Blackwell Companions to

Philosophy

A Companion to Cognitive Science

Edited by

WILLIAM BECHTEL and GEORGE GRAHAM

Advisory editors

David A. Balota Paul G. Chapin

Michael J. Friedlander Janet L. Kolodner

I BLACl<WELL Publish e r s

Copyright l Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

First published 1998

24681097531

Blackwell Publishers Inc. 3 50 Main Street Malden, Massachusetts 02148 USA

Blackwell Publishers Ltd 108 Cowley Road Oxford OX4 lJF UK

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical. photocopying, recording or otherwise. without the prior permission of the publisher.

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not. by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out. or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent In any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A companion lo cognitive science I edited by William Bechtel and George Graham: advisory editors. David A. Balota ... [el al.].

p. cm. - (Blackwell companions lo philosophy: 13) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 1-55786-542-6 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Cognitive science. I. Bechtel, William. Il. Graham, George,

1945-. UI. Balota. D. A. IV. Series. BF3 l l.C5 78 1998 l 53-dc21 97-38757

CIP

British LibranJ Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Typeset in 10 on 12 pt Photina by. Grap?icrafi. Typesetters Limited, Hong Kong Pnnted m Great Britain by T.J. International, Padstow. Cornwall

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Contents

List of contributors and website notice

Preface

Acknowledgments

PART I: THE LIFE OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE WILLIAM BECHTEL, ADELE ABRAHAMSEN, AND GEORGE GRAHAM

PART II: AREAS OF STUDY IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE

I Analogy DEDRE GENTNER

2 Animal cognition HERBERT L. ROITBLAT

3 Attention A. H. C. VAN DER HEIJDEN

4 Brain mapping JENNIFER MUNDALE

5 Cognitive anthropology CHARLES W. NUCKOLLS

6 Cognitive and linguistic development ADELE ABRAHAMSEN

7 Conceptual change NANCY J. NERSESSIAN

8 Conceptual organization DOUGLAS MEDIN AND SANDRA R . WAXMAN

9 Consciousness OWEN FLANAGAN

10 Decision making J. PRANK YATES AND PAUL A. ESTIN

II Emotions PAUL E. GRIFFITHS

ix

xiii

xvii

1

105

107

114

121

129

140

146

157

167

176

186

197

v

CONTE NTS

12 Imagery and spatial representation 204

RITA E. ANDERSON

13 Language evolution and neuromechanisms 212 TERRENCE W. DEACON

14 Language processing 226 KATHRYN BOCK AND SUSAN M. GARNSEY

15 Linguistic theory 235 D. TERENCE LANGENDOEN

16 Machine learning 245 PAUL THAGARD

17 Memory 250 HENRY L. ROEDIGER 111 AND LYN M. GOFF

18 Perception 265 CEES VAN LEEUWEN

19 Perception: color 282 AUSTEN CLARK

20 Problem solving 289 KEVIN DUNBAR

21 Reasoning 299 LANCE J. RIPS

22 Social cognition 306 ALAN J. LAMBERT ANO AL ISON L. CHASTEEN

23 Unconscious intelligence 314 RHIANON ALLEN AND ARTHUR S. REBER

24 Understanding texts 324 ART GRAESSER AND PAM T I PPING

25 Word meaning 331 BARBARA C. MALT

PART ID: METHODOLOGIES OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE 339

26 Artificial intelligence 341 RON SUN

27 Behavioral experimentation 352 ALEXANDER POLLATSEK AND KEITH RAYNER

28 Cognitive ethology 371 MARC BEKOFF

29 Deficits and pathologies 380 CHRI STOPHER D. FRITH

vi

30 Ethnomethodology BARRY SA FERSTEIN

31 Functional analysis BRIAN MACWHINNEY

32 Neuroimaging RANDY L. BUCKNER AND STEVEN E. PETERSEN

33 Protocol analysis K. ANDERS ERICSSON

34 Single neuron electrophysiology B. E. STEIN, M. T. WALLACE, AND T. R. STANFORD

3 5 Structural analysis ROBERT FRANK

PART IV: STANCES IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE

36 Case-based reasoning DAVID B. LEAKE

3 7 Cognitive linguistics MICHAEL TOMASELLO

3 8 Connectionism, artificial life, and dynamical systems JEFFREY L. ELMAN

39 Embodied, situated, and distributed cognition ANDY CLARK

40 Mediated action JAMES V. WERTSCH

41 Neurobiological modeling P. READ MONTAGUE AND PETER DAYAN

42 Production systems CHRISTIAN D. SCHUNN AND DAVID KLAHR

PART V: CONTROVERSIES IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE

43 The binding problem VALERIE GRAY HARDCASTLE

44 Heuristics and satisficing ROBERT C. RICHARDSON

45 Innate knowledge BARBARA LANDAU

46 Innateness and emergentism ELIZABETH BATES, JEFFREY L. ELMAN, MARK H. JOHNSON,

ANNETTE KARMILOFF-SMITH, DOMENICO PARISI,

AND KIM PLUNKETT

CONTENTS

391

402

413

425

433

450

463

465

477

488

506

518

526

542

553

555

566

576

590

vii

CONTENTS

47 Intentionality GILBERT HARMA N

48 Levels of explanation and cognitive architectures ROBERT N. MCCAU LEY

49 Modularity IRENE APPELBAUM

50 Representation and computation ROBERT S. STUFPLEBEAM

51 Representations DORRIT BILLMAN

52 Rules TERENCE HORGAN AND JOHN TIENSON

53 Stage theories refuted DONALD G. MACKAY

PART VI: COGNITIVE SCffiNCE IN THE REAL WORLD

54

55

56

57

58

59

Education JOHN T. BRUER

Ethics MARK L. JOH NSON

Everyday life environments ALEX KIRLIK

Institutions and economics DOUGLASS C. NORTH

Legal reasoning EDWI NA L. RISSLAND

Mental retardation NORMAN W. BRAY, KEVIN D. REILLY, LISA F. H UFFMAN,

LISA A. GR UPE, MARK F. VILLA , KATHRYN L. FLETCHER,

AND VIVEK ANUMOLU

60 Science WILLIAM F. BREWER AND PUNYASH LOKE MISHRA

602

611

625

636

649

660

671

679

681

691

702

713

722

734

744

Selective biographies of major contributors to cognitive science 750 WILLIAM BECHTEL AND TADEUSZ ZAWIDZKI

Author index 7 7 7

Subject index 787

viii

Contributors

Adele Abrahamsen, Linguistic Studies Program and Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis

Rhianon Allen, Department of Psychology, Long Island University

Rita E. Anderson, Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Vivek Anumolu, CompuWare, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Irene Appelbaum, Department of Philosophy, University of Montana

Elizabeth Bates, Center for Research in Language, University of California at San Diego

William Bechtel. Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program and Department of Philosophy, Washington University in St Louis

Marc Bekoff, Department of Environmental. Population. and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado

Dorrit Billman, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Kathryn Bock, Department of Psychology, University ofllllnois at Urbana-Champaign

Norman W. Bray, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

William F. Brewer, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana­Champaign

John T. Bruer, James S. McDonnell Foundation, St Louis

Randy L. Buckner, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis

Alison L. Chasteen, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis

Andy Clark. Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program and Department of Philosophy, Washington University in St Louis

Austen Clark. Department of Philosophy, University of Connecticut

Peter Dayan, Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Terrence W. Deacon, Department of Anthropology, Boston University

Kevin Dunbar, Department of Psychology, McGill University

Jeffrey L. Elman, Department of Cognitive Science, University of California at San Diego

ix

CONTRIBUTORS

K. Anders Ericsson, Department of Psychology. Florida State University

Paul A. Estin, Department of Psychology. University of Michigan

Owen Flanagan, Department of Philosophy, Duke University

Kathryn L. Fletcher, Department of Psychology. University of Miami

Robert Frank. Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University

Christopher D. Frith, Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology. Institute of

Neurology, London

Susan M. Garnsey. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois al Urbana­

Champaign

Dedre Gentner, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University

Lyn M. Goff, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis

Art Graesser. Department of Psychology, University of Memphis

George Graham, Department of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Paul E. Grlffiths, Department of Philosophy, Otago University

Lisa A. Grupe, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Valerie Gray Hardcastle, Department of Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Slate University

Gilbert Harman, Department of Philosophy, Princeton University

Terence Horgan, Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis

Lisa F. HofJman, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Mark H. Johnson, MRC Cognitive Development Unit, London

Mark L. Johnson. Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon

Annette KarmilofT-Smith, MRC Cognitive Development Unit, London

Alex Kirllk, Center for Human-Machine Systems Research, Georgia Institute of Technology

David Klahr, Department of Psychology, Carnegie-Mellon University

Alan J. Lambert, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis

Barbara Landau, Department of Psychology. University of Delaware

D. Terence Langendoen, Department of Linguistics, University of Arizona

David B. Leake, Computer Science Department, lndiana University

Donald G. MacKay, Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles

Brian MacWhinney, Department of Psychology, Carnegie-Mellon University

Robert N. McCauley, Department of Philosophy, Emory University

x

CONTRIBUTORS

Barbara C. Malt, Department of Psychology, Lehigh University

Douglas Medin, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University

Punyashloke Mishra, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana­Champaign

P. Read Montague, Division of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine

Jennifer Mondale, Department of Philosophy, Hartwick College

Nancy J. Nersessian, Cognitive Science Program, Georgia Institute of Technology

Douglass C. North, Department of Economics, Washington University in St Louis

Charles W. Nuckolls, Department of Anthropology, Emory University

Domenico Parisi, Institute of Psychology, National Research Council, Rome, Italy

Steven E. Petersen, Department of Neurology, Washington University Medical School

Kim Plunkett, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University

Alexander Pollatsek. Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Keith Rayner, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Arthur S. Reber, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

Kevin D. Reilly, Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Robert C. Richardson, Department of Philosophy, University of Cincinnati

Lance J. Rips, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University

Edwina L. Rissland, Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Henry L. Roediger ID, Department of Psychology, Washington University in St Louis

Herbert L. Roitblat, Department of Psychology, University of Ha wail

Barry Saferstein, Communication Program, California State University, San Marcos

Christian D. Schunn, Department of Psychology, Carnegie-Mellon University

T. R. Stanford, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University

B. E. Stein, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Bowman Gray School of Medi­cine of Wake Forest University

Robert S. Stufflebeam, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of Tulsa

Ron Sun, Department of Computer Science, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa

Paul Thagard, Departments of Philosophy and Computer Science, University of Waterloo

xi

CONTRIBUTORS

John Tienson, Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis

Pam Tipping, Department of Psychology. University of Memphis

Michael Tomasello, Department of Psychology, Emory University

A. H. C. van der Heijden, Department of Psychology, Leiden University

Cees van Leeuwen, Faculty of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

Mark F. Villa, Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Ala­bama at Birmingham

M. T. Wallace, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University

Sandra R. Waxman, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University

James V. Wertsch, Department of Education, Washington University in St Louis

J. Frank Yates, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan

Tadeusz Zawidzki, Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St Louis

Website notice

A website has been established for this volume at http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/ -wbechtel/companion/. At the time of publication it will include a description of the volume, the address of each contributor, and a supplement to the biographical section at the end of the volume. Comments, discussion, and errata received by the editors may also be posted; their addresses are available on the website.

xii

Preface

You have a companion in your hands - a companion of a special sort. It is a guide to one of the most important scientific developments of the end of the twentieth century: multidisciplinary cognitive science.

The expression cognitive science is used to describe a broadly integrated class of approaches to the study of mental activities and processes and of cognition in particu­lar. Cognitive science is broad not just in the sense of encompassing disciplines as varied as neuroscience. cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics, computer sci­ence, and anthropology, but also in the sense that cognitive scientists tend to adopt certain basic, general assumptions about mind and intelligent thought and behavior. These include assumptions that the mind is (1) an information processing system, (2) a representational device, and (3) (in some sense) a computer.

As the Companion reveals, various interpretations of, as well as relations among, the above assumptions exist within cognitive science. Indeed, the entire set is not shared by all who dub themselves cognitive scientists. Partly because of diverse inter­pretations and other differences, cognitive science has generated vigorous dialogues concerning the nature of mental activities and processes, as well as over the nature of science and the structure of disciplines.

What makes this a Companion to cognitive science?

What makes the book a companion to cognitive science is that it presents everything needed to acquire working familiarity with ..:ognitive science: its origins, central re­search areas and methodologies, main achievements. intellectual stances and contro­versies, and likely future developments. It should serve as a reference book, classroom text, and resource guide. It should be readable by nonacademics and nonspecialists, graduate and undergraduate students taking first courses in cognitive science. and also specialists in disciplines which are part of cognitive science but who wish an overview of topics outside their own specialty.

Although cognitive science has existed as a multidisciplinary research endeavor for a couple of decades, its character and content have not been static, and are indeed undergoing fundamental changes at present. This volume is organized so as to describe not only the past and present of cognitive science. but future problems for inquiry and new approaches to conceptualizing cognitive phenomena, including perspectives from neuroscience and from social and ecological studies. Moreover, the volume includes articles that examine not just the central inquiries of cognitive science but real-world applications of work that has been done in cognitive science.

xiii

PREFACE

Following each article is a list of references. Some (indicated by asterisks) are recom-

d d eadings that were selected to take the reader to the next level of understand-men e r d . h art' 1 Th ing of the topics covered in the article. The others are works cite m l e 1c e. e number of citations has been minimized so as to allocate the greatest amount of space

to exposition.

The organization of the Companion

The companion is organized in six parts. What are those parts? And what are they

designed to do? . Part I is an overview and anticipation of the whole of cognitive science. It describes

the origins of contemporary cognitive science, depicts the contributions of different disciplines to cognitive science, explains why and how cognitive science is transform­ing the understanding of mind and behavior, discusses institutional structures that have developed to facilitate cognitive science research, and attempts to provide a clear. readable introduction to the other parts and issues of the Companion. Coupling meta­phor to exposition, Part I conceives of cognitive science as a developing organism with a biography of its own. Yesterday's birth becomes today's development and tomor­row's remembered achievement; there are family gatherings, social tensions, lines of ancestral inOuence, anxieties over self-definition, and aspirations for the future. Part I is entitled "The Life of Cognitive Science."

Part II is devoted to areas of study within cognitive science. A number of different phenomena comprise mental activities and processes. These provide areas of study for investigators within cognitive science - to name just a few: attention, consciousness. imagery, language, memory, perception, and reasoning. It is largely as a result of focusing on these common phenomena that cognilive scientists, though coming from different disciplines and using different research methods, interact with each other. The articles in Part II attempt to characterize the problems that arise in the various areas of study and some of the outstanding discoveries that have been made. The articles are intended to offer grounding in actual research accomplishments in cognit­ive science that will be useful in taking up more theoretical matters or attempts to relate work in cognitive science to more real-world human endeavors.

One reason why cognitive science is such a dynamic research field is that research­ers bring a broad range of research methodologies to bear on phenomena of common interest. Typically these research methods develop primarily in one cognitive science discipline, but they are borrowed and often modified by those in other disciplines. Thus t~er.e i.s not a rigi~ con.nection between a specific research methodology and a given d1sc1pline. The articles m Part III. on methodologies of cognitive science, indicate the range of methodologies within cognitive science .

. Also adding to lhe vitality of cognitive science is the fact that different cognitive science researchers adopt different stances on cognitive phenomena. These stances shape r~searchers' inquiries by directing their attention to particular questions and concepltons of what count as answers to those questions. A stance is an overall per­spective on what should be studied and by what methods, and how explanations should be fr.a~ed. A~ ~t~ methodologies, frequently a stance is embraced first in one of the part1c1pant dis~1pl~es of cognitive science and then migrates to inOuence researchers In other conlnbuting disciplines. The articles in Part IV characterize the different

xiv

PREFACE

stances and exhibit how advocates of each go about the practice of cognitive science. Although those who adopt different stances may frequently engage in dialogue, the differences between stances do not readily or commonly lend themselves to empirical resolution or inquiry, and thus the discussions tend to settle into ongoing debates. Frequently those who adopt one stance are led to investigate particular problems that can be answered within the perspective of that stance, while those who adopt a differ­ent stance will be directed to different problems.

In addition to broad theoretical stances, cognitive science inquiry is character­ized by a number of controversies that reach across various areas of study. These are examined in Part V, on controversies. They concern particular features of the cognit­ive system or ways of examining it. Unlike stances, the controversies are often objects of empirical investigation. Empirical evidence to date has not resolved these contro­versies, but has regularly forced changes in positions.

While cognitive scientists typically have construed their work as part of basic sci­ence, some have anticipated the consequences which their investigations may have for other aspects of human life. Increasingly, cognitive scientists devote themselves more explicitly to relating their inquiries to those other areas. The focus on real-world problems is, in turn, transforming some of the basic science inquiries. The articles in Part VI on cognitive science in the real world discuss both current endeavors relating cognitive science to other human pursuits and the potential for further devel­opments in these directions.

What is different about this book?

Many books describe limited aspects of cognitive science or take approaches to cognit­ive science which reflect emphases on certain disciplines or assumptions rather than others. Readers familiar with other books on cognitive science may want to know what is different about this Companion.

The most obvious difference is its forward-looking organization. The excitement -and the anxiety - of cognitive science is that it reaches into the twenty-first century with unsettled self-definition. Much editorial attention has been paid, therefore, into making this book anticipatory of future developments of cognitive science in neuro­science, socioculturally embedded cognition, the emotions, and animal modeling, and into showing that cognitive science is not made of disciplinary steel. Its character is open to theoretical refinement and empirical revision.

Much attention has also been paid to designing a book that is as comprehensive as possible in its depiction of cognitive science, but also as reader-accessible and learner­friendly as a guide to a science under construction can be. It is meant to provide a coherent view of a broad scientific terrain, offering different points of entry for different sorts of readers to aspects of cognitive science.

How to read this book

The Companion's six parts serve distinct if related purposes. They are assembled so that they may be read independently of one another. They contain, in effect, self-contained essays on a variety of topics in cognitive science, arranged alphabetically by topic and with frequent cross-references. Thus someone who wants to learn about connectionism,

xv

PREFACE

artificial life and dynamical systems can read chapter 38 in Part I\ (Stances) as a self­enclosed ac~ount of those topics. When read together with the .o~hcr essays Ill :ar~~Vh the reader may compare and contrast different stances on cognitive p~enomcna w . ~ have shaped cognitive scientific inquiry. Similar reading and learnmg opportumt1es

apply to the other five parts. . , , , . re or When all six parts of the Companion are read m order, however. they. t.cll a ~o

less unified story of cognitive science. The importance of bcco.ming fan:uha~ :-v•th cog­nitive science through a unified story should not be underestimated. 1 here ~s. underd standably. among students and nonpractitioners of cognitive science. a widespre~ anxiety about learning cognitive science. There is so much literature. so mu~h activ­ity, so many conferences, so many people callin.g themsel~es cognitive s_cie~~1sts. tha~ initiation into the field can feel more like a lurchmg or leaping than an acqumng an it is easy lo slip into a shadow unllluminated by what is truly important. A good companion lo cognitive science tells a directed tale; it keeps light aimed on main themes. ideas. and issues.

Suggestions for how to teach from this book

Some readers will become acquainted with this book in the classroom: some will teac~ from it. Teachers may fmd the organization of the Companion useful in class or serru­nar instruction.

ln particular, suppose you are teaching an introduction to cognitive science. How may this book be used as a text? You might use Part I. The Life of Cognitive Science, to organize the course across most of the semester. periodically taking excursions into other parts of the book by following some of the cross-references to areas. methodologies. and stances and examining various controversies and applications. Some of the sug­gested readings at the ends of articles might be selected for class use as well.

Alternatively, you may be teaching a thematically focused course from a broad. cognitive science perspective. In that case you would pick and choose segments of the book that address your theme, and you might also make heavy use of the suggested readings. A course on cognitive neuroscience or mind/brain, for example. may begin with the overview of cognitive science. paying special attention to the role of neuro­science within the evolution of cognitive science, and then consider such topics as brain mapping and language evolution and neuromechanisms in Part II, neuroimaging. single neuron electrophysiology, and deficits and pathologies in Part III. neurobiological modeling and perhaps one or two other articles in Part IV. The course might end with the controversies on binding, innateness. modularity, and levels and cognitive archi­tectures in Part V .

. ~ third route through the book is to emphasize a particular cognitive science dis­cipline. A philosophy class, for example, might begin with the historical perspective provided in section 2.6 of Part I. Getting a Philosophy. Philosophical concerns are prominent in Part V (Controversies). and also make some appearances in Part IV (Stanc~s). ~here are articles on such topics as conceptual change, consciousness. and rea.sonmg 10 ~art ~ and ethics in Part VI. Finally. an instructor might use some of the articles. especially m Part Ill, as material for addressing issues in philosophy of science.

William Bechtel and George Graham

xvi