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learning_theories:connectionism [2011/02/21 16:45] jpetrovic [What is connectionism?] |
learning_theories:connectionism [2011/02/22 11:03] jpetrovic [What is connectionism?] |
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===== What is connectionism? ===== | ===== What is connectionism? ===== | ||
- | Connectionism represents psychology's first comprehensive theory of learning((Zimmerman, Barry J., and Dale H. Schunk. Educational psychology: a century of contributions. Routledge, 2003.)). It was later introduced by [[http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/spencer_herbert.html|Herbert Spencer]], [[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/|William James]] and his student [[http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/thorndike.htm|Edward Thorndike]] in the very beginning of the 20th century. Connectionism was then **based on principles of associationism** which claimed that((W. Bechtel and Abrahamsen, A. Connectionism and the Mind: An Introduction to Parallel Processing in Networks. Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, 1991.)): | + | Connectionism represents psychology's first comprehensive theory of learning((Zimmerman, Barry J., and Dale H. Schunk. Educational psychology: a century of contributions. Routledge, 2003.)). It was introduced by [[http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/spencer_herbert.html|Herbert Spencer]], [[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/|William James]] and his student [[http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/thorndike.htm|Edward Thorndike]] in the very beginning of the 20th century. Connectionism was then **based on principles of associationism** which claimed that((W. Bechtel and Abrahamsen, A. Connectionism and the Mind: An Introduction to Parallel Processing in Networks. Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, 1991.)): |
* Mental elements or ideas become associated with one another through experience | * Mental elements or ideas become associated with one another through experience | ||
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But connectionism **expands** this **ideas of associationism** by introducing distributed representations or supervised learning(([[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.86.7504&rep=rep1&type=pdf|Medler, David A. A Brief History of Connectionism. Neural Computing Surveys, 1(2), p18-72. 1998.]])) and should not be confused with associationism. Although he is considered one of the first true connectionist, William James' student Edward Thorndike also made the move towards behaviorist ideas. | But connectionism **expands** this **ideas of associationism** by introducing distributed representations or supervised learning(([[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.86.7504&rep=rep1&type=pdf|Medler, David A. A Brief History of Connectionism. Neural Computing Surveys, 1(2), p18-72. 1998.]])) and should not be confused with associationism. Although he is considered one of the first true connectionist, William James' student Edward Thorndike also made the move towards behaviorist ideas. | ||
- | [[http://historyofpsych.blogspot.com/2010/01/american-behaviorism.html|{{ images:thorndikes_cat.jpg|Thorndike's cat experiment (Image borrowed from: History of Psychology: American Behaviorism. Click on the picture to follow the link.)) }}]] | + | [[http://historyofpsych.blogspot.com/2010/01/american-behaviorism.html|{{ images:thorndikes_cat.jpg|Thorndike's cat experiment. Image borrowed from: History of Psychology: American Behaviorism. Click on the picture to follow the link. }}]] |
At the very end of 19th century Thorndike performed experiments first on chickens and later on cats and dogs. In one experiment he placed a hungry cat inside a //puzzle box//, which had a mechanism that would open the doors of the box every time a string would be pulled or a button pushed. Behavior which resulted in opening the doors was slowly increased as the cat after each successful attempt to open the door needed a bit less time repeat the same action after being put back into the box. Based on this experiment Thorndike concluded learning is **incremental** and **not insightful**, since it occurred only through //trial and error// forming of associations between situation and response, where correct response was achieved through repetition of trial and error. Established connections or knowledge, according to Thorndike also cause and determine intelligence. | At the very end of 19th century Thorndike performed experiments first on chickens and later on cats and dogs. In one experiment he placed a hungry cat inside a //puzzle box//, which had a mechanism that would open the doors of the box every time a string would be pulled or a button pushed. Behavior which resulted in opening the doors was slowly increased as the cat after each successful attempt to open the door needed a bit less time repeat the same action after being put back into the box. Based on this experiment Thorndike concluded learning is **incremental** and **not insightful**, since it occurred only through //trial and error// forming of associations between situation and response, where correct response was achieved through repetition of trial and error. Established connections or knowledge, according to Thorndike also cause and determine intelligence. |