试论新联结主义的方法论

新联结主义是20世纪80年代早期认知心理学研究中所复兴的另一研究范式。相对于认知心理学的符号加工范式,新联结主义范式把"心理活动像大脑"作为其隐喻基础,这就决定了其在研究过程中必然要对大脑进行模拟研究,采用结构和功能模拟的方法。现代化研究手段不断运用于脑模拟研究,大脑的结构和功能也逐渐为人们所认识,大脑也不再是纯粹的"黑箱"系统,新联结主义就必然要采用灰箱方法。新联结主义把认知主要看成是神经网络相互作用中所突现的整体属性,因而必然会采用还原论与整体主义相融合的研究策略。

On the Methodology of New Connectionism

New connectionism is another paradigm reanimated in cognitive psychology in the early 1980s. Compared with the paradigm of symbolic processing of cognitive psychology, the paradigm of new connectionism views "mental activity acting as brain" as its metaphor, so it must simulate the brain in the study and adopt the method of structure and function simulating. With the modern means using in the study of brain simulating the brain is no longer a "black-box" system. Therefore, new connectionism adopts the grey-box method. Because new connectionism regards cognition mainly as the mass property emerging from the reaction of neural network, it must adopt the tactics of mass reductionism. On the guide of the methodology,the study of connectionism should shed more light on the nature of mind.