamples and the suppression of inferences, Journal of Memory & Language, 40, 1999, p347 - 373Journal Article, 1999
  • Byrne, R.M.J. & McEleney, A. , Counterfactual thinking about actions and failures to act, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 26, 2000, p1318 - 1331Journal Article, 2000
  • McCloy, R. A. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Counterfactual thinking about controllable events, Memory & Cognition, 28, 2000, p1071 - 1078Journal Article, 2000, TARA - Full Text
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Tasso, A., Deductive reasoning with factual, possible and counterfactual conditionals, Memory & Cognition, 27, 1999, p726 - 740Journal Article, 1999, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. & Byrne, R.M.J, Mental models in deductive reasoning, Revista de Occidente, 1991, p85 - 111Journal Article, 1991
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. and Byrne, R.M.J. , Mental models or formal rules? , Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 1993, p368 - 380Journal Article, 1993
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. and Byrne, R.M.J. , Precis of Deduction, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 1993, p323 - 333Journal Article, 1993
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J. & Schaeken, W. , Propositional reasoning by model, Psychological Review, 99, 1992, p418 - 439Journal Article, 1992
  • Thompson, V.A. & Byrne, R.M.J., Reasoning counterfactually: Making inferences about things that didn't happen, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 28, 2002, p1154 - 1170Journal Article, 2002
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Handley, S.J., and Johnson-Laird, P.N. , Reasoning with suppositions, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology., 48, 1995, p915 - 944Journal Article, 1995
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and Handley, S.J. , Reasoning Strategies., Irish Journal of Psychology: Trinity 400 Special Issue, 13, 1992, p111 - 124Journal Article, 1992
  • Byrne, R.M.J. & Handley, S., Reasoning Strategies for Suppositional Deductions, Cognition, 62, 1997, p1 - 49Journal Article, 1997
  • Segura, S. & Byrne, R.M.J., Temporal and Causal Order Effects in Thinking about What Might Have Been, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55, 2002, p1295 - 1305Journal Article, 2002
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and Johnson-Laird, P.N. , The spontaneous use of propositional connectives. , Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, , 45, 1992, p89 - 110Journal Article, 1992
  • Byrne,R.M.J., Segura, S., Culhane, R., Tasso, A. & Berrocal, P., The temporality effect in counterfactual thinking about what might have been, Memory & Cognition, 28, 2000, p264 - 281Journal Article, 2000, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Walsh CR, and Byrne RMJ, Counterfactual thinking: the temporal order effect, Memory and Cognition, 32 , (3), 2004, p369 - 378Journal Article, 2004, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Quelhas AC and Byrne RMJ , Reasoning with deontic and counterfactual conditionals, Thinking & Reasoning, 9 (1), (Feb), 2003, p43 - 65Journal Article, 2003
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Meta-logical problems: knights, knaves, and Rips., Cognition., 36 (1), (JUL ), 1990, p69 - 84Journal Article, 1990
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Byrne, R.M.J., and Tabossi, P. , Reasoning by model: the case of multiple quantification, Psychological Review, 96 (4), (OCT), 1989, p658 - 673Journal Article, 1989
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and Keane, M.T.G., Cognitive science: an introduction, Irish Journal of Psychology, 10, (2), 1989, pR1 - R6Journal Article, 1989
  • Byrne, R.M.J., Human deductive reasoning., Irish Journal of Psychology, 10, (2), 1989, p216 - 231Journal Article, 1989
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and Johnson-Laird, P.N. , Spatial reasoning, Journal of Memory and Language, 28 , (5), 1989, p564 - 575Journal Article, 1989
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N. and Byrne, R.M.J. , Only reasoning, Journal of Memory and Language, 28 (3), (JUN), 1989, p313 - 330Journal Article, 1989
  • Byrne, R.M.J. , Suppressing valid inferences with conditionals. , Cognition , 31 , (1), 1989, p61 - 83Journal Article, 1989, TARA - Full Text
  • Byrne, R.M.J. , Everyday reasoning with conditional sequences, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, , 41 (1), (FEB), 1989, p141 - 166Journal Article, 1989
  • Byrne, R.M.J. and Egan, S.M., Counterfactual and prefactual conditionals, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 2004, p113 - 120Journal Article, 2004
  • Byrne, R.M.J., The rational imagination: how people create alternatives to reality, Cambridge, M.A, MIT Press, 2005, 274ppBook, 2005, URL
  • McCloy, R. & Byrne, R.M.J., Semifactual 'even if' thinking, Thinking and Reasoning, 8, 2002, p41 - 67Journal Article, 2002
  • The mental representation of what might have been. in, editor(s)D.R. Mandel, D.J.Hilton, and P. Catellani (Eds.) , The Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking, London, Routledge, 2005, [Walsh, C.R. and Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2005
  • Resolving contradictions in, editor(s)Girotto, V. and Johnson-Laird, P.N. , The shape of reason: essays in honour of Paolo Legrenzi, Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005, [Byrne, R.M.J. and Walsh, C.R.]Book Chapter, 2005
  • 'If only counterfactuals and the exceptionality effect' in, N.A. Taatgen & H. van Rijn , Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX , Erlbaum, 2009, pp2860 - 2865, [Dixon, J. & Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2009, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Walsh, C.R. & Byrne, R.M.J., The effects of reasons for acting on counterfactual thinking, Thinking and Reasoning, 13, 2007, p461 - 483Journal Article, 2007
  • Byrne, R.M.J. & Johnson-Laird, P.N. , Models Redux: Response to Evans and Over, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14, 2010, p6 - 6Journal Article, 2010, DOI
  • Pighin, S, Byrne, R.M.J., Ferrante, D., Gonzalez, M. & Girotto, V. , Counterfactual thoughts about experienced, observed, and narrated events., Thinking and reasoning , 17, (2), 2011, p197 - 211Journal Article, 2011
  • Dixon, J. & Byrne, R.M.J., Counterfactual thinking about exceptional actions, Memory & Cognition, 39, (7), 2011, p1317 - 1331Journal Article, 2011
  • 'Counterfactual and causal thoughts about exceptional events' in, Hoerl, C., McCormack, T., & Beck, S.R. , Understanding counterfactuals and causality, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp208 - 229, [Byrne, R.M.J. ]Book Chapter, 2011
  • Egan, S. & Byrne, R.M.J., Inferences from counterfactual inducements, Experimental Psychology, 59, (4), 2012, 227 - 235Journal Article, 2012
  • Espino, O. & Byrne, R.M.J., It is not the case that if you understand a conditional you know how to negate it, Journal of Cognitive Psychology , 24, (3), 2012, p329 - 334Journal Article, 2012
  • Johnson-Laird, P.N., Lotstein, M., & Byrne, R.M.J., The consistency of disjunctive assertions, Memory & Cognition, 40, 2012, p769 - 778Journal Article, 2012
  • Frosch, C. & Byrne, R.M.J., Causal conditionals and counterfactuals, Acta Psychologica, 141 , (1 ), 2012, p54 - 66Journal Article, 2012
  • Pereda, A., Garavan, H., & Byrne, R.M.J., Switching attention incurs a cost for counterfactual conditional inferences, Irish Journal of Psychology, 33, (2-3), 2012, p72 - 77Journal Article, 2012
  • Murray, M.A. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Cognitive Change in Insight Problem-Solving: Initial Model Errors and Counterexamples., Journal of Cognitive Psychology. , 25, (2 ), 2013, p210 - 219Journal Article, 2013
  • Counterfactual reasoning in, editor(s)D.S. Dunn , Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology, New York, Oxford University Press, 2013, pponline - [Byrne, R.M.J. ]Book Chapter, 2013
  • The development of the rational imagination. in, editor(s)Barouillet, P. & Gauffroy, C. , The Development of Thinking., Hove UK, Psychology Press, 2013, pp34 - 48, [Meehan, J. & Byrne, R.M.J. ]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Intentionality and choice. in, editor(s)M. Knauff, M., Pauen, N., Sebanz, & I. Wachsmuth , Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society., Austin TX, Cognitive Science Society., 2013, pp1970 - 1975, [Ndubuisi, B. & Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Espino, O., & Byrne, R. M. J., The compatibility heuristic in non-categorical hypothetical reasoning: Inferences between conditionals and disjunctions. , Cognitive Psychology., 67, (3), 2013, p98 - 129Journal Article, 2013
  • Irish Journal of Psychology Special Issue: Celebrating fifty years of psychology at Trinity College Dublin, 33, 2-3, (2012), 1 - 156p, Byrne, R.M.J., Carson, R., & Hannigan, B., [eds.]Journal, 2012
  • Mental models. in, editor(s)R. Scott & S. Kosslyn , Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. , New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons., 2015, pp1 - 13, [Byrne, R.M.J.]Book Chapter, 2015
  • Gubbins, E., & Byrne, R. M.J., Dual processes of emotion and reason in judgments about moral dilemmas. , Thinking & Reasoning., 20, (2), 2014, p245 - 268Journal Article, 2014
  • Juhos, C., Quelhas, A.C. & Byrne, R.M.J. , Reasoning about intentions: Counterexamples to reasons for actions. , Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition. , 41, (1), 2015, p55 - 76Journal Article, 2015

Research Expertise

Psychology and cognitive sciences,