COGNITIVE SCIENCE: It's History and the People Involved

Jennie Atkins and Tracey Smith

Last Modified: 2/07/00

• Questions:
  • What is cognitive science?
  • Where did it originate?
  • Who were some of its earliest philosophers?
  • What other types of people are involved in this particular field?

Cognitive Science

• Definition
  • Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence, embracing philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology.
  • It is a relatively new field at the forefront of the information technology explosion.
• Origins
  • It began in the mid-1950s when researchers in several fields began to develop theories of the mind based on representations and procedures but attempts to understand the mind go back over 2000 years.
• Earliest Philosophers
  • Confucius, Aristotle, and Plato were three of the earliest philosophers who attempted to explain the nature of human knowledge.
• Modern Cognitive Scientists
  • Starting after World War II researchers from a variety of disciplines began to explore areas which later came to be called cognitive science. An interest in the experimental study of cognition itself differentiates these workers from philosophy. A common interest in mechanics and understanding of cognition unites their host disciplines.
  • From mathematics and computer science:
    • John von Neumann
      • Mathematician, invented Eniac: first computer
    • Alan Turing
      • Mathematician who developed the first operational computer, named Robinson, to break codes used by the German government in WWII.
      • Developed a theory comparing the human brain to a machine
      • Created the Turing test to determine if a machine could really think.
    • Claude Shannon
      • Pioneer of communication theory
      • Published a seminal paper in 1948
      • Information theory
      • Any piece of information can be sent any distance reliably (trick is to put in enough repetition)
    • Douglas Hofstadter
      • Pulitzer Prize1980.
      • Main focus of research is on emergent models of high-level perception, analogical thought, and creativity.
    • Terry Winograd
      • Focus is on developing the theoretical background and conceptual models for designing human-computer interaction.
      • Founder of Action Technologies, a developer of workflow software.
    • Norbert Wiener
      • Founder of Cybernetics
      • Purposeful Machines
      • Servomechanisms
  • From artificial intelligence
    • John McCarthy
      • A pioneer in artificial intelligence.
      • Invented LISP, the preeminent AI programming language.
    • Roger Schank
      • Artifical Intellegence
      • Deals with the value of learning from experts, developing skills rather than perfecting routines, and applying the benefits of "just-in-time" training.
    • Marvin Minsky
      • Made many contributions to AI, cognitive psychology, mathematics, computational linguistics, robotics, and optics.
      • Built the SNARC, the first neural network simulator.
      • Other inventions include mechanical hands and other robotic devices,the confocal scanning microscope, the"Muse" synthesizer for musical variations (with E. Fredkin), and the first LOGO "turtle" (with S. Papert).
    • Seymour Papert
      • Mathematician and one of the early pioneers of Artificial Intelligence.
      • Founded the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT with Marvin Minsky
  • From psychology
    • Herbert Simon
      • Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978 for his work in bounded rationality.
      • One of the founding fathers of modern research in artificial intelligence.
    • Allen Newell
      • Simon's late long-time collaborator
      • SOAR
    • Donald Norman
      • Vice President of Apple Computer's Advanced Technological Group.
      • A recognized authority on human interface and design. Wrote The Design of Everyday Things.
      • One of the founders of the Cognitive Science Society.
    • Karl Lashley
      • "Brain mechanisms and intelligence."
      • A prominent physiological psychologist.
      • One of the forefathers of contemporary cognitive neuro-psychology.
      • His goal was to determine where in the brain memories are stored.
      • He theorized that physical memory traces (engrams) must be made in the brain when learning occurs.
  • From linguistics
    • Noam Chomsky
      • Professor of linguistics at MIT.
      • Changed the focus of language from a concern with methods of classification to a search for explanatory principles.
  • From philosophy
    • Daniel Dennett
      • Developed the method of "heterophenomenology", a procedure in which a person is asked about their experiences, and these accounts are passed through a third party who collates and organizes them.
      • His major work, Consciousness Explained, posits a theory that consciousness is an abstraction built from a linear narrative of one's life, based on a functionalist view of cognitive science
    • Hubert Dreyfus
      • Phenomenology of Perception
      • What Computers Can't Do
      • What Computers Still Can't Do
    • John Searle
      • Works mostly in the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind.
      • Mind Language and Society
      • The Chinese Room thought experiment
  • From biology
    • David Marr
      • Expert on the human visual system
      • Extensive research in the area of computational vision
    • Valentino Braitenberg
      • Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
      • Describes simple hypothetical vehicles, with simple sensors and actuators, and describes how they behave.

Authors, Philosophers, and Psychologists

• Alan Turing
  • Biography
    • http://www.ece.sc.edu/students/smithp/Turing2.html
  • His concept on computability
    • http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/mootaz/moomachine.html
  • Turing test
    • http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~u6rs/turing/turingtest.html
    • Douglas Hofstadter
    • http://www.psych.indiana.edu/cogsci/hofstadter.html
• Terry Winograd
  • Phenomenological Foundations of Cognition, Language, and Computation
  • Bio & Bibliography
    • http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/cogsci.html
• Roger Schank
  • Activity Theory
    • A holistic view of learning based on the idea that human learning if mediated through practical activity, which in turn is mediated by cultural signs.
  • Biography
    • http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~e_for_e/nodes/NODE-304-pg.html
• Lev Vygotsky
  • Activity Theory
    • A holistic view of learning based on the idea that human learning if mediated through practical activity, which in turn is mediated by cultural signs.
    • http://www.j51.com/~tatyana/articles/psyeduc
  • Vygotsky Profile (Tadeusz Zawidzki)
    • http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~philos/MindDict/vygotsky.html
  • Social Development Theory
    • http://www.gwu.edu/~tip/vygotsky.html
  • Ratner Prologue to Vygotsky's Collected Works, Volume 5
    • http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~cr2/vygprol.htm
  • Vgotsky and Evolution Studies on the History of Behavior  
    • http://www.erlbaum.com/1650.htm
  • Hanover College
    • http://psych.hanover.edu/vygotsky/vygotsky.html
  • Review and Analysis of Vygotsky's Thought and Language
    • http://129.7.160.115/inst5931/Vygotsky.html
  • Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
    • http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csclstudent/Dhsiao/theories.html#vygot
• Stevan Harnad
  • Computationalism versus Connectionism
    • http://cwis.kub.nl/~fdl/research/ti/docs/think/2-1/harnad.htm
  • Interactive Cognition
    • http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad95.interactive.cognition.html
  • Various papers by Harnad
    • http://cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/tempindex.html
  • Theory on Metaphor
    • http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~tonyv/trinity/harnad.html
• Karl Lashley
  • Neural Basis of Learning
    • http://www.bhs.mq.edu.au/psy/236/lectures/harris/34.html
  • Contribution to study of memory
    • http://penta.ufrgs.br/edu/telelab/1/famous.htm#Lashley
• Noam Chomsky
  • http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/cogsci.html
• Various Publications
  • http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/l/linguistics/www/chomsky.home.html
• Contributions
  • http://csmaclab-www.uchicago.edu/philosophyProject/chomsky/proposal.html
• Chomsky's archive
  • http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/index.cfm
• Daniel Dennett
  • Background information
    • http://www.trincoll.edu/~phil/philo/phils/dennett.html
• David Marr
  • Vision as Information Processing
    • http://www.princeton.edu/~freshman/science/marr/vision.html
  • Computer and Human Vision
    • http://www.amara.com/IEEEwave/IW_vision.html
• John Searle
  • Philosophy and reality as seen by John Searle
    • http://www.reasonmag.com/0002/fe.ef.reality.html

The Prehistory of Cognitive Science--index, basic, short, links, graphics

• Page on philosophers who contributed to the development of cognitive science (Berkley, Burton, Hobbes and Locke).  Arranged in several ways: by subject, by chronology, and by author.  Also includes bibliography.  http://www.rc.umd.edu/cstahmer/cogsci

• Page illustrates artifacts in information technology from an exhibit at the National Museum of American History.  Items include: the Morse telegraph, telephones, a stock ticker, Hollerith tabulating machine, the Enigma machine (decoder used in World War II, and more.  http://photo2.si.edu/infoage/infoage.html

• Defines 73 terms in cognitive science. http://penta.ufrgs.br/edu/telelab/3/control.htm

• Page has biographic information on researchers in cognitive science. People linked are: Phil Agre, Jay David Bolter, Vannevar Bush, John Carroll, Noam Chomsky, William Clancey, Edward deBono, Hubert Dreyfus, Stevan Harnad, Douglas Hofstadter, Kevin Kelly, George Landow, Brenda Laurel, Marvin Minsky, Donald Norman, Seymore Papert, Howard Rheingold, Roger Schank, John Searle, Herbert Simon, Sherry Turkle, Terry Winograd, Etienne Wenger, and Lev Vygotsky. The page also links to six similar sites. http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/cogsci.html

• Overview of Claude Shannon, founder of information theory, and set the stage of the development of the digital computer. http://www.att.com/attlabs/archive/shannon.html

• Norbert Wiener: A Memoir--text, basic, medium, links --text, interm., medium, links
  • A memoir and short biography of Norbert Wiener, founder of cybernetics and early pioneer in cognitive science. http://ic.www.media.mit.edu/JBW/ARTICLES/WIENER/WIENER1.HTM
• What is an Artificial Neural Network?--tutorial, interm., short, links, graphics
  • Describes how a single processing unit in a neural network operates. http://web.psych.ualberta.ca/~mike/ann.html (needs new link)
• Cybernetics: A Definition--text, interm., medium, links, graphics
  • A fairly complete definition of cybernetics by the author of the entry on the topic in the
  • Macmillan Encyclopedia of Computers (1991). http://www.pangaro.com/published/cyber-macmillan.html
• Cybernetics--text, basic, short, links, graphics
  • Another definition of cybernetics. http://www.cyber.rdg.ac.uk/cybernetics/whatisit.html

• Simple page that contains several links to biographical information on John von Neumann and to some of his original papers. Neumann was instrumental in developing the modern computer. http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/vonNeumann.html

• Comprehensive look at computers and computation from prehistoric time until the present. Topics included are: the difference engine, Alan Turing, the creation of Microsoft, the Web, and more. http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/groups/se/people/hoyle/Lecture/

• Short biography of the late David Marr, an influential research in computational vision. http://www.hfac.uh.edu/cogsci/lang/Entries/marr_david.html

• Offers pictures and quotes from a large number of philosophers; allows users to guess the identity of the philosopher. Links to the Department of Philosophy of the Ohio State University. http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/philo/pantheon.html

The History of the Invention of the Transistor--text, intermediate, long, graphics, links, search

• Fun and interactive site that offers a timeline to explore.  From the discovery of the electron to the first announcement of the invention of the transistor.  http://www.pbs.org/transistor/index.html