Introduction to Connectionist Modeling

Maurice Grinberg

New Bulgarian University

This course is intended to give initial theoretical and practical background in the connectionist approach to Cognitive Science. The basic concepts and methods of connectionism will be presented with emphsis on hands-on experience. The sessions will be mainly devoted to the use of connectionist simulation environments like Tlearn, Matlab and PDP.

Main readings:

McLeod, P., Plunkett, K., and Rolls, E.T. (1998), “Introduction to Connectionist Modelling of Cognitive Processes”, Oxford

Plunkett, K., and Elman, J.L. (1998), “Exercises in Rethinking Innateness: A Handbook for Connectionist Simulations”, MIT

Topic 1: Models in Cognitive Science: symbolic, connectionist and dynamical system approaches. The connectionist approach to Cognitive Science. Connectionist architectures. Basic concepts.

Readings:

· Chs. 1, 2 and 15 in McLeod, P., Plunkett, K., and Rolls, E.T. (1998), “Introduction to Connectionist Modelling of Cognitive Processes”, Oxford

Optional readings:

· Ch. 5 in Varela F. J., Thompson, E., Rosch, E., “Emergent Properties and Connectionism”, “The embodied mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”, MIT.

· Ch. 1 in Rolls E. T. and Treves A. (1998), “Neural Networks and Brain Function”, Oxford

· Ch. 2 in PDP: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition (1986), “A General Framework for Parallel Distributed Processing”, Rumelhart, D. E., Hinton, G. E. and McClelland, J. L.

· “The Symbolic and Connectionist Paradigms”, Dinsmore J., ed. (1992), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Ch. 1: “Thunder in the Gap”, Dinsmore J.

· Port, R. F. and van Gelder, T. (1995), “It’s About Time: An Overview of the Dynamical Approach to Cognition”, ch. 1 in “Mind as Motion: Exploration in the Dynamics of Cognition”, eds. Port, R. F. and van Gelder, T. (1995)

Topic 2: Learning paradigms: supervised and unsupervised learning. Learning in single-layered networks. The Hebbian learning rule. Pattern association and auto association. The ‘delta’ learning rule.

Readings:

· Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 in McLeod, P., Plunkett, K., and Rolls, E.T. (1998), “Introduction to Connectionist Modelling of Cognitive Processes”, Oxford

Optional readings:

· Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 in Rolls E. T. and Treves A. (1998), “Neural Networks and Brain Function”, Oxford

Topic 3: Supervised learning in multi-layered networks. The Backpropagation learning rule.

Readings:

· Ch. 5 in McLeod, P., Plunkett, K., and Rolls, E.T. (1998), “Introduction to Connectionist Modelling of Cognitive Processes”, Oxford

Optional readings:

· Seijnowski, T. J. and Rosenberg, C. R. (1987), NETtalk: a parallel network that learns to read aloud, Complex Systems 1:145-168

· Chapter 5 in Rolls E. T. and Treves A.,(1998), “Neural Networks and Brain Function”, Oxford

· Ch. 8 in PDP: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition, “Learning Internal Representations by Error Propagation”, Rumelhart, D. E., Hinton, G. E. and Williams, R. J.

Topic 4: Unsupervised learning. Competitive learning. Architecture and operation.

Readings:

· Ch. 6 in McLeod, P., Plunkett, K., and Rolls, E.T. (1998), “Introduction to Connectionist Modelling of Cognitive Processes”, Oxford

Optional readings:

· Ch. 4 in Rolls, E. T. and Treves, A. (1998), “Neural Networks and Brain Function”, Oxford

Topic 5: Recurrent networks. Simple recurrent networks. The constraint satisfaction problem. Hopfield networks.

Readings:

· Chs. 2, 7 and 15 in McLeod, P., Plunkett, K., and Rolls, E.T. (1998), “Introduction to Connectionist Modelling of Cognitive Processes”, Oxford

Optional readings:

· Ch. 3 in Rolls, E. T. and Treves, A. (1998), “Neural Networks and Brain Function”, Oxford

· Elman J. L. (1990), “Finding Structure in Time”, Cognitive Science v. 14, 179-211

· McClelland, J. L. and Rumelhart, D. E. (1981) “An Interactive Activation Model of Context Effects in Letter Perception: Part 1. An Account of Basic Findings.”, Psych. Rev. v. 88, no. 5, 357.

Maurice Grinberg

Maurice Grinberg is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology in the New Bulgarian University. His research interests are in the field of cognitive modeling.

Last updated 08/28/02 09:40