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An Invitation to Cognitive Science provides a point of entry into the vast realm of cognitive science by treating in depth examples of issues and theories from many subfields. The first three volumes of the series cover Language, Visual Cognition, and Thinking.Volume 4, Methods, Models, and Conceptual Issues, expands the series in new directions. The chapters span many areas of cognitive science--including artificial intelligence, neural network models, animal cognition, signal detection theory, computational models, reaction-time methods, and cognitive neuroscience. The volume also offers introductions to several general methods and theoretical approaches for analyzing the mind, and shows how some of these approaches are applied in the development of quantitative models.Rather than general and inevitably superficial surveys of areas, the contributors present "case studies"--detailed accounts of one or two achievements within an area. The goal is to tell a good story, challenging the reader to embark on an intellectual adventure.Daniel N. Osherson, general editor ... Read more

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Historians bound by their singular stories and archaeologists bound by their material evidence donOt typically seek out broad comparative theories of religion. But recently Harvey WhitehouseOs Omodes of religiosityO theory has been attracting many scholars of past religions. Based upon universal features of human cognition, WhitehouseOs theory can provide useful comparisons across cultures and historical periods even when limited cultural data is present. In this groundbreaking volume, scholars of cultures from prehistorical hunter-gatherers to 19th century Scandinavian Lutherans evaluate WhitehouseOs hypothesis that all religions tend toward either an imagistic or a doctrinal mode depending on how they are remembered and transmitted. Theorizing Religions Past provides valuable insights for all historians of religion and especially for those interested in a new cognitive method for studying the past. ... Read more

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The field of cognitive modeling has progressed beyond modeling cognition in the context of simple laboratory tasks and begun to attack the problem of modeling it in more complex, realistic environments, such as those studied by researchers in the field of human factors. The problems that the cognitive modeling community is tackling focus on modeling certain problems of communication and control that arise when integrating with the external environment factors such as implicit and explicit knowledge, emotion, cognition, and the cognitive system. These problems must be solved in order to produce integrated cognitive models of moderately complex tasks. Architectures of cognition in these tasks focus on the control of a central system, which includes control of the central processor itself, initiation of functional processes, such as visual search and memory retrieval, and harvesting the results of these functional processes. Because the control of the central system is conceptually different from the internal control required by individual functional processes, a complete architecture of cognition must incorporate two types of theories of control: Type 1 theories of the structure, functionality, and operation of the controller, and type 2 theories of the internal control of functional processes, including how and what they communicate to the controller. This book presents the current state of the art for both types of theories, as well as contrasts among current approaches to human-performance models. It will be an important resource for professional and student researchers in cognitive science, cognitive-engineering, and human-factors.

Contributors: Kevin A. Gluck, Jerry T. Ball, Michael A. Krusmark, Richard W. Pew, Chris R. Sims, Vladislav D. Veksler, John R. Anderson, Ron Sun, Nicholas L. Cassimatis, Randy J. Brou, Andrew D. Egerton, Stephanie M. Doane, Christopher W. Myers, Hansjörg Neth, Jeremy M Wolfe, Marc Pomplun, Ronald A. Rensink, Hansjörg Neth, Chris R. Sims, Peter M. Todd, Lael J. Schooler, Wai-Tat Fu, Michael C. Mozer, Sachiko Kinoshita, Michael Shettel, Alex Kirlik, Vladislav D. Veksler, Michael J. Schoelles, Jerome R. Busemeyer, Eric Dimperio, Ryan K. Jessup, Jonathan Gratch, Stacy Marsella, Glenn Gunzelmann, Kevin A. Gluck, Scott Price, Hans P. A. Van Dongen, David F. Dinges, Frank E. Ritter, Andrew L. Reifers, Laura Cousino Klein, Michael J. Schoelles, Eva Hudlicka, Hansjörg Neth, Christopher W. Myers, Dana Ballard, Nathan Sprague, Laurence T. Maloney, Julia Trommershäuser, Michael S. Landy, A. Hornof, Michael J. Schoelles, David Kieras, Dario D. Salvucci, Niels Taatgen, Erik M. Altmann, Richard A. Carlson, Andrew Howes, Richard L. Lewis, Alonso Vera, Richard P. Cooper, and Michael D. Byrne ... Read more

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SEE SHORT BLURB FOR ALTERNATE COPY... A complex, intriguing, and important verbal entity, the proverb has been the subject of a vast number of opinions, studies, and analyses. To accommodate the assorted possible audiences, this volume outlines seven views of the proverb -- personal, formal, religious, literary, practical, cultural, and cognitive. Because the author's goal is to provide a scientific understanding of proverb comprehension and production, he draws largely on scholarship stemming from the formal, cultural, and cognitive views.

The only book about proverbs that is written from the standpoint of cognitive science, cognitive psychology, and experimentalism, this text provides a larger, more interdisciplinary perspective on the proverb. It also gives a theoretically more integrated approach to proverb cognition. The conceptual base theory of proverb comprehension is extended via the "cognitive ideals hypothesis" so that the theory now addresses issues regarding the creation, production, and pragmatics of proverbs. This hypothesis also has strong implications for a taxonomy of proverbs, proverb comprehension, universal vs. culture-specific aspects of proverbs, and some structural aspects of proverbs.

In general, the book extends the challenge of proverb cognition by using much of what cognitive science has to offer. In so doing, the proverb is compared to other forms of figurative language, which is then discussed within the larger rubric of intelligence and the inclination for using indirect modes of communication. Child developmental and brain substrates are also discussed.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Nearly the best paremiology I have ever met
I am ultimately pleased and honoured by the chance to be the very first reviewer of "A Proverb in Mind" by Professor Richard P. Honeck at Amazon, and ultimately surprised to be its very first reviewer in the year2000 as the book was published already in 1997 and as it is, to my mind,one of the best books ever written about proverbs, a kind of quintessenceof the author's earlier works on proverbs. The language Honeck uses in hisbook is "clear and simple as the truth" and its thematic scope isexhaustively wide, embracing tropes, structure, communicative and socialcontext of proverbs, as well as their cognitive, psychological and otheraspects. The book is in its essence and approach definitely cognitivistic,but Honeck dares to deflect the generally accepted cognitivist orthodoxywherever he regards it reasonable. The cited material covers a wideselection of works from various disciplines, and what is especially amusingfor me as a paremiologist - Honeck does not neglect or ignore the"usual" paremiology, as American cognitivists generally do, andcites calmly not only Wolfgang Mieder, but also B.J. Whiting, Matti Kuusi,Grigori Permjakov, Peter Grzybek, and what is particularly noteworthy, evenme :-)

I think "A Proverb in Mind" is a creatively stimulatingopus for both paremiologists and cognitivists, a magnificent schoolbook foruniversity students, and an excellent deep, but understandable reading forwhoever interested in proverbs. ... Read more

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I-Language introduces the uninitiated to linguistics as cognitive science. In an engaging, down-to-earth style Daniela Isac and Charles Reiss give a crystal-clear demonstration of the application of the scientific method in linguistic theory. Their presentation of the research programme inspired and led by Noam Chomsky shows how the focus of theory and research in linguistics shifted from treating language as a disembodied, human-external entity to cognitive biolinguistics - the study of language as a human cognitive system embedded within the mind/brain of each individual. The recurring theme of equivalence classes in linguistic computation ties together the presentation of material from phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The same theme is used to help students understand the place of linguistics in the broader context of the cognitive sciences, by drawing on examples from vision, audition, and even animal cognition.

This textbook is unique in its integration of empirical issues of linguistic analysis, engagement with philosophical questions that arise in the study of language, and treatment of the history of the field. Topics ranging from allophony to reduplication, ergativity, and negative polarity are invoked to show the implications of findings in cognitive biolinguistics for philosophical issues like reference, the mind-body problem, and nature-nurture debates.

This textbook contains numerous exercises and guides for further reading as well as ideas for student projects. A companion website with guidance for instructors and answers to the exercises features a series of pdf slide presentations to accompany the teaching of each topic. ... Read more

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"Thagard has written an engaging introduction to cognitive science,which will appeal to students with a wide range of backgrounds.Mind highlights both the core ideas about mental representationthat guide the field, and the intellectual challenges that fuel currentdebates." -- Keith J. Holyoak, Professor of Psychology, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind andintelligence, embracing psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence,neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. Paul Thagard's accessible,concise, and integrated text presupposes no special preparation in anyof these fields. Thagard systematically describes and evaluates the maincomputational theories of mental representation that have been advocatedby cognitive scientists, including logic, rules, concepts, analogies,images, and connections (neural networks). He considers the majorchallenges to the computational-representational view of mind anddiscusses emotions, consciousness, physical and social environments,dynamical systems, and mathematical knowledge. Teaching cognitivescience is difficult, Thagard observes, because students come to thismultidisciplinary subject with widely different competencies,backgrounds, and interests. Mind solves this dilemma by making logiccomprehensible to psychology students, computer algorithmscomprehensible to English students, and philosophical controversiescomprehensible to computer science students. Each chapter concludes withhelpful summaries, discussion questions, and suggestions for furtherreading. Mind is ideal for introductory courses on CognitiveScience, and is also useful as a supplement to courses on cognitivepsychology, educational psychology, philosophy of mind, and artificialintelligence.

Contents

A Bradford Book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Fine Map of Cognitive Science
"Cognitive Science" is a slippery notion, which may be intrinsic to any endeavor (oops, Thagard's Canadian; make that "endeavour") that emerges from many different fields. But Thagard makes an honorable and largely successful stab at giving it some boundaries and some internal structure. If you're intrigued by the idea of mind science and just want a general idea of what the issues, approaches and shortcomings of its current state are, then this book (written for an introductory, probably undergraduate, course) is a fine place to start. ... Read more

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Unmatched in the quality of its world-renowned contributors, this multidisciplinary Companion serves as both a course text and a reference book across the broad spectrum of issues of concern to cognitive science. Cognitive science is one of the most exciting intellectual and scientific developments of the second half of the 20th century, integrating insights from psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, philosophy, and other disciplines in an attempt to understand human cognition. It is also a rapidly transforming domain of inquiry. This Companion presents everything one needs to know about cognitive science, what it has accomplished, and where it will be going at the start of the 21st century. Beginning with an introduction that maps the narrative history of cognitive science as a whole, the volume goes on to present sixty newly-commissioned essays that together provide an unparalleled survey of all the topical areas, major methods, and stances. There are explanatory overviews of key controversies, detailed discussions of the application of work in cognitive sciences to the real world, and anticipations of future developments. A Companion to Cognitive Science can be seen as the ultimate resource guide to this fast-moving field of study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

For the postgraduate
I do agree with Nessander that it is pretty inaccessible for most laymen. However, I do like the concise but still fairly substantial papers in the rest of the companion, since I do know aspects of the field (cognitive science) well.

The book will mostly serve academics, or students at the postgraduate level who require a thorough introduction to specialised areas of cognitive science, but do not have the time to follow up on the literature. I presume that people who read it would have already had at least an undergraduate background in one of the fields covered (AI, psychology, economics etc.)

So while its audience base is limited, it still nonetheless serve a useful purpose to some readers like myself. It makes related topics accessible, without reducing it (the level of discussion that is) to the popular science level of discussion like articles in Scientific American etc. Also, it is not meant to be read from cover to cover.

A Massive Book on a Massive Subject
Cognitive Science is a large and relatively new field. Its subject is how the mind works, using the tools and methods of science. In its early days in the 50's and 60's it dealt primarily with discussions of artificial intelligence, and could safely said to have concerned itself with a host of issues that today seem rather boring and out-of-date. Yet in the past two decades it has experienced a flourishing, brought to the foreground especially by the writings of popular figures such as Steven Pinker of MIT on language and others on neural networks.

This volume is massive, but it has to cover a lot of ground, since cognitive science is now an interdisciplinary field with a vast array of topics. The volume starts with an introduction and historical overview of cognitive science, which takes up 100 pages. This is an interesting introduction.

Unfortunately the remaining portion of this large volume is unsuited for the beginner. The various areas of cognitive science are treated, each in a separate article. This includes AI, neuroscience, language models, and so on, each in a rather short piece (sometimes 7-8 pages) written by an expert on that subject (including figures such as Terrence Deacon, of 'The Symbolic Species', who has an article consisting mainly of rather perplexing diagrams).

The vast range of subjects and the articles' short length does not make for the best combination. What suffers is readability and usability. It is hard to imagine what purpose exactly this volume could serve. The uninitiated will find it almost impossible to jump into - for it is certainly not an introduction, and the articles presume a decent background in the subject matter - whereas the serious student of cognitive science will almost certainly want more meat to chew on in order to get the theories and findings of the respective scientists and fields presented. All this is complicated by the fact that these theories are for the most part very recent and constantly undergoing change, which means that this book could be out of date very shortly (although the earlier, more historical sections on AI and the early days of cognitive science will remain interesting).

In summary: an ambitious work, attractively laid out, but not terribly useful for most, I would imagine. ... Read more

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"This is a monumental work, covering a wide range of topics, bothclassical findings and recent approaches on the frontiers of research."-- Anne Treisman, Princeton University

This book revolutionizes how vision can be taught to undergraduate andgraduate students in cognitive science, psychology, and optometry. It isthe first comprehensive textbook on vision to reflect the integratedcomputational approach of modern research scientists. This newinterdisciplinary approach, called "vision science," integratespsychological, computational, and neuroscientific perspectives.

The book covers all major topics related to vision, from early neuralprocessing of image structure in the retina to high-level visualattention, memory, imagery, and awareness. The presentation throughoutis theoretically sophisticated yet requires minimal knowledge ofmathematics. There is also an extensive glossary, as well as appendiceson psychophysical methods, connectionist modeling, and color technology.The book will serve not only as a comprehensive textbook on vision, butalso as a valuable reference for researchers in cognitive science,psychology, neuroscience, computer science, optometry, and philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Physics to Phenomenology
Palmer has written an outstanding book for the technically trained reader, even if that reader has a casual interest in understanding the emergence of of human cognition from the physics of vision, to the function of sight.
Absent from the book is a cogent presentation of aesthetics of seeing.For that the interested reader should see John Gage's Color and Meaning.

Psychology & Neurophysiology of Vision Science
Stephen Palmer has written a marvelous book. Its well organized and written.It is suitable as a reference & text for those beginning and advancing to higher levels in Vision Science. The pictures, diagrams, graphs, charts, photos, and outlines are well placed and explained in the body of the text. Because Dr. Palmer is first a Neuropsychologist, the approach is more geared toward psychological mechanisms & psychophysics. The emphasis is less on Biological Approaches to Visual Function. This & Chalupa's 2 Volume Set should get novice to intermediate scientists going further in Vision Science!

I can't believe it's an one-author book
This book covers neuro, behavioral, computer science, almost everything about vision science, and very organized. at the bottom line, this book can be a good reference for vision science.

A book that's as good as its cover
As an interested academic in a completely unrelated field (chemistry) Palmer's book was only the second cognitive psychology text that I had ever read.It was an "eye opener." There should be awards given to authors who commit themselves and succeed at the task of what Palmer has done here.The book was comprehensive and didn't pull any punches, but was still very readable.The quality of the writing and organization leads me to assume that the man is a gifted teacher as well. The layout, glossary, index, and organization of the text were clearly constructed with the reader in mind.Five star reviews at Amazon.com should be reserved for books of this quality.

A unique text for students and researchers alike.
This is an excellent book! Steve Palmer is perhaps best known for his work on perceptual grouping and perceptual organization. With this text, however, Palmer proves that his interests extend beyond these boundariesinto the domain of perception as a whole. Palmer also demonstrates that hisinterests are not confined by one methodology either. Presenting findingsfrom a number of perspectives is one of the things that excites Palmer themost, and he does it like no other. By making use of relevant research inneuroscience, psychology, computer vision and linguistics, to name a few,Palmer develops a unified text for the emerging domain of "VisionScience", a subfield of the larger interdisciplinary enterprise ofCognitive Science.

Palmer's book differs from other books on visualperception in three major ways. First, Palmer introduces the majortheoretical perspectives to visual perception--inferential, ecological andcomputational-- early in the text and then places empirical findingsthroughout the text in the context of these perspectives. Second, Palmerpresents findings from a number of disciplines in an integrated fashion. Asopposed to having separate sections for neuroscience, computer vision andperceptual development, for example, Palmer presents research from multipledisciplines as it relates to relevant areas of visual perception, such asperceptual organization or object recognition. Third, and perhaps mostimportantly, Palmer resists the temptation to dichotomize. The discussionsof the literature are sophisticated, presenting both the pros and the consof different approaches to phenomena in perception, even venturing topropose novel theoretical syntheses at various points in the book.

Foranyone who is interested in visual perception, neuroscience, computervision, or just Cognitive Science in general, this is a book that you musthave on your book shelf. ... Read more

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Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary series bringing together topics of interest to psychologists, philosophers, cognitive scientists, and linguists.Each volume is based on conferences organized at Simon Fraser University, with chapters added from nonparticipants to ensure balanced and adequate coverage from the topic under study.The fifth volume examines the role of perception in cognitive psychology in light of recent events.Despite the wide scope of the intended topic, however, papers presented at the conference and solicited for this text all focus on fundamental questions about the nature of visual perception, specifically concerning the form and content of visual representations. ... Read more

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Investigators have moved back and forth between design efforts and basic studies in cognition to improve both application and fundamental knowledge. This volume's theme is this interaction between practice and science with the opportunity for reflecting on findings in order to understand them and suggesting improved forms of application and their underlying explanation. This is seen in various arenas including theory-based computer-assisted instruction for teaching mathematics, the design of communities of learning in elementary schools, teaching in the context of problem-solving situations and reasoning with models, self-explanation as a highly effective learning activity, conceptual change in medical training and health education, and workplace training in electronic troubleshooting. The results of extensive long-term experience and analysis in each of these areas are insightfully reported by the well-known contributors to this volume.

Special features of this fifth edition include:
* The work of eminent cognitive scientists in the design and evaluation of educational and training environments to increase current understanding of learning and development, as this understanding is applied to innovative instructional programs and teaching methods.
* A description of learning theory and principles as well as implications and examples on research and development on educational application.
* A presentation on the 10-year change in perspective on research and development in problem solving environments that invite inquiry about academic information and skills in the context of instruction of elementary school children.
* An innovative approach to math and science instruction in which teaching is oriented around constructing, evaluating, and revising models.
* An examination of the process of self-explaining, which involves explaining to one's self in an attempt to make sense of a new situation.
* A description of a long-term program of cognitive task analysis and instructional design on problem solving in the operation of complex equipment.
* An investigation on the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills and the understanding of biomedical concepts in both professional medicine and the health practices of the lay population.
... Read more

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This important work brings together international academics from a variety of disciplines to explore the topic of spatial cognition on a 'geographic' scale.It provides an overview of the historical origins of the subject, a description of current debates and suggests directions for future research. ... Read more

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This volume in the Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science series concerns metarepresentation: the construction and use of representations that represent other representations. Metarepresentations are ubiquitous among human beings, whenever we think or talk about mental states or linguistic acts, or theorize about the mind or language. This volume collects previously unpublished studies on the subject by an interdisciplinary group of contributors, including Daniel Dennett, Alvin Goldman, Keith Lehrer, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby. ... Read more

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'IF' is one of the most important and interesting words in the English language.It is used to express hypothetical thought - an essential part of human reasoning and decision making.This type of thought occurs wherever there is uncertainty, and uncertainty is everywhere in our lives. The use of conditionals such as 'if' also distinguishes human intelligence from that of all other animals, permitting a higher level of rationality in human reasoning and decision making.Until now, such conditionals have been the subject of independent study by psychologists and philosophers.In this volume, Jonathan Evans and David Over present a new theoretical approach to understanding hypothetical thought.The book draws on studies from the psychology of judgement and decision making, as well as philosophical logic. ... Read more

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This new text introduces students to the concepts, methods and findings fundamental to the science of mind.It is the first genuine textbook introduction to cognitive science, and in presenting a comprehensive account of the discipline, it encourages critical thinking by presenting alternative views. Throughout the text students are introduced to case studies and particular points of contention in the field, and also invited to explore issues further through discussion and self-assessment questions.Chapters also include learning objectives, summaries and reading lists.

The textbook grounds theoretical issues by reference to a concrete scenario throughout each chapter: a family conversing over breakfast. The opening chapter discusses the emergence and nature of Cognitive Science and introduces the topics of succeeding chapters in the context of the scenario. The next two chapters describe work at the heart of the discipline: the nature of mental computation and the architecture of the mind. No single text can hope to cover the diversity and breadth of research and so succeeding chapters are exemplars of the discipline. A chapter on how we perceive objects and faces and one on how we speak and perceive speech is followed by a chapter on how we read. In each case the student is led through the computational questions. The following three chapters concern the nature of language and language use. The first focuses on the structure of sentences, the second on meaning and collaborative processes in conversation and the third on the question of how communicative competence develops. How we learn, remember and solve problems is the focus of the next two chapters and a variety of computational approaches are surveyed and considered. How we act in the world on the basis of our knowledge is considered in the final chapters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

a good teaching text
This is a good text for a course.Cognitive Science does have some intellectual unity, though it also includes work from a very large number of disciplines.This book manages to capture both some of the uniqueness of the discipline and its spread.

This book is poorly written and poorly produced. Avoid.
David Green is a lecturer at University College London, where I study. He recommends his textbook - and only his textbook - for his cognitive science undergraduate course. If you're actually being taught by him, then this book may have its advantages - he tends to teach a lot of his lectures straight out of it. If you're studying cognitive psychology in any other context, though, I'd advise that you avoid this book.

It's poorly conceived and shoddily put together, giving only limited coverage of a complex and significant field. Major themes are left out or underdeveloped, and frequently important theoretical standpoints are glossed over without reference to key works. Green tends to put forward only the side of an argument which he agrees with - frequently completely failing to mention the alternatives. This, combined with only minimal guidelines for further reading, make it almost impossible to use this book as a resource guiding further study.

Ironically, considering that one of Green's specialities is in the cognitive processes of language and communication, this book is so badly written as to be almost incomprehensible. The language used is awkward, strung with non sequiturs, and frustratingly littered with unexplained and undefined jargon.
This is aggravated by weak general presentation. The book is entirely black-and-white, with few diagrams, and those that are present tending to be cramped and confused. The attempts to cross-reference material within the text also fails miserably.

The one positive thing I can say about this textbook is that it's relatively cheap. However, it's also of very little use. I'd strongly urge you to consider the alternatives - for example, Eysenck & Keane's 'Cognitive Psychology: a student's handbook' (I've been using the 1995 3rd edition), which covers most of the same information (and quite a lot which Green's book ignores), in much more detail and in a far more readable style. ... Read more

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The startle response (as a result of a sudden, loud noise, for instance) is a reflex that is wired into the brain at a very basic level. Although everybody will exhibit such a reflex, the strength and quickness of the startle response is modified by a subject's underlying psychoneurological state. Therefore, the nature of this modification is now seen as an accurate, objective measure of very deep neurological processes. This book is the first comprehensive volume devoted to startle modification.It offers a unique overview of the methods, measurement, physiology, and psychology of the phenomenon, particularly modification of the human startle eyeblink.Many of the world's leading investigators in the field have made contributions to this volume. Coverage includes elicitation and recording of startle blink; issues in measurement and quantification; the neurophysiological basis of the basic startle response and its modification by attentional and affective processes; psychological processes underlying short and long lead interval modification (including prepulse inhibition); applications of startle modification to the study of psychopathology, including schizophrenia, affective disorders, and psychopathy and developmental processes; and relationships with ERPs and behavioral measures of information processing. ... Read more

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The past decade has witnessed efforts on the part of research, education and policy communities to create a dialogue about the potential relationship between cognitive neuroscience and the science and practice of education. The upsurge of interest in neuroscience in general has given rise to increased attention to the role of the brain in learning.

However, much of the debate has been dominated by extremes. Explorations in Learning and the Brain takes a different stance in the sense that developments within neuroscience are not the starting point but rather uses major questions dominant in educational research, notably instructional systems design and related fields within the educational sciences, as its basis. The book identifies interfaces between neuro-scientific and educational research, and informs on potentially interesting additions to educational research and viable interdisciplinary ventures.

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Computational modeling plays a central role in cognitive science. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to computational models of human cognition. It covers major approaches and architectures, both neural network and symbolic; major theoretical issues; and specific computational models of a variety of cognitive processes, ranging from low-level (e.g., attention and memory) to higher-level (e.g., language and reasoning). The articles included in the book provide original descriptions of developments in the field. The emphasis is on implemented computational models rather than on mathematical or nonformal approaches, and on modeling empirical data from human subjects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An interesting and helpful collection of articles
This book could be considered to be a collection of articles on the `computational theory of mind.' Although the articles are somewhat out of date, due to the advances in neuroscience and cognitive science that have occurred since the time of publication of the book, it does serve as a good motivation for the understanding of more recent developments. I did not read all of the articles in the book, and so my review will be confined to the ones that I did.

The article on ACT in chapter 2 is basically a theory of cognition that is based on recursion. Referring to ACT as a "simple theory of complex cognition", John Anderson, the author of the article, wants to simulate the manner in which humans develop recursive programs. The machine that is to simulate this makes use of `production rules,' in its knowledge base, which the author claims is exhaustive enough to produce complex cognition. To produce true machine intelligence, all one has to do is to tune these production rules and make use of them as needed. As the author describes it, the original ACT theory was based on human associative memory, but the one described in this article is called ACT-R, and can simulate adaptive behavior in the presence of a noisy environment. The author describes various simulations using ACT-R, and concludes that it is sensitive to prior information and to information about what is appropriate response to the situation it finds itself in. The author stresses more than once the simplicity of the ACT-R system: it is able to encode data from the environment as declarative knowledge, encode the changes in the environment as procedural knowledge, and encode the statistics of this knowledge use in the environment.

Another highly interesting article is the one by Alan Prince and Paul Smolensky on the application of optimization theory to linguistics. Called `optimality theory' by the authors in their extensive research on the topic, in the article they discuss the relations between optimality in grammar and optimization in neural networks. The authors discuss with great clarity the role that constraints play in the construction of linguistic structures, and the fact that these constraints typically conflict with each other. This conflict between grammatical constraints must thus be managed by a successful grammatical architecture. Optimality theory asserts that these constraints are universal in the sense that they are present in every language. The connection of optimality theory with neural networks arises when one is interested in finding out if the properties of optimality theory can be explained in terms of fundamental principles of cognition. The computational theory of neural networks the authors believe holds some clues on these properties. In order to make the connection with grammatical issues, as abstract as they are, and because neural networks are highly nonlinear dynamical systems, one must find a way of encapsulating the complicated behavior of neural networks. The authors accomplish this by the use of Lyapunov functions, which for reasons of consistency of terminology they call `harmony functions.' For those neural networks admitting a harmony function, the initial activation pattern flows through the network to construct a pattern of activity that maximizes "harmony." Most interestingly, the harmony function for a neural network performs the same function as does the mechanisms needed for well-formed grammar. The patterns of activation are thus a mathematical analog of the structure of linguistic representations. However, the authors are careful to note that not every weighting scheme for the neural network will give a possible human language. It is here where the constraints play an essential role in limiting the possible linguistic patterns and relations.

The article by Keith Holyoak and Paul Thagard discusses the construction of a correspondence between a source analog and of a target. This is the so-called analogical mapping, which is constructed using a collection of structural, semantic, and pragmatic constraints. In the view of the authors, the concept of analogy can be broken down into four components, namely the selection of a source analog, the actual mapping, an analogical inference (transfer), and the actual learning that takes place. The authors omit discussion of the last component in this article. The finding of the correspondences between the two analogs can result in a combinatorial explosion, and so use is made of appropriate constraints. These constraints consist of those that exemplify structural consistency, those of semantic similarity, and lastly of pragmatic centrality. The theory of analogical mapping that the authors propose is governed by these constraints. They discuss the ACME (Analogical Constraint Mapping Engine) algorithm as one that constructs a network of units representing mapping hypotheses and eventually converges to a state that represents the best mapping. They list several applications of ACME, such as radiation problems, attribute mappings, chemical analogies, and the classical `farmer's dilemma' problem. ACME was also able to simulate a number of empirical results related to human analogical reasoning. The analogical mapping they discuss is most powerful in a specific domain however. This domain-specificity is a typical restriction for most of the efforts in learning theory and artificial intelligence.

Good as an Introduction or Reference Book
This book presents the current and mor well-known models of cognition in the area cognitive science.This includes descriptions of both symbolic and connectionist models (e.g. ACT-R, SOAR, ART-MAP, MAC/FAC, etc.), written by the authors who developed them.However, each chapter presents a somewhat condensed version of each model, so some (but not all) of the technical details are ommitted. Overall, the book can function as an extensive introduction to contemporary methods and issues in cognitive modelling, or as a reference book for those more familiar with the field. ... Read more

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This book offers a definitive, scientifically grounded guide for better teaching and learning practices. Drawing from thousands of documents and the opinions of recognized experts worldwide, it explains in straight talk the new Mind, Brain, and Education Science, a field that has grown out of the intersection of neuroscience, education, and psychology. While parents and teachers are often bombarded with promises of a better brain, this book distinguishes true, applicable neuroscience from the popular neuromyths that have gained currency in education. Each instructional guideline presented in the book is accompanied by real-life classroom examples to help teachers envision the direct application of the information in their own schools. The author offers essential tools for evaluating new information as it flows from research and adds to what we know. Written by a teacher for teachers, this easy-to-use resource documents the findings of the top experts in the field of neuroscience, psychology, and education. It addresses the confusion around the misuse of concepts in brain-based education, and applies well-substantiated findings about the brain to classroom practice and teaching.

"This seminal book has the potential to change the way we think about teaching and learning." -From the Foreword by Pat Wolfe, educational consultant, Mind Matters, Inc.

"This is not only an excellent guide for teachers and a most-needed review of the cutting edge research on neuroeducation, but also a model of pedagogy. The author guides readers step by step in the fascinating exploration of the new transdisciplinary field called MBE, Mind, Brain and Education Science. I recommend this book to every teacher. It will clarify many issues and promote many educational initiatives." -Antonio M. Battro, M.D., President of IMBES, International Mind, Brain and Education Society

"Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa has written a highly accessible, extraordinarily well-documented compilation of essential information for all educators. This breakthrough book guides informed decision-making using the best science has to offer to return joy and authentic learning to our classrooms." -Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed., neurologist, middle-school teacher, author, and renowned speaker on brain-based education

"A fascinating review of state-of-the-art research. It does more than just debunk myths, it also points toward tried and true tenets and principles of education. Written with clarity, freshness, and a sense of urgency, this is a book that every educator-and everyone who cares about children-should read." -Craig Pohlman, author of How Can My Kid Succeed in School and Revealing Minds ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Still in the box!
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa has given us a popularized version of the research and new learning we have regarding neuroscience, learning theory, and cognitive psychology.There is little new here except for the admonition that we should be careful in our assumptions.However, I believe she makes some big leaps of application in some of her recommendations for teachers and applications of the research.Most of her recommendations apply to using the new understandings and ideas in the traditional, behavioral conditioned classroom.I believe it is time for us to stop reinforcing this model of teaching and learning, and using the new research and understanding about how people learn, design classrooms, and teaching strategies that are compatible.

The most strident example of this "boxed" thinking comes in her defense of homework!That question has been tried and found wanting, but Ms. Tokuhama-Espinosa still clings to the practice, and tries to justify it with the new research.This is an injustice to the research and to the teaching profession. ... Read more