Psychological studies of symbolic processing and parallel distributed processing

我们研究项目的假设是，人类解决问题的过程往往被认为是通过符号过程来执行的，实际上是通过我们大脑中并行分布的过程来执行的。为了验证这一假设，本项目旨在研究符号过程的内部表征与并行分布过程的内部表征之间的差异，并对比并发信息过程和连续信息过程。项目成果，由四组组成；数学组、感知组、认知组和行为组分别如下。数学组构建了运动感知信息处理的自回归模型，将Prolog组织的人工推理系统与人类推理系统进行了比较，研究了人类信息处理的基本模型遗传算法。感知组确定谷氨酸是视网膜双极细胞和视网膜神经节细胞之间的化学递质。认知组通过PDP模型模拟人类解决问题的一些能力，包括对自由落体物体规律的直观理解和物理定律的表述。行为组实验旨在分析猕猴对相关维度频繁变化的刺激做出GO/NO-GO反应时的问题解决能力，并研究与刺激-反应关系相关的脑单元。

The hypothesis of the project of our research was that human problem solving which tends to be regarded to be executed by symbolic processes are actually executed by parallel distributed processes in our brains. To testify the hypothesis, the project aimed to investigate the difference between the internal representations of symbolic processes and those of parallel distributed processes and to contrast concurrent information processes and successive information processes. The results of the project, composed of four groups ; the mathematical group, the perception group, the cognition group, and the behavior group, are as follows.The mathematical group constructed an auto-regression model for the information processing of motion perception, compared an artificial inference system organized with Prolog and a human inference system, and investigated a genetic algorithm, which is a fundamental model of human information processing.The perception group identified glutamic acid as a chemical transmitter between retinal bipolar cells and retinal ganglion cells.The cognition group simulated some abilities of human problem solving by a PDP model which included the intuitive understanding of the rule of free-fall objects and the formulation of a law of physics.The experiment of the behavior group was to analyze the problem solving of macaque monkeys which made GO/NO-GO responses to stimuli with relevant dimensions varied frequently and to investigate the brain units of the monkeys associated with the stimulus-response relations.