This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. One of the most, if not the most, exciting developments within cognitive science has been the emergence of connectionism as an alternative to the computational conception of the mind that tends to dominate the discipline. In this volume, John Tienson and Terence Horgan have brought together a fine collection of stimulating studies on connectionism and its significance. As the Introduction explains, the most pressing questions concern whether or not connectionism can provide a new conception of the nature of mentality. By focusing on the similarities and differences between connectionism and other approaches to cognitive science, the chapters of this book supply valuable resources that advance our understanding of these difficult issues. J.H.F.

The rapid growth of neural network research has led to a major reappraisal of many fundamental assumptions in cognitive and perceptual psychology. This text—aimed at the advanced undergraduate and beginning postgraduate student—is an in-depth guide to those aspects of neural network research that are of direct relevance to human information processing. Examples of new connectionist models of learning, vision, language and thought are described in detail. Both neurological and psychological considerations are used in assessing its theoretical contributions. The status of the basic predicates like exclusive-OR is examined, the limitations of perceptrons are explained and properties of multi-layer networks are described in terms of many examples of psychological processes. The history of neural networks is discussed from a psychological perspective which examines why certain issues have become important. The book ends with a general critique of the new connectionist approach. It is clear that new connectionism work provides a distinctive framework for thinking about central questions in cognition and perception. This new textbook provides a clear and useful introduction to its theories and applications.

In this volume, the authors present their view of cognition. They propose that unlike the classical paradigm that takes the mind to be a computer, the mind is best understood as a dynamical system realized in a neural network.

The rapid growth of neural network research has led to a major reappraisal of many fundamental assumptions in cognitive and perceptual psychology. This text—aimed at the advanced undergraduate and beginning postgraduate student—is an in-depth guide to those aspects of neural network research that are of direct relevance to human information processing. Examples of new connectionist models of learning, vision, language and thought are described in detail. Both neurological and psychological considerations are used in assessing its theoretical contributions. The status of the basic predicates like exclusive-OR is examined, the limitations of perceptrons are explained and properties of multi-layer networks are described in terms of many examples of psychological processes. The history of neural networks is discussed from a psychological perspective which examines why certain issues have become important. The book ends with a general critique of the new connectionist approach. It is clear that new connectionism work provides a distinctive framework for thinking about central questions in cognition and perception. This new textbook provides a clear and useful introduction to its theories and applications.

This textbook provides an introduction and review of connectionist models applied to psychological topics. Chapters include basic reviews of connectionist models, their properties and their attributes. The application of these models to the domains of perception, memory, attention, word processing, higher language processing, and cognitive neuropsychology is then reviewed.

A cutting-edge reference source for the interdisciplinary field of computational cognitive modeling.

Bringing together contributions in biology, neuroscience, computer science, physics, and psychology, this book offers a solid tutorial on current research activity in connectionist-inspired biology-based modeling. It describes specific experimental approaches and also confronts general issues related to learning associative memory, and sensorimotor development. Introductory chapters by editors Hanson and Olson, along with Terrence Sejnowski, Christof Koch, and Patricia S. Churchland, provide an overview of computational neuroscience, establish the distinction between "realistic" brain models and "simplified" brain models, provide specific examples of each, and explain why each approach might be appropriate in a given context. The remaining chapters are organized so that material on the anatomy and physiology of a specific part of the brain precedes the presentation of modeling studies. The modeling itself ranges from simplified models to more realistic models and provides examples of constraints arising from known brain detail as well as choices modelers face when including or excluding such constraints. There are three sections, each focused on a key area where biology and models have converged. Stephen Jose Hanson is Member of Technical Staff, Bellcore, and Visiting Faculty, Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University. Carl R. Olson is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology at Princeton Connectionist Modeling and Brain Functionis included in the Network Modeling and Connectionism series, edited by Jeffrey Elman.