The Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory

Research

 

Philosophical and Theoretical Issues

The new cognitive neuroscience has pushed forward the idea that advances in studying the mind scientifically will emerge by integrating behavioral studies, computer simulations, and neuroscience. Although such an interdisciplinary endeavor provides great opportunity and potential for discoveries, it is very tricky and has many pitfalls. It is not obvious how computers can provide insight to understanding cognition. There are questions surrounding their biological plausibility, and how they can be used to learn about higher cognitive functions.

The advances in the attempts to study the mind scientifically have also brought about new insights into classic philosophical debates and have raised new philosophical issues. For example, the parallel distributed processing computational approach (i.e., neural networks and connectionism) may suggest a unique way of conceptualizing cognition which can revolutionize cognitive science. This computational approach emerges from a radically different philosophical outlook, one which is laid out by Wittgenstein. Technology is also affecting and changing the nature of cognition (see this link too).

Related publications:

* Dror, I. E. & Thomas, R. D. (2005). The cognitive neuroscience laboratory: A framework for the science of mind. In C. Erneling & D. Johnson (Eds.), The Mind as a Scientific Object: Between Brain and Culture (pp. 283-292). Oxford University Press. [abstract]

* Dror, I. E. & Dascal, M. (1997). Can Wittgenstein help free the mind from rules? The philosophical foundations of connectionism. In D. Johnson & C. Erneling (Eds.), The Future of the Cognitive Revolution, (pp. 217-226). Oxford University Press.  [abstract]
* Dror, I. E. & Gallogly, D. (1999). Computational analyses in cognitive neuroscience: In defense of biological implausibility. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6 (2), 173-182.  [abstract]

* Dror, I. E. & Harnad, S. (in press). Offloading cognition onto cognitive technology. In Itiel E. Dror & Stevan Harnad (eds.), Distributed Cognition: How Cognitive Technology Extends Our Minds. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

* Dascal, M. & Dror, I. E.  (2005). The impact of cognitive technologies: Towards a pragmatic approach. Pragmatics & Cognition, 13 (3), 451-457. [abstract]

* Dror, I.E. (2005). Perception is far from perfection: The role of the brain and mind in constructing realities. Brain and Behavioural Sciences 28 (6), 763. [abstract]

* Engelbrecht, P. & Dror, I. E.  (in press). How psychology and cognition can inform the creation of ontologies in semantic technologies. In, Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, IOS Press.

* Harnad, S. & Dror, I.E. (2006).  Distributed Cognition. Pragmatics & Cognition, 14 (2), 209-123.

* Dror, I. E. & Peron, A.E. (2004). Computationalism new directions (book review). Pragmatics and Cognition.
* Dror, I. E. (in preparation). Connectionist computational modelling: The myth of mentalistic rule-following
* Dror, I. E. (1994). Neural network models as tools for understanding high-level cognition: Developing paradigms for cognitive interpretation of neural network models. In M. C. Mozer, P. Smolensky, D. S. Touretzky, J. L. Elman, & A. S. Weigend (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1993 Connectionist Models Summer School, (pp. 87-94). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
* Dror, I. E. & Young, M. J. (1994). The role of neural networks in cognitive science: Evolution or revolution? Psycoloquy, 5 (79).



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