Unified Theories of Cognition
Newell, A. (1990)
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Nominator's statement
- This is the "magnum opus" from one of the founders of cognitive science, a reworking of his William James Lectures of 1987. While not going quite as far as the claim by neuroscientists that no neuron in the brain is more than three synapses away from any other, it is diametrically opposed to the mental modularity hypothesis, showing how a vast array of cognitive phenomena can be encompassed and largely predicted from a single underlying problem-solving process that is elaborated in different ways in different contexts. It should also be noted for its statement of what should be called "Newell's Representation Law", which places a precise mathematical defintition on a concept that has confused generations of psychologists, philosophers, and computer scientists. The Representation Law is especially notable for its use of higher-order functions, an advance that continues to be understood only dimly in discussions of the role and status of functionalism.
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