Cognitive science: from computers to anthills as models of human thought
Abstract
With the development of computers in the 1940s and 1950s, a new
model for human thinking became available. The initial period of
cognitive science was driven by the analogy that the brain functions
like a computer. Consequently, thinking was viewed as the processing
of symbols. This was also the methodology of classical artificial
intelligence. As a result of criticism of the symbol manipulation
paradigm, there have recently been two main kinds of reaction to it.
The first one is connectionism, where thinking is modelled as
associations in artificial neuron networks. Some connectionist models
are tightly connected to developments in the neurosciences, while
others are more general models of cognitive processes such as concept
formation. The second reaction consists of theories of embodied and
situated cognition, where cognition is seen as taking place not only
in the brain, but in interaction with the body and the surrounding
world. In line with this, modern studies of robotics are based on so
called reactive systems, the actions of which depend directly on the
world instead of a symbolic model of it. The situated view on
cognition will also be central for future developments of
man&endash;machine interaction, in particular in educational tools
that exploit information technology.