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Cognitive Processing
Erschienen in: Cognitive Processing 1/2009

01.02.2009 | Research Report

The role of representation in computation

verfasst von: Gerard O’Brien, Jon Opie

Erschienen in: Cognitive Processing | Ausgabe 1/2009

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Abstract

Reformers urge that representation no longer earns its explanatory keep in cognitive science, and that it is time to discard this troublesome concept. In contrast, we hold that without representation cognitive science is utterly bereft of tools for explaining natural intelligence. In order to defend the latter position, we focus on the explanatory role of representation in computation. We examine how the methods of digital and analog computation are used to model a relatively simple target system, and show that representation plays an in-eliminable explanatory role in both cases. We conclude that, to the extent that biologic systems engage in computation, representation is destined to play an explanatory role in cognitive science.
Vorheriger Artikel Special Corner: representational content and cognitive abilities
Nächster Artikel Functional role theories of representation and content explanation: with a case study from spatial cognition

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Fußnoten
1
See, e.g., Cummins and Schwarz (1991, p. 64); Dietrich (1989); Fodor (1975, p. 27); O’Brien and Opie (2006); and Von Eckardt (1993), pp. 97–116.
 
2
This is the basis of the “robot reply” to Searle’s famous Chinese room argument (Searle 1980).
 
3
See, for example, Bickhard (2003); O’Brien and Opie (2004).
 
4
See, e.g., Beer (1995); Brooks (1991); Clark (1997a, b); Keijzer (2001, 2002); Port and Van Gelder (1995); Van Gelder (1995); Wallace et al. (2007); Wheeler (2005).
 
5
For a derivation see e.g. Kibble and Berkshire (2004), Chap. 2. For simplicity we ignore the effect of gravity, which does not alter the sinusoidal character of the block’s motion.
 
6
Numerical methods are important because for a great many systems there is no analytic solution to the relevant equation(s) of motion.
 
7
In the case of a general purpose digital computer “builds” means programs, but it is in principle possible to construct a special purpose device that is hardwired to perform complex formal operations directly, rather than by sequencing a set of generic primitives.
 
8
If you are not convinced on this point, consider how arithmetic works. The meaning of a numeral such as “21” is not intrinsic to this physical object, but entirely conventional. What guarantees that a calculation taking, say, “21 + 32” as input will produce “53” as output is the structure of the arithmetic rules applied by a competent human computer. These rules are purpose-built to produce numerically coherent results in light of the conventional interpretation of Arabic numerals.
 
9
Churchland et al. (1993) do suggest that the mapping between physical variables and algorithm should be “appropriate (revealing)” but these modifiers don’t appear to do any real work in their account. Subsequent formulations of the idea, e.g. Chalmers (1994), have not improved the situation.
 
10
For further discussion see O’Brien and Opie (2006). We there suggest an alternative characterization of computation that avoids this criticism.
 
11
A mechanical calculator capable of performing addition and subtraction. It was designed by Blaise Pascal to reduce the workload of his father, a tax commissioner.
 
12
The relationship is arbitrary in the sense that whether or not one can identify a physical analogy between a system of symbols and their represented objects, no such analogy governs the computational processes defined over those symbols.
 
13
See Lewis (1971) for some further examples of discrete analog representation.
 
14
See Bartels (2006) for a nice defense of the view that homomorphism is the basis of representation.
 
15
Lest this example seems a bit contrived, it is worth noting that circuits of this kind (albeit somewhat more complex) were used in the 1940s to simulate missile trajectories in order to predict and correct their flight.
 
16
More generally, the generative aspect of computation is simply the capacity to produce representing vehicles of some kind. This capacity may involve transformations of other representations, but it need not. For example, both analog and digital systems can incorporate transducers, devices that take external signals, say, light waves, and convert them into primary representations.
 
17
We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers of this journal for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
 
Literatur
Bartels A (2006) Defending the structural concept of representation. Theoria 21:7–20
Churchland PS, Koch C, Sejnowski T (1993) What is computational neuroscience? In: Schwartz E (ed) Computational neuroscience. MIT Press, Cambridge
Clark A (1997b) Being there: putting brain body and world together again. MIT Press, Cambridge
Cummins R, Schwarz G (1991) Connectionism, computation and cognition. In: Horgan T, Tienson J (eds) Connectionism and the philosophy of mind. Kluwer, Dordrecht
Fodor JA (1975) The language of thought. Harvester Press, Sussex
Jackson AS (1960) Analog computation. McGraw-Hill, New York
Keijzer F (2001) Representation and behavior. MIT Press, Cambridge
Kibble TWB, Berkshire FH (2004) Classical mechanics, 5th edn. Imperial College Press, London
O’Brien G, Opie J (2004) Notes towards a structuralist theory of mental representation. In: Clapin H, Staines P, Slezak P (eds) Representation in mind: new approaches to mental representation. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Port R, Van Gelder TJ (1995) Mind as motion: explorations in the dynamics of cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge
Searle JR (1980) Minds, brains, and programs. Behav Brain Sci 3:417–457CrossRef
Smith GW, Wood RC (1959) Principles of analog computation. McGraw-Hill, New York
Soroka W (1954) Analog methods in computation and simulation. McGraw-Hill, New York
Stich S (1983) From folk psychology to cognitive science: the case against belief. MIT Press, Cambridge
Truitt TD, Rogers AE (1960) Basics of analog computers. John F. Rider, New York
Von Eckardt B (1993) What is cognitive science?. MIT Press, Cambridge
Wallace B, Ross A, Davies J, Anderson T (eds) (2007) The mind, the body and the world. Psychology after cognitivism? Imprint Academic, Exeter
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Metadaten
Titel
The role of representation in computation
verfasst von
Gerard O’Brien
Jon Opie
Publikationsdatum
01.02.2009
Verlag
Springer-Verlag
Erschienen in
Cognitive Processing / Ausgabe 1/2009
Print ISSN: 1612-4782
Elektronische ISSN: 1612-4790
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-008-0227-x

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