The Psychology of Language - Essay Example

The framework involved eight major aspects: These aspects are now the foundation for almost all connectionist models. It is assumed that all cognitive processes are explained by neural firing and communication. According to this view, there is no room for rational thinking or emotion. Discovery of methods for training multilayer networks is the. 'Activation rule for combining inputs to a unit to determine its new activation'- represented by a function on the current activation and propagation.

'Learning rule for modifying connections based on experience'- represented by a change in the weights based on any number of variables. 'Environment which provides the system with experience'- represented by sets of activation vectors for some subset of the units. These aspects are now the foundation for almost all connectionist models. It is assumed that all cognitive processes are explained by neural firing and communication. According to this view, there is no room for rational thinking or emotion.

The Discovery of methods for training multilayer networks is the major turning point in connectionist modeling. With this discovery, connectionist models not only have the computational power to answer those questions interesting to cognitive science but also have a method of learning how to answer those questions. Thus, there is an explicit distinction between network architectures and the learning rules used to train them within new connections. By understanding the different types of architectures and learning rules, researchers are in a position to choose the appropriate type of network to solve specific problems.

For example, if one wanted to solve a pattern recognition problem that was linearly separable, then an integration device network would be appropriate. If the problem was linearly inseparable, however, then the value unit architecture would be more appropriate. Advantages of Connectionist modeling: Connectionist modeling engage in "low-level" modeling, trying to ensure that their models resemble neurological structures.