Rethinking Cognitive Computation
Turing and the Science of the Mind
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Beschreibung
Rethinking Cognitive Computation explores the hypothesis that the mind is a computer. The exploration is based on the pioneering work of Alan Turing and presents the first detailed exposition of his theory of computation intended specifically for psychologists. Turing's bold and beautiful theory provides an ideal perspective from which to evaluate current computational thinking about the mind. The book examines the strengths and weaknesses of symbol systems and connectionist theorising and proposes a new approach called ecological functionalism. Ecological functionalism is based on Turing's fundamental insights and extends them by drawing on contemporary theories of concurrent and distributed computation to cover a wide range of psychological domains. Ecological functionalism provides the basis for a powerful, unified theory of great scope which includes social as well as individual processes. The book is intended for teaching but will also be of interest to researchers in cognitive science, psychology and philosophy of mind.
Andrew Wells is a lecturer in psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has qualifications in philosophy, psychology and computer science and has published papers on a range of psychological topics.
Rethinking Cognitive Computation has three principal objectives: to provide a detailed understanding of the computational foundations of cognitive science; to make a critical evaluation of the symbol processing and connectionist approaches which constitute the current mainstream; and to offer a new computational framework for cognitive science. As such, it provides a valuable introduction to foundation issues of computation and theory of mind for advanced level students.
Interest in Turing at a high following the fiftieth anniversary of his death in 00
The most detailed account of Turing's universal machine available in the psychological literature
Critically evaluates the two leading computational theories of the mind: symbol systems and connectionist theorizing
Presents a new theory of cognitive computation called ecological functionalism
Autor*in
Andy Wells
Themen in »Rethinking Cognitive Computation«
cognitive science Connectionism mind