[1] His work showed how analogy can be used to enhance learning of new abstract concepts by both children and adults,[2] as well as how reasoning breaks down in cases of brain damage.

He has published four collections of his own poems, My Minotaur, Foreigner, The Gospel According to Judas, and Oracle Bones, as well as a collection of translations of classical Chinese poetry by Li Bai and Du Fu, Facing the Moon.

Holyoak was born in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, in 1950.

Holyoak is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In 2022 the SEP awarded him the Howard Crosby Warren Medal.