Mind, Body, World- Foundations of Cognitive Science, 2013a

4
Elements of Connectionist Cognitive Science
4.0 Chapter Overview
The previous chapter introduced the elements of classical cognitive science, the
school of thought that dominated cognitive science when it arose in the 1950s
and which still dominates the discipline today. However, as cognitive science has
matured, some researchers have questioned the classical approach. The reason for
this is that in the 1950s, the only plausible definition of information processing was
that provided by a relatively new invention, the electronic digital computer. Since
the 1950s, alternative notions of information processing have arisen, and these new
notions have formed the basis for alternative approaches to cognition.
The purpose of the current chapter is to present the core elements of one of
these alternatives, connectionist cognitive science. The chapter begins with several
sections (4.1 through 4.4) in which are described the core properties of connectionism
and of the artificial neural networks that connectionists use to model cognitive
phenomena. These elements are presented as a reaction against the foundational
assumptions of classical cognitive science. Many of these elements are inspired by
issues related to the implementational level of investigation. That is, connectionists
aim to develop biologically plausible or neuronally inspired models of information
processing.
The chapter then proceeds with an examination of connectionism at the remaining
three levels of investigation. The computational level of analysis is the focus of
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