Memory, Learning, Self-Knowledge

Abstract

Earl Hunt asks of himself the question ‘What kind of computer is Man?’ and offers a conjectural description (and a word of advice) as an answer:

Man is describable as a dual processor, dual memory system with extensive input-output buffering within each system. The input-output system appears to have substantial peripheral computing power itself. But man is not modeled by a dual processor computer. The two processors of the brain are asymmetric. The semantic memory processor is a serial processor with a list structure memory. The image memory processor may very well be a sophisticated analog processor attached to an associative memory. When we propose models of cognition it would perhaps be advisable if we specified the relation of the model to this system architecture and its associated addressing system and data structure.¹