Reasoning patterns and innovation management in a neuro-embryology laboratory

An ethnographic case study of a group of neuro-embryologists is described. We focused on the study of uncertainty management and innovation in the reasoning of those experts, tackling a complex, “ill-structured” problem. The problematics of uncertainty become a tool for investigating the dynamics of distributed reasoning in a natural setting. During the research task, the sequence of predefined methods, which constitute the loosely planned portion of the subjects' cognitive process, is studied: it emerges that the contextual contingencies gave rise to unforeseen strategies. The field study of “thought in action” requires examining the process of problem-generation as well as problem-solving.