Cognitive Science 170
Natural and Artificial Symbol-Using Systems
Name: _________________________
SHORT PAPER #1:
Questions: (3-6 pages). Choose 1 or 2! Indicate at beginning of paper
which question you have chosen! Hand in a printout on real paper.
If you want to also send me electronic text, send bare ASCII, RTF, PDF,
or PostScript (no HTML or MSWord!).
- 1. Fodor and Pylyshyn argue that current network models are
indadequate to explain certain aspects of human cognition. Summarize
and evaluate one or two of their main arguments.
- 2. Turing's original idea of computation was automated
conscious calculation by a human. As higher level computer
languages and compilers were developed, the connection between
the underlying machine language and the constructs of higher
level languages grew more distant. Many people (e.g., Allen
Newell) have argued that this separation between lower level
hardware and upper level cognitive architecture is crucial
to understanding human cognition (e.g., you can run the same
program on different kinds of hardware). Evaluate this idea.
In both cases, you can argue either side of the issue. I won't
penalize you for taking either side (or arguing for something in
between). However, you must cite a few examples of both
connectionist and more traditional artificial intelligence models (like
the ones presented in class but not limited to them) to support your
arguments. A few good examples will make your task easier--and it will
make your paper easier to read than the one by Fodor and Pylyshyn. It
is almost always a good idea to start each paragraph with a topic
sentence.
due beginning of class Mon, 4/21/03