?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Some+remarks+about+connectionism+in+psychological+simulation&rft.creator=Greco%2C+Alberto&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.description=This+paper+considers+the+question+of+whether+the+connectionist+approach+is+an+appropriate+paradigm+for+the+construction+of+simulation+models+of+psychological+processes.+The+strongest+connectionist+claim+is+that+psychological+properties+simply+emerge+from+interactions+among+the+units+of+a+network%3B+meaningful+features+are+distributed+in+these+units%2C+which+therefore+are+not+representions+of+anything.+The+problem+is+then%3A+how+such+a+system+can+describe+a+psychological+system+and+be+relevant+to+explain+it+%3F+It+is+suggested+that+the+psychological+relevance+of+connectionist+descriptions+should+not+be+rejected+on+the+grounds+that+they+are+limited+to+a+hardware-like+or+implementational+level.+Connectionist+descriptions+would+be+best+considered+as+different+scientific+%26quot%3Bobjects%26quot%3B%2C+constructed+from+the+same+prescientific+%26quot%3Bfacts%26quot%3B.+As+different+objects+they+need+not+be+at+different+levels+of+generality+or+abstraction+and+the+translation+of+one+representation+into+another+is+unnecessary.%3CBR%3E+%26nbsp%3B%26nbsp%3B%26nbsp%3BAs+to+the+explanatory+power+of+connectionist+models%2C+it+is+claimed+that+it+cannot+come+from+the+interaction+among+units%2C+if+this+interaction+is+invoked+at+the+same+time+to+give+the+model+a+psychological+nature.+Neither+can+the+explanatory+power+come+from+the+fact+that+connectionist+models+produce+phenomena+similar+to+human+psychological+processes%2C+since+this+similarity+should+refer+explicitly+to+features+that+have+already+been+accepted+independently+as+psychological.+The+claim+that+connectionist+analysis+is+psychologically+relevant+at+a+subsymbolic+level+is+eventually+considered.+There+is+a+possible+confusion+in+this+claim%3A+sub-symbolic+models+may+be+non-symbolic+as+to+their+object+but+they+must+be+symbolic+as+models.+A+non-symbolic+model+simply+would+not+be+a+model%2C+since+-+by+definition+-+it+must+represent+something.+Sub-symbolic+models%2C+however%2C+may+be+non-symbolic+in+the+sense+that+there+are+no+symbols+in+the+modelled+reality.+In+this+regard%2C+connectionist+systems+seem+to+help+in+overcoming+the+idea+-+encouraged+by+current+AI+and+Cognitive+Science+-+that+any+psychological+process+should+be+considered+as+made+out+of+symbols.&rft.date=1990&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F649%2F1%2Fcogsy90.htm&rft.identifier=++Greco%2C+Alberto++(1990)+Some+remarks+about+connectionism+in+psychological+simulation.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F649%2F