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Temporal synchrony, dynamic bindings, and Shruti: A representational but nonclassical model of reflexive reasoning

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Commentary onL.Shastri and V.Ajjanagadde (1993) From simple associations to systematic reasoning: A connectionist representation of rules, variables, and dynamic bindings using temporal synchrony. BBS 16:417–494.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Lokendra Shastri
Lokendra Shastri
Affiliation:
International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, CA 94704. shastri@icsi.berkeley.edu
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Abstract

Lange & Dyer misunderstand what is meant by an “entity” and confuse a medium of representation (synchrony) with the content being represented. This leads them to the erroneous conclusion that SHRUTI will run out of phases and that its representation of bindings lacks semantic content. It is argued that (1) the limit on the number of phases suffices, and (2) SHRUTI can be interpreted as using “dynamic signatures” that offer significant advantages over fixed preexisting signatures. Bonatti refers to three levels of commitment to a representational theory of the mind (RTM) and states that SHRUTI is committed to RTM at levels 1 and 2. He acknowledges that SHRUTI is not committed at level 3, but argues that an extended SHRUTI would have to make such a commitment. We agree that SHRUTI is committed to RTM at level 1 and, in a sense, also at level 2. SHRUTI, however, is not committed to RTM at level 3 and, even though it has been extended in several ways, it has retained its original representational character.

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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , June 1996, pp. 331 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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