Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Physical Computation and Cognitive Science pp 1–31Cite as

Setting the Stage: Computation in Cognitive Science

  • Chapter

  • 1022 Accesses

Part of the book series: Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics ((SAPERE,volume 12))

Abstract

What is computation? This question may seem, at a first glimpse, trivial and uninteresting. There has already been a long discussion about this subject back in the mid-twentieth century. The discussion produced many extensionally equivalent models of computation, such as Turing machines, lambda calculus, cellular automata, Post machines and recursive functions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aizawa, K.: Computation in cognitive science: it is not all about Turing-equivalent computation. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41(3), 227–236 (2010), doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2010.07.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bechtel, W.: Representations and cognitive explanations: Assessing the dynamicist’s challenge in cognitive science. Cognitive Science 22(3), 295–317 (1998), doi:10.1016/S0364-0213(99)80042-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, P., Staines, P.J., Michell, J.: Evaluating, doing and writing research in psychology: a step-by-step guide for students. SAGE Publications, London (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • Block, N.: Mental Pictures and Cognitive Science. The Philosophical Review 92(4), 499–541 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boden, M.A.: Odd man out: Reply to reviewers. Artificial Intelligence 172(18), 1944–1964 (2008), doi:10.1016/j.artint.2008.07.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, D.J.: On implementing a computation. Minds and Machines 4(4), 391–402 (1994), doi:10.1007/BF00974166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalmers, D.J.: A computational foundation for the study of cognition. Journal of Cognitive Science 12(4), 323–357 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N.: Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT Press, Cambridge (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N.: Language and interpretation: philosophical reflections and empirical inquiry. In: Earman, J. (ed.) Inference, Explanation, and Other Frustrations: Essays in the Philosophy of Science, pp. 99–128. University of California Press, Berkeley (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleeremans, A.: Computational correlates of consciousness. In: Laureys, S. (ed.) Progress in Brain Research, vol. 150, pp. 81–98. Elsevier (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Copeland, B.J.: What is computation? Synthese 108(3), 335–359 (1996), doi:10.1007/BF00413693

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R., Poirier, P.: Representation and indication. In: Clapin, H., Staines, P.J., Slezak, P. (eds.) Representation in Mind: New Approaches to Mental Representation, pp. 21–40. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Decety, J., Lamm, C.: The Role of the Right Temporoparietal Junction in Social Interaction: How Low-Level Computational Processes Contribute to Meta-Cognition. The Neuroscientist 13(6), 580–593 (2007), doi:10.1177/1073858407304654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D.C.: Consciousness explained. Penguin, London (1991), http://www.contentreserve.com/TitleInfo.asp?ID=23263F30-47C3-4241-B653-E61C277EECCA&Format=410 (retrieved)

  • Dennett, D.C.: Brainchildren: essays on designing minds. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske, F.I.: Knowledge & the flow of information. MIT Press, Cambridge (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske, F.I.: Explaining behavior: reasons in a world of causes. MIT Press, Cambridge (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  • Egan, F.: Computation and Content. The Philosophical Review 104(2), 181–203 (1995), doi:10.2307/2185977

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egan, F.: Two kinds of representational contents for cognitive theorizing. Presented at the Philosophy and the Brain Conference 2011, The Institute for Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (2011), https://sites.google.com/site/philosophybrainias2011/home/conference-papers-1/Egan-TwoKindsofRepContent.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1 (retrieved)

  • Fodor, J.A.: The language of thought. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J.A.: Methodological solipsism considered as a research strategy in cognitive psychology. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3(01), 63 (1980), doi:10.1017/S0140525X00001771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J.A.: The mind-body problem. Scientific American 244, 114–125 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J.A., Pylyshyn, Z.W.: Connectionism and cognitive architecture: A critical analysis. Cognition 28(1-2), 3–71 (1988), doi:10.1016/0010-0277(88)90031-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford, K.W.: 101 quantum questions: what you need to know about the world you can’t see. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (2011)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fredkin, E.: Finite nature. In: Proceedings of the XXVIIth Rencontre de Moriond Series (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fresco, N., Staines, P.: A Revised Attack on Computational Ontology. Minds and Machines (forthcoming), doi: 10.1007/s11023-013-9327-1

    Google Scholar 

  • Gandy, R.: Church’s Thesis and Principles for Mechanisms. In: The Kleene Symposium, pp. 123–148. North-Holland (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurevich, Y.: Interactive Algorithms 2005. In: Jedrzejowicz, J., Szepietowski, A. (eds.) MFCS 2005. LNCS, vol. 3618, pp. 26–38. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Harnish, R.M.: Minds, brains, computers: an historical introduction to the foundations of cognitive science. Blackwell Publishers, Malden (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Haugeland, J.: Artificial intelligence: the very idea. MIT Press, Cambridge (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Israel, D.: Reflections on Gödel’s and Gandy’s Reflections on Turing’s Thesis. Minds and Machines 12(2), 181–201 (2002), doi:10.1023/A:1015634729532

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Joshi, K.D.: Foundations of discrete mathematics. Wiley, Wiley Eastern Ltd., New York, New Delhi (1989)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Karp, R.M.: Reducibility Among Combinatorial Problems. In: Miller, R.E., Thatcher, J.W. (eds.) Proceedings of a Symposium on the Complexity of Computer Computations, The IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York. Plenum Press, New York (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellogg, R.T.: Fundamentals of cognitive psychology, 2nd edn. SAGE, Thousand Oaks (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleene, S.C.: Mathematical logic, Dover (ed.). Dover Publications, Mineola (2002)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, D.: What experience teaches. In: Ludlow, P., Nagasawa, Y., Stoljar, D. (eds.) There’s Something About Mary: Essays on Phenomenal Consciousness and Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Argument, pp. 77–103. MIT Press, Cambridge (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, S.: Programming the universe: a quantum computer scientist takes on the cosmos. Knopf, New York (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo, G.: Critique of computational reason in the natural sciences. In: Gelenbe, E., Kahane, J.-P. (eds.) Fundamental Concepts in Computer Science, vol. 3, pp. 43–70. Imperial College Press, London (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • MacLennan, B.J.: Field computation in natural and artificial intelligence. Information Sciences 119(1-2), 73–89 (1999), doi:10.1016/S0020-0255(99)00053-5

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • MacLennan, B.J.: Natural computation and non-Turing models of computation. Theoretical Computer Science 317(1-3), 115–145 (2004), doi:10.1016/j.tcs.2003.12.008

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • MacLennan, B.J.: Bodies — both informed and transformed embodied computation and information processing. In: Dodig-Crnkovic, G., Burgin, M. (eds.) Information and Computation, pp. 225–253. World Scientific (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Másson, E., Wang, Y.-J.: Introduction to computation and learning in artificial neural networks. European Journal of Operational Research 47(1), 1–28 (1990), doi:10.1016/0377-2217(90)90085-P

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, R.: Natural Computation. Presented at the Computation and the Brain Workshop 2011, The Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel (2011), https://sites.google.com/site/iascomputationbrainhuji2011/home/previous-lectures/Matthews%282011%29NaturalComputation.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1 (retrieved)

  • Miller, G.A.: The cognitive revolution: a historical perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7(3), 141–144 (2003), doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00029-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minsky, M. L., Papert, S.: Artificial intelligence progress report. (AI memo No. 252), pp. 1–137 (1972), ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/0-499/AIM-252.ps (retrieved)

  • Newell, A.: Are there alternatives? In: Sieg, W. (ed.) Acting and Reflecting: the Interdisciplinary Turn in Philosophy. Kluwer Academic Dordrecht, Boston (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A., Simon, H.A.: Computer science as empirical inquiry: symbols and search. Communications of the ACM 19(3), 113–126 (1976), doi:10.1145/360018.360022

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Piccinini, G.: Functionalism, Computationalism, and Mental Contents. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 34(3), 375–410 (2004), doi:10.2307/40232223

    Google Scholar 

  • Piccinini, G.: Computational explanation in neuroscience. Synthese 153(3), 343–353 (2006), doi:10.1007/s11229-006-9096-y

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Piccinini, G.: Computing Mechanisms. Philosophy of Science 74(4), 501–526 (2007), doi:10.1086/522851

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Piccinini, G.: Computation without Representation. Philosophical Studies 137(2), 205–241 (2008), doi:10.1007/s11098-005-5385-4

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Piccinini, G., Scarantino, A.: Information processing, computation, and cognition. Journal of Biological Physics 37(1), 1–38 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinker, S.: So How Does the Mind Work? Mind and Language 20(1), 1–24 (2005), doi:10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00274.x

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z.W.: Computation and cognition: toward a foundation for cognitive science. The MIT Press, Cambridge (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z.W.: Computing in Cognitive Science. In: Posner, M.I. (ed.) Foundations of Cognitive Science, pp. 49–92. MIT Press, Cambridge (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z.W.: What’s in your mind? In: LePore, E., Pylyshyn, Z.W. (eds.) What is Cognitive Science?, pp. 1–25. Blackwell, Malden (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsey, W.: Representation reconsidered. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2007)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ryle, G.: The concept of mind. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth (1949)

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheutz, M.: When Physical Systems Realize Functions... Minds and Machines 9(2), 161–196 (1999), doi:10.1023/A:1008364332419

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheutz, M.: Computational versus Causal Complexity. Minds and Machines 11(4), 543–566 (2001), doi:10.1023/A:1011855915651

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, S.: The Language of Thought: A New Philosophical Direction. MIT Press, Cambridge (2011)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J.R.: The rediscovery of the mind. MIT Press, Cambridge (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagrir, O.: Content, Computation and Externalism. Mind 110(438), 369–400 (2001), doi:10.1093/mind/110.438.369

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagrir, O.: Why we view the brain as a computer. Synthese 153(3), 393–416 (2006), doi:10.1007/s11229-006-9099-8

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Shagrir, O.: Marr on Computational-Level Theories. Philosophy of Science 77(4), 477–500 (2010), doi:10.1086/656005

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Shagrir, O.: Computation, Implementation, Cognition. Minds and Machines 22(2), 137–148 (2012), doi:10.1007/s11023-012-9280-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slezak, P.: The tripartite model of representation. Philosophical Psychology 15(3), 239–270 (2002), doi:10.1080/0951508021000006085

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B.C.: On the origin of objects. MIT Press, Cambridge (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B.C.: The foundations of computing. In: Scheutz, M. (ed.) Computationalism: New Directions, pp. 23–58. MIT Press, Cambridge (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B.C.: Age of significance: Introduction (2010), http://www.ageofsignificance.org (retrieved)

  • Soare, R.I.: Turing oracle machines, online computing, and three displacements in computability theory. Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 160(3), 368–399 (2009), doi:10.1016/j.apal.2009.01.008

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Stallings, W.: Computer organization and architecture: designing for performance, 8th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, J., Williamson, T.: Knowing How. The Journal of Philosophy 98(8), 411–444 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stich, S.P.: Computation without representation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3(01), 152 (1980), doi:10.1017/S0140525X00002272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stich, S.P.: From folk psychology to cognitive science: the case against belief. MIT Press, Cambridge (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tienson, J.L.: An introduction to connectionism. The Southern Journal of Philosophy 26, 1–16 (1988), doi:10.1111/j.2041-6962.1988.tb00460.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Rooij, I.: The tractable cognition thesis. Cognitive Science 32(6), 939–984 (2008), doi:10.1080/03640210801897856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Eckardt, B.: Multidisciplinarity and cognitive science. Cognitive Science 25(3), 453–470 (2001), doi:10.1016/S0364-0213(01)00043-X

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Eckardt, B.: What is cognitive science? MIT Press, Cambridge (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, J.: The computer and the universe. International Journal of Theoretical Physics 21(6-7), 557–572 (1982), doi:10.1007/BF02650185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, G.: Descartes Among the Robots. Minds and Machines 21(2), 179–202 (2011), doi:10.1007/s11023-011-9232-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfram, S.: A new kind of science. Wolfram Media, Champaign (2002)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Zuse, K.: Calculating Space. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Project MAC (1970)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities & Languages , University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Nir Fresco

Authors
  1. Nir Fresco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nir Fresco .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fresco, N. (2014). Setting the Stage: Computation in Cognitive Science. In: Physical Computation and Cognitive Science. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 12. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41375-9_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41375-9_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41374-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-41375-9

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation