07.201* History of Cognitive Science
Fall term 2000
History of cognitive science n
Anthropology n
Neuroscience n
Scientific revolutions
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Anthropology n
“Anthropology is the science which tells us that people are the same the whole world over—except when they are different.” – Nancy Banks-Smith
(Guardian, London, 21 July 1988).
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Anthropology & cognitive science n science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, racial characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humans n according to Gardener, an “upper bound” on the domain of cognitive science n is it possible to utilize methods from cognitive science to analyze anthropological data?
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Issues for anthropology & cognitive science n n n is the “savage mind” rational?
s some have argued that it is dominated by emotion & affect, unconcerned w/ logic, tolerant of contradictions, & is capable of entertaining mystical ideas do “primitives” reason more poorly or just differently?
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“pre-logic” do they reason essentially the same way as we do but appear different because of their different environment?
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How do we understand minds from other cultures?
n sources s text analysis; myths s field work n methods s generalizable / idiosyncratic
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A case study: Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1857-
1939) n
French philosopher, psychologist, and ethnologist n known for his work on the mentality of preliterate peoples [ How natives think
(1910); Primitive mentality (1922)] n beginning of career – pre-logic n end of career – no pre-logic: the human mind is the same everywhere
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Anthropological chronology n
Edward Tylor n
Franz Boas n
Claude Lévi-Strauss n present day issues
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Edward Tylor (1832-1917) n pioneering English anthropologist n specialized in primitive mentality and animism n human culture product of systematic evolution of human mental capacities
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Franz Boas (1858-1942) n influential German-American anthropologist n stressed importance of internal linguistic structure and strict methodology n incorporate “objective” view of outsider & “subjective” view of participant
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Boas n each culture is unique & must be studied in relations to its own environment; anti-evolutionary perspective (e.g., “primitive” vs.
“modern”) n individuals from any culture have the same “cognitive potential”
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Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-) n
French anthropologist n founder of structural anthropology – all cultures order the elements of the universe into systems (cf. linguistics) n structuralism seeks to reveal structural similarities underlying all cultures
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Lévi-Strauss n
Structural anthropology (1958), The savage mind (1962), Totemism
(1962), Mythologiques (4 vols., 1964-
71) n all humans classify in essentially the same way n all humans combine information in a finite number of ways
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Lévi-Strauss: Analysis of Myths n myths have basic empirical categories (e.g., smell, sight, sound, light, darkness, etc.) n categories are means of dealing with more abstract relationships (male vs.
female, social arrangements, incest taboo, etc.)
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Analysis of Myths n all myths in a society need to be viewed in relation to each other n myths are special; they provide a pure window into the mind, unfettered by concerns with physicality
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Ethnoscience n organized examination of thought across cultures n modeled after the principles of linguistics, specifically, phonemic analysis n
“cultures then are not material phenomena [things, behaviours, emotions]; they are cognitive organizations of material phenomena.” – Stephen Tyler, 1969
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Problems with ethnoscience n how are competing componential analyses to be judged?
n what is the psychological reality?
n can anthropology adopt the formal autonomous model of linguistics? Is context critical for understanding?
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Psychology and anthropology universality of cognitive/perceptual mechanisms n color categorization (Berlin & Kay,
1969) n susceptibility to visual illusions
(Segall, Campbell, & Herskovits,
1966)
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Conclusions n it is important to consider the context of human cognition n cognition is the result of subtle interplay between basic cognitive systems and the individual’s environment, including culture
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Neuroscience n according to Gardener, an “lower bound” on the domain of cognitive science n hardware for cognition – does knowledge of hardware inform speculation about cognitive functions?
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Reductionism vs. holism n is it more profitable to study small groups of neurons or large masses of neural tissue?
n is information localized or distributed?
What about issues of scale?
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Localization of function n
Gall – phrenology n
Broca –speech production n
Wernicke – speech perception/comprehension
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Karl Lashley (1890-1958) n ablation studies led Lashley to entertain the idea of equipotentiality – information is distributed across large masses of neurons n law of mass action – damage is related to the number of neurons destroyed rather than what neurons are destroyed
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Lashley n argued against localization (& in turn, reductionism) n plasticity n inability of reflex arc to explain complex behaviours
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Donald Hebb (1904-1985): Synthesis n n n integration of holist and localist accounts of brain function cell assemblies s change in the frequency of neural firing causes change in the strength of connection between adjacent neurons phase sequences s associations of cell assemblies; potential for substantial integration across less localized regions
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Hubel & Wiesel’s approach n single cell recordings s simple cells – sensitive to simple visual features (bars, lines) in specific retinal location s complex cells – sensitive to features regardless of retinal location s hypercomplex cells – sensitive to lines of specific length
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Plasticity n effects of early visual experience n exposure to varied stimulation and freedom of movement n specificity of plasticity – critical periods
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Eric Kandel’s slugs – the relation between neurons and behaviour n small neural systems in aplysia
(sea slug) n specific neurons are involved in specific behaviours (e.g., siphon retraction) n ultimate localization of function
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Fernando Nottebohm – bird songs n variation in bird song acquisition s innate s experience necessary – critical period n specific brain mechanisms necessary
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Neuroscience and cognitive science n will neuroscience subsume cognitive science?
n has the basis for future work in neuroscience been achieved?
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Scientific revolutions n
Thomas Kuhn n
Structure of scientific revolutions
(1962)
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Kuhn’s basic premise n establishment n new findings n establishment is modified to accommodate new findings n inability of establishment to accomodate additional novel findings n development of new establishment
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Example n astronomy s
Ptolemic geocentric universe s
Copernican heliocentric universe n what are the pros and cons of extending this argument to cognitive science?
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