Can connectionism save constructivism?. Marcus, G. F Cognition, 66(2):153-82, 1998.
abstract   bibtex   
Constructivism is the Piagetian notion that learning leads the child to develop new types of representations. For example, on the Piagetian view, a child is born without knowing that objects persist in time even when they are occluded; through a process of learning, the child comes to know that objects persist in time. The trouble with this view has always been the lack of a concrete, computational account of how a learning mechanism could lead to such a change. Recently, however, in a book entitled Rethinking Innateness. Elman et al. (Elman, J.L., Bates, E., Johnson, M.H., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Parisi, D., Plunkett, K., 1996. Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) have claimed that connectionist models might provide an account of the development of new kinds of representations that would not depend on the existence of innate representations. I show that the models described in Rethinking Innateness depend on innately assumed representations and that they do not offer a genuine alternative to nativism. Moreover, I present simulation results which show that these models are incapable of deriving genuine abstract representations that are not presupposed. I then give a formal account of why the models fail to generalize in the ways that humans do. Thus, connectionism, at least in its current form, does not provide any support for constructivism. I conclude by sketching a possible alternative.
@Article{Marcus1998b,
  author   = {Marcus, Gary F},
  journal  = {Cognition},
  title    = {Can connectionism save constructivism?},
  year     = {1998},
  number   = {2},
  pages    = {153-82},
  volume   = {66},
  abstract = {Constructivism is the Piagetian notion that learning leads the child
	to develop new types of representations. For example, on the Piagetian
	view, a child is born without knowing that objects persist in time
	even when they are occluded; through a process of learning, the child
	comes to know that objects persist in time. The trouble with this
	view has always been the lack of a concrete, computational account
	of how a learning mechanism could lead to such a change. Recently,
	however, in a book entitled Rethinking Innateness. Elman et al. (Elman,
	J.L., Bates, E., Johnson, M.H., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Parisi, D.,
	Plunkett, K., 1996. Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective
	on Development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) have claimed that connectionist
	models might provide an account of the development of new kinds of
	representations that would not depend on the existence of innate
	representations. I show that the models described in Rethinking Innateness
	depend on innately assumed representations and that they do not offer
	a genuine alternative to nativism. Moreover, I present simulation
	results which show that these models are incapable of deriving genuine
	abstract representations that are not presupposed. I then give a
	formal account of why the models fail to generalize in the ways that
	humans do. Thus, connectionism, at least in its current form, does
	not provide any support for constructivism. I conclude by sketching
	a possible alternative.},
  keywords = {Computing Methodologies, Human, Language, Learning, Mental Processes, Models, Theoretical, Stochastic Processes, Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Cognition, Linguistics, Neural Networks (Computer), Practice (Psychology), Non-U.S. Gov't, Memory, Psychological, Task Performance and Analysis, Time Factors, Visual Perception, Adult, Attention, Discrimination Learning, Female, Male, Short-Term, Mental Recall, Orientation, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Perceptual Masking, Reading, Concept Formation, Form Perception, Animals, Corpus Striatum, Shrews, P.H.S., Visual Cortex, Visual Pathways, Acoustic Stimulation, Auditory Cortex, Auditory Perception, Cochlea, Ear, Gerbillinae, Glycine, Hearing, Neurons, Space Perception, Strychnine, Adolescent, Decision Making, Reaction Time, Astrocytoma, Brain Mapping, Brain Neoplasms, Cerebral Cortex, Electric Stimulation, Electrophysiology, Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe, Evoked Potentials, Frontal Lobe, Noise, Parietal Lobe, Scalp, Child, Language Development, Psycholinguistics, Brain, Perception, Speech, Vocalization, Animal, Discrimination (Psychology), Hippocampus, Rats, Calcium, Chelating Agents, Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, Glutamic Acid, Guanosine Diphosphate, In Vitro, Neuronal Plasticity, Pyramidal Cells, Receptors, AMPA, Metabotropic Glutamate, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate, Somatosensory Cortex, Synapses, Synaptic Transmission, Thionucleotides, Action Potentials, Calcium Channels, L-Type, Electric Conductivity, Entorhinal Cortex, Neurological, Long-Evans, Infant, Mathematics, Statistics, Probability Learning, Problem Solving, Psychophysics, Association Learning, Child Psychology, Habituation (Psychophysiology), Probability Theory, Analysis of Variance, Semantics, Symbolism, Behavior, Eye Movements, Macaca mulatta, Prefrontal Cortex, Cats, Dogs, Haplorhini, Photic Stimulation, Electroencephalography, Nervous System Physiology, Darkness, Grasshoppers, Light, Membrane Potentials, Neural Inhibition, Afferent, Picrotoxin, Vision, Deoxyglucose, Injections, Microspheres, Neural Pathways, Rhodamines, Choice Behavior, Speech Perception, Verbal Learning, Dominance, Cerebral, Fixation, Ocular, Language Tests, Random Allocation, Comparative Study, Saguinus, Sound Spectrography, Species Specificity, Audiometry, Auditory Threshold, Calibration, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Anesthesia, General, Electrodes, Implanted, Pitch Perception, Sound Localization, Paired-Associate Learning, Serial Learning, Auditory, Age Factors, Motion Perception, Brain Injuries, Computer Simulation, Blindness, Psychomotor Performance, Color Perception, Signal Detection (Psychology), Judgment, ROC Curve, Regression Analysis, Music, Probability, Arm, Cerebrovascular Disorders, Hemiplegia, Movement, Muscle, Skeletal, Myoclonus, Robotics, Magnetoencephalography, Phonetics, Software, Speech Production Measurement, Epilepsies, Partial, Laterality, Stereotaxic Techniques, Germany, Speech Acoustics, Verbal Behavior, Child Development, Instinct, 10585519},
}
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