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Constructional Tools as the Origin of Cognitive Capacities

Josephson, Brian D. (2000) Constructional Tools as the Origin of Cognitive Capacities. [Conference Paper] (In Press)

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Abstract

It is argued that cognitive capacities can be understood as the outcome of the collective action of a set of agents created by tools that explore possible behaviours and train the agents to behave in such appropriate ways as may be discovered. The coherence of the whole system is assured by a combination of vetting the performance of new agents and dealing appropriately with any faults that the whole system may develop. This picture is shown to account for a range of cognitive capacities, including language.

Item Type:Conference Paper
Keywords:development, cognition, learning, agents, neural networks, modules, tools, paradigms, domain specificity, issue resolution, language.
Subjects:Psychology > Developmental Psychology
ID Code:983
Deposited By: Josephson, Prof. Brian D.
Deposited On:12 Oct 2000
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:54

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References in Article

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Elman, J.L. et al. (1997); Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development, MIT.

Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1992); Beyond Modularity: a Developmental Perspective on Cognitive Science, MIT.

Minsky, M. (1987); The Society of Mind; Heinemann.

Pinker, S. (1994); The Language Instinct: the New Science of Language; Penguin.

Quartz, S.R. and Sejnowski, T.J. (1997); The neural basis of cognitive development: A constructivist manifesto; Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 20 (4): pp. 537+.

Winograd, T. (1972); Understanding Natural Language; Edinburgh.

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