History and People in Cognitive Science

By Maeweather, Ballard, & Turner

This section is to discuss the history and people of Cognitive Science. What is Cognitive Science? Who was the father(s) of Cognitive Science? Why is Cognitive Science important? Who had the major influence on the studies of Cognitive Science? Questions of this sort and many more will be discussed in this presentation.

History

Cognitive Science
- "Cognitive science is the study of intelligence and intelligent systems, with particular reference to intelligent behavoir as computation."
- The father of Cognitive Science was: (no one father, but a series of people)
- Cognitive Science is important because it looks at cognition. Behavior is used as evidence of cognition. Its main goal is to describe and analyze cognition as a general process.

People

Cognitive Science
- Alan Turing
  - Turing's Test
    - Describe the Turing Test here
- John von Neumann
  - Mathematician, invented Eniac
- Norbert Weiner
  - Founder of Cybernetics
  - Purposeful Machines
  - servomechanisms
- Lev Vygotsky
  - Activity Theory
    - A holistic view of learning based on the idea that human learning if mediated through practical activity, whichi in turn is mediated by cultural signs.
- Roger C. 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.
- Claude Shannon
  - Pioneer of communication theory
  - Published a seminal paper in 1948
- Charles Babbage
  - Mathmatician and inventor
  - "TheTwo calculating machines"
- Stevan Harnad
  - Harnad Papers on Cognitive Psychology

Psychologists

Karl Lashley
- Lashley, K.S. (1951) The problem of serial order in behaviour. In: Cerebral mechanisms in behaviour: the Hixon symposium. Edited by L. A. Jeffress. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Ivan Pavlov
B.F. Skinner
E.L. Thorndike
J.B. Watson

URLs

Cognitive Psychology Reading List (Daniel J. Simons)
History of Computers (Michelle A. Hoyle)
Smithsonian Information Age Exhibit--Photos of landmarks of the information age
- http://photo2.si.edu/infoage.html
Celebrities in Cognitive Science--index, basic, medium, links
- 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
- Norbert Weiner--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
  - Definitions
  - Macmillan Encyclopedia of Computers (long)
  - Shorter definition
  - Medium length definition
  - Vehicles Home Page (Braitenberg's view on cybernetics)
- Obsolete Computer Museum--index, basic, medium, links, graphics
  - A page dedicated to not so old but very obsolete computers. Brands included are: Amstrad, Apple, Atari, Commodore, Epson, IBM, NEC, Osborne, Sinclair, Tandy, and many others. http://www.ncsc.dni.us/fun/user/tcc/cmuseum/cmuseum.htm
- Alan Turing -- http://tawny.cs.nott.ac.uk/~sbx/winnie/aim/misc/a_turing.htm
- Alan Turing:-- A Natural Philosopher--text
  - http://www.turing.com/turing/philo/ex6.html
- Alan Turing -Home Page (Chicago Mirror)-- http://www.turing.com/turing/Turing.html
- Alan Turing: The Enigma --http://www.turing.com/turing/book.html
  - The Computerkultur --http://www.khm.uni-koeln.de/~nils/ckultur.html
- Pre-History of Cognitive Science Web (Carl Stahmer )
  - Carl Stahmer-- Department of English University of California, Santa Barbara
  - Robert Burton-- Anatomy of Melancholy According to Burton there are three types of Spirits, natural, vital, and animal, originating in the liver, heart, and brain respectively. The liver producesthe natural which are carried through the body by veins; the heart converts the natural spirits into vital spirits and transports these through the body via thearteries; and the brain converts the vital spirits into animal spirits and diffuses them "by the nerves, to the subordinate members, giv[ing] sense and motion to them all.
- John von Neumann--index, interm., short, links, graphics
  - 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
- Claude Shannon--index, basic, short, links, graphics
  - Page from AT&T contains a short biography of Claude Shannon whose 1948 paper on information theory serves as basis for much of modern psychology and cognitive science. The full text of that paper is available as a link from the page. http://www.att.com/attlabs/archive/shannon.html
  - Biography (short)
  - Biography (long)
  - 1948 Article, A mathematical theory of communication (Bell Labs)
- Charles Babbage -- index, inerm., short, links,graphics
  - Babbage was a social developer.
- Roger Schank
  - Engines for Education
  - Biography
- Lev Vygotsky -- index, basic,short,links,graphics
  - Vygotsky Profile (Tadeusz Zawidzki, Dictionary of Philosophy)
  - Social Development Theory Greg Kearsley (GWU)
  - Vygotsky and the contemporary sciences (1994 Conference)
    - Hanover College
    - Glasnet
    - Lower vs. Higher Mental Functions (Eugene Sobbotsky)
- Harnad Papers on Cognitive Psychology (categorical perception, symbol grounding, consciousness)

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