Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T17:19:33.843Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intentionality and information processing: An alternative model for cognitive science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Kenneth M. Sayre
Kenneth M. Sayre
Affiliation:
Department ot Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind. 46556
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article responds to two unresolved and crucial problems of cognitive science: (1) What is actually accomplished by functions of the nervous system that we ordinarily describe in the intentional idiom? and (2) What makes the information processing involved in these functions semantic? It is argued that, contrary to the assumptions of many cognitive theorists, the computational approach does not provide coherent answers to these problems, and that a more promising start would be to fall back on mathematical communication theory and, with the help of evolutionary biology and neurophysiology, to attempt a characterization of the adaptive processes involved in visual perception. Visual representations are explained as patterns of cortical activity that are enabled to focus on objects in the changing visual environment by constantly adjusting to maintain levels of mutual information between pattern and object that are adequate for continuing perceptual control. In these terms, the answer proposed to (1) is that the intentional functions of vision are those involved in the establishment and maintenance of such representations, and to (2) that semantic features are added to the information processes of vision with the focus on objects that these representations accomplish. The article concludes with proposals for extending this account of intentionality to the higher domains of conceptualization and reason, and with speculation about how semantic information-processing might be achieved in mechanical systems.

Keywords

artificial intelligencecognitive sciencecommunication theorycomputational modelsinformation processingintentionalitymental representationphilosophy of mindvision
Type
Target article
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , March 1986 , pp. 121 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, N. (1963) Information theory and coding. McGraw-Hill. [DPE, tarKMS]Google Scholar
Ackley, D., Hinton, G. & Sejnowski, T. (1985) Boltzmann machines: Constraint satisfaction networks that learn. Cognitive Science 9:147–69. [RMG]Google Scholar
Alley, T. R. (in press) Organism-environment mutuality, epistemics, and the concept of an ecological niche. Synthese. [MTT]Google Scholar
Anderson, J. A. & Mozer, M. C. (1981) Categorization and selective neurons. In: Parallel models of associative memory, ed. Hinton, G. E. & Anderson, J. A.. Erlbaum. [RMG]Google Scholar
Anderson, J. A., Silverstein, J. W., Ritz, S. A. & Jones, R. S. (1977) Distinctive features, categorical perception, and probability learning: Some applications of a neural model. Psychological Review 84:413–51. [RMG]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashby, R. (1956) An introduction to cybernetics. MIT Press. [MLey]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Hillel, J. (1964) Language and information. Addison-Wesley. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Barlow, H. J. (1985) The twelfth Bartlett memorial lecture: The role of single neurons in the psychology of perception. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 37A:121–45. [IEG]Google Scholar
Barr, A. & Feigenbaum, E. (1981) The handbook of artificial intelligence. Vol. 1. HeurisTech Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Beadle, G. & Beadle, M. (1966) The language of life. Doubleday. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Bennett, J. (1976) Linguistic behaviour. Cambridge University Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Bennett, J. (1983) Cognitive ethology: Theory or poetry? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:356–58. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben-Zeev, A. (1984) The Kantian revolution in perception. Journal for Theory of Social Behavior. 14:69–84. [MTT]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besag, J. (1974) Spatial interaction and the statistical analysis of lattice systems (with discussion). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Scries B 36:192–326. [RMG]Google Scholar
Brillouin, L. (1962) Science and information theory. Academic Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Broadbent, D. E. (1958) Perception and communication. Pergamon. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carello, C., Turvey, M. T., Kugler, P. N. & Shaw, R. E. (1984) Inadequacies of the computer metaohor. In: Handbook of cognitive neuroscience, ed. Gazzaniga, M. S., Plenum. [MTT]Google Scholar
Churchland, P.M. (1979). Scientific realism and the plasticity of mind. Cambridge University Press. [PMC, tarKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchland, P. M. & Churchland, P. S. (1983) Content: Semantic and information-theoretic. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:67–68. [MM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, P. & Feigenbaum, E. (1982) The handbook of artificial intelligence. Vol. 3. HeurisTech Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Collins, A. M. & Quillian, M. R. (1969) Retrieval time from semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 8:240–47. [RB]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1969) Content and consciousness. Routledge & Kegan Paul. [MTT]Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1978) Brainstorms. Bradford Books. [MM, DP]Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1979) Current issues in the philosophy of mind. American Philosophical Quarterly 15:249–61. [rKMS]Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1983) Intentional systems in cognitive ethology: The “Panglossian paradigm” defended. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:343–90. [DCD, MLeb, taKMS, MTT]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, N. F. (1981). Preconscious processing. Wiley. [RTE]Google Scholar
Dretske, F. I. (1981). Knowledge and the flow of information. MIT Press. [MM, taKMS]Google Scholar
Dretske, F. I. (1983a) Précis of Knowledge and the flow of information. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:55–90. [FID, tarKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dretske, F. I. (1983b) Why information? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:82–89. [DPE]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elton, C. (1927) Animal ecology. Macmillan. [MLey]Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A. (1975) The language of thought. Thomas Y. Crowell. [DCD, taKMS]Google Scholar
Fodor, J. A. (1980) Methodological solipsism considered as a research strategy in cognitive psychology. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3:63–73. [DPE, RTE, taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. A. (1981a) The mind-body problem. Science American 214 (January):114–23. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. A. (1981b) Representations. MIT Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Gallager, R. C. (1968) Information theory and reliable communication. Wiley. [rKMS]Google Scholar
Garner, W. R. (1962) Uncertainty and structure as psychological concepts. Wiley. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1966) The senses considered as perceptual systems. Houghton Mifflin. [DCD, tarKMS, MTT]Google Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Mifflin. [tarKMS, MTT]Google Scholar
Haber, R. N. (1983) Can information be objectivized? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:70–71. [MM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haugeland, J. (1978) The nature and plausibility of cognitivism. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1:215–26. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Haugeland, J. (1981) Mind design: Philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence. Bradford Books. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Hebb, D. O. (1949) The organization of behavior. Wiley. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Heil, J. (1981) Does cognitive psychology rest on a mistake? Mind 90:321–42. [JH]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heil, J. (1983) Perception and cognition. University of California Press. [JH]Google Scholar
Hopfield, J. J. (1982) Neural networks and physical systems with emergent collective computational abilities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 79:2554–558. [RMG]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hubel, D. H. & Wiesel, T. N. (1362) Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. Journal of Physiology 160:106–54. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983) Mental models. Cambridge University Press. [RB]Google Scholar
Kandel, E. R. (1970) Nerve cells and behavior. Scientific American 223 (July):57–70. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, S. (1983) R. L. Gregory and others: The wrong picture of the picture theory of perception. Perception 12:269–79. [RTE]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. (1982) Psychophysical supervenience. Philosophical Studies 41:51–70. [JH]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kish, G. B. (1955) Learning when the onset of illumination is used as reinforcing stimulus. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 48:261–64. [MLey]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolodner, J. L. (1984) Retrieval and organizational strategies in conceptual memory: A computer model. Erlbaum. [MLeb]Google Scholar
Krechevslcy, I. (1937) Brain mechanisms and variability: 2. Variability where no learning is involved. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 23:139–63. [MLey]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kugler, P. N., Kelso, J. A. S. & Turvey, M. T. (1982) On the control and coordination of naturally developing systems. In: The development of movement control and coordination, ed. Kelso, J. A. S. & Clark, J. E.. Wiley. [MTT]Google Scholar
Kugler, P. N. & Turvey, M. T. (in press) Information, natural law and the self-assemby of rhythmic movements: Theoretical and experimental investigations. Erlbaum. [MTT]Google Scholar
Kugler, P. N., Turvey, M. T., Carello, C. & Shaw, R. E. (1985) The physics of controlled collisions: A reverie about locomotion. In: Persistence and change: Proceedings of the first international conference on event perception, ed. Warren, W. H. Jr., & Shaw, R. E.. Erlbaum. [MTT]Google Scholar
Lebowitz, M. (1980) Generalization and memory in an integrated understanding system. Technical Report 186, Yale University Department of Computer Science. [MLeb]Google Scholar
Lebowitz, M. (1983a) Generalization from natural language text. Cognitive Science 7:1–40. [MLeb]Google Scholar
Lebowitz, M. (1983b) RESEARCHER: An overview. Proceedings of the Third National Conference on Artificial Intelligence,Washington, D.C. pp. 232–35. [MLeb]Google Scholar
Lee, D. N. (1980) Visuo-motor coordination in space-time. In: Tutorials in motor behavior, ed. Stelmach, G. E. & Requin, J.. North-Holland. [MTT]Google Scholar
Lee, D. N., & Reddish, P. E. (1981) Plummeting gannets: A paradigm of ecological optics. Nature 293:293–94. [MTT]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, D. N., Young, D. S., Reddish, P. E., Lough, S. & Clayton, T. M. H. (1984) Visual timing in hitting an accelerating ball. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 35A:333–46. [MTT]Google Scholar
Lettvin, J., Maturana, H., McCulloch, W. & Pitts, W. (1959) What the frog's eye tells the frog's brain. Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers 47:1940–51. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Licklider, J. C. R. (1952) On the process of speech perception. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 24:590–94. [RB]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindeman, R. L. (1942) The trophic dynamic aspects of ecology. Ecology 23:399–418. [MLey]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luce, R. D. (1960) The theory of selective information and some of its behavioral applications. In: Developments in mathematical psychology, ed. Luce, R. D.. Free Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Luenberger, D. G. (1979) Introduction to dynamic systems: Theory, models and applications. Wiley. [RMG]Google Scholar
Mace, W. M. (1977) James J. Gibson's strategy for perceiving: Ask not what's inside your head, but what your head's inside of. In: Perceiving, acting and knowing: Toward an ecological psychology, ed. Shaw, R. & Brandsford, J.. Erlbaum. [MTT]Google Scholar
McDermott, D. V. (1981) Artificial intelligence meets natural stupidity. In: Mind design, ed. Haugeland, J.. MIT Press. [MLeb]Google Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1950) The nomenclature of information theory. In: Proceedings of the information theory symposium. Reprinted as Appendix of MacKay, D. M. Information, mechanism and meaning. MIT Press, 1969. [taKMS]Google Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1951) Mindlike behaviour in artefacts. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2:105–21. [DMM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1956) Towards an information-flow model of human behaviour. British Journal of Psychology 47:30–43. [DMM]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacKay, D. M. (1962) Theoretical models of space perception. In: Aspects of the theory of artificial intelligence, ed. Muses, C. A.. Plenum Press. [DMM]Google Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1963) Internal representation of the external world. Proceedings of the AGARD Symposium on Natural and Artificial Logic-Processor, Athens. (Mimeo) [DMM]Google Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1969) Information, mechanism and meaning. MIT Press. [DMM]Google Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1978) The dynamics of perception. In: Cerebral correlates of conscious experience, ed. Buser, P. A. & Rougeul-Buser, A.. Elsevier. [DMM]Google Scholar
MacKay, D. M. (1981) What kind of neural image? Freiburger Universitaetsblatter 74:67–72. [DMM]Google Scholar
Marr, D. (1982) Vision. W. H. Freeman. [RB, DCD, RMC, tarKMS, MTT]Google Scholar
Mayhew, J. E. W. & Frisby, J. P. (1981) Psychophysical and computational studies towards a theory of human stereopsos. Artificial Intelligence 17:349–85. [RB]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaels, C. F. & Carello, C. (1981) Direct perception. Prentice-Hall. [MTT]Google Scholar
Minsky, M. (1968) Matter, mind, and models. In: Semantic information processing, ed. Minsky, M.. MIT Press. [DP]Google Scholar
Minsky, M. (1975) A framework for representing knowledge. In: The psychology of computer vision, ed. Winston, P.. McGraw-Hill. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Morphis, M. R. (1980) The total process approach to pain and the problem of the “privacy” of pain. Ph.D. dissertation, Brandeis University. [MM]Google Scholar
Neisser, U. (1967) Cognitive psychology. Appleton-Century-Crofts. [RB]Google Scholar
Norman, D. A. (1981) Twelve issues for cognitive science. In: Perspectives on cognitive science, ed. Norman, D. A.. Erlbaum. [MM]Google Scholar
Pattee, H. H. (1973) Physical problems of the origin of natural controls. In: Biogenesis, evolution, homeostasis, ed. Locker, A.. Springer-Verlag. [MTT]Google Scholar
Pattee, H. H. (1977) Dynamic and linguistic modes of complex systems. International Journal of Cenerai Systems 3:259–66. [MTT]Google Scholar
Perlis, D. (1985) Languages with self-reference. 1. Artificial Intelligence 25:301–22. [DP]Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1954) The construction of reality in the child. Basic Books. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poggio, T. & Torre, V. (1984) Ill-posed problems and regularization analysis in early vison. Artificial Intelligence Memo #773. A. I. Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [JGD]Google Scholar
Prigogine, I. (1980) From being to becoming: Time and complexity in the physical sciences. W. H. Freeman. [MTT]Google Scholar
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1978) Computational models and empirical constraints. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1:93–127. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1980a) The “causal power” of machines. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3:442–44. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1980b). Computation and cognition: Issues in the foundation of cognitive science. Bchaoioral and Brain Sciences 3:111–32. [taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, E. & Jones, R. (1982) Reasons for realism: Selected essays of James J. Gibson. Erlbaum. [MTT]Google Scholar
Sayre, K. M. (1965) Recognition: A study in the philosophy of artificial intelligence. University of Notre Dame Press. [rKMS]Google Scholar
Sayre, K. M. (1969) Consciousness: A philosophic study of minds and machines. Random House. [tarKMS]Google Scholar
Sayre, K. M. (1973) Machine recognition of handwritten words: A project report. Pattern Recognition 5:213–28. [tarKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayre, K. M. (1976) Cybernetics and the philosophy of mind. Routledge & Kegan Paul. [tarKMS]Google Scholar
Sayre, K. M. (1979) The simulation of epistemic acts. In: Philosophical perspectives in artificial intelligence, ed. Ringle, M.. Humanities Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Sayre, K. M. (1983) Some untoward consequences of Dretske's “causal theory” of information. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 6:78–79. [FID, tarKMS]Google Scholar
Schank, R. C. (1972) Conceptual dependency: A theory of natural language understanding. Cognitive Psychology 3:532–631. [MLeb]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schank, R. C. & Abelson, R. (1977) Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding. Lawrence Erlbaum. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Schrödinger, E. (1967) What is life? Cambridge University Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1980a) Minds, brains, and programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3:417–24. [PMC, DPE, RTE, JH, MM, tarKMS]Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1980b) Intrinsic intentionality. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3:450–56. [DPE]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1980c) The intentionality of intention and action. Cognitive Science 4:47–70. [MLeb]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1983). Intentionality. Cambridge University Press. [MTT]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C. E. (1948) A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Technical Journal 27 (July):379–423; (October):623–56. [JGD, taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C. E. & Weaver, W. (1949) The mathematical theory of communication. University of Illinois Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Shaw, R. E. & Turvey, M. T. (1982) Coalitions as models for ecosystems. In: Perceptual organization, ed. Kubovy, M. & Pomerantz, J.. Erlbaum. [MTT]Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1969) Contingencies of reinforcement: A theoretical analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1974) About behaviorism. Knopf. [RTE]Google Scholar
Solomon, J., Carello, C. & Turvey, M. T. (1984) Flow fields: The optical support for skilled activities. In: Cognitive sport psychology, ed. Straub, W. F. & Williams, J. M.. Sport Science Associates. [MTT]Google Scholar
Stitch, S. (1984) From folk psychology to cognitive science: The case against belief. MIT Press. [DP]Google Scholar
Taylor, C. (1964) The explanation of behaviour. Routledge & Kegan Paul. [RB]Google Scholar
Tribus, M. (1961) Thermostatics and thermodynamics. Van Nostrand. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Turing, A. (1950) Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind 59:433–60. [MM]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turvey, M. T. & Carello, C. (1985) The equation of information and meaning from the perspectives of situation semantics and Gibson's ecological realism. Linguistics and Philosophy 8:81–90. [MTT]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turvey, M. T. & Carello, C. (in press) The ecological view of perceiving-acting: A pictorial essay. Acta Psychologica. [MTT]Google Scholar
Turvey, M. T. & Kugler, P. N. (1984) A comment on equation information with symbol strings. American Journal of Physiology, 246:R895–96. [MTT]Google Scholar
Turvey, M. T., Shaw, R. E., Reed, E. S. & Mace, W. M. (1981) Ecological laws of perceiving and acting: In reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn (1981). Cognition 9:237–304. [MTT]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waddington, C. H. (1968) The basic ideas of biology. In: Towards a theoretical biology, ed. Waddington, C. H.. Aldine. [MTT]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wagner, H. (1982) Flow-field variables trigger landing in flies. Nature 297:147–48. [MTT]Google Scholar
Walls, G. L. (1942) The vertebrate eye. Hafner. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Whitrow, G. J. (1967) Entropy. In: The encyclopedia of philosophy, ed. Edwards, P.. Macmillan & Free Press. [taKMS]Google Scholar
Winograd, T. (1972) Understanding natural language. Academic Press. [DCD, taKMS]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winston, P. (1984) Artificial intelligence. 2d ed.Addison-Wesley. [taKMS]Google Scholar