Cognitive science(s)
"Cognitive science" or "cognitive sciences" is an interdisciplinary research field with roots in cognitive psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence and philosophy.
Fields like cybernetics and control theory, information theory, decision theory and the development of computer technology were important elements in the establishment of this field, which took place around 1975 with Norman & Rummelhart (1975) among the first books. The journal Cognitive Science started in 1977 and "The Cognitive Science Society" held its first annual meeting in 1979.
Cognitive science is mainly seen as a field. It can also, however, been seen as
certain theoretical view of cognitive processes. Compared to
existing theories about cognitive processes (which goes hundreds of years back
in time) Winograd & Flores (1987) characterizes cognitive science as a
rationalist and formalist view on cognition. Such a view has, however, existed
much before cognitive science (in
rationalism).
Other defining characteristics of cognitive science is its particular kind of functionalism: That cognitive processes may be described as information processing, which takes places in human beings, in animals and in computers. It is also characteristic of cognitive science that theories and models which are tested on computers are put forward.
Pylshyn (1983, p. 70) writes: "There are a number of ways of expressing this theme-for example, as the attempt to view intelligent behavior as consisting of processing information or to view intelligence as the outcome of rule-governed activity. But these characterizations express the same underlying idea: Computation, information processing, and rule-governed behavior all depend on the existence of physically instantiated codes or symbols that refer to or represent things and properties outside the behaving system. In all these instances, the behavior of the systems in question (be they minds, computers, or social systems) is explained, not in terms of intrinsic properties of the system itself, but in terms of rules and processes that operate on representations of extrinsic things".
Within psychology is the term "information-processing-psychology" used synonymously. This paradigm was introduced about 1956 by, in particular, Jerome Bruner, Noam Chomsky, George A. Miller and Ulrich Neisser. Its was received as a scientific revolution. By the 1990s it was, however, confronted by increasing criticisms (cf., Morris, 1995 & Leahey, 1992). Also Bruner has turned against his own former understanding.
Bruner (1990) writes: [The cognitive revolution] became fractionated and technicalized ... Very early on, for example, emphasis began shifting from "meaning" to "information", from the construction of meaning to the processing of information. These are profoundly different matters. The key factor in the shift was the introduction of computation as the ruling metaphor and of computability as a necessary criterion of a good theoretical model. Information is indifferent with respect to meaning..." (p. 4).
"It is not surprising, then, that a reaction has set in against the narrowing
and "sealing in" that are afflicting psychology. The wider intellectual
community comes increasingly to ignore our journals, which seem to outsiders
principally to contain intellectually unsituated little studies, each a response
to a handful of like little studies. Inside psychology there is a worried
restlessness about the state of our discipline, and the beginning of a new
search for means of reformulating it..." (p. xi)
"Cognitive science(s)" represent a specific understanding of cognition
which opposes other understandings in psychology and related fields. Among the
competing views in psychology are behaviorism, hermeneutics, phenomenology,
pragmatist and cultural-historical psychology. Within Library and
Information Science (LIS) is the cognitive view opposed to
domain analysis (cf.,
Hjørland & Albrechtsen, 1995).
About the
relationship with information science writes Pylyshyn (1983, p. 74): "Thus it
is fair to view cognitive science as primarily an empirical natural science
concerned with a subset of the class of problems in information science, namely,
those that bear on the general question of the exercise of intelligence by
systems that exist at least partially in an autonomous relation with a natural
and social environment to which they are actively adapting".
In an article in Human IT Peter Gärdenfors (1999) noted that
Such an alternative view on cognitive processes emphasizing culture and action a long time existed before cognitive science was born as a movement. Persons such as John Dewey, S. L. Vygotsky and A. N. Leontiev were early spokesmen for such a view, which should be seen as an alternative conception compared to the basic ideas with cognitive science, whether this is based on connectionism and neural networks or on symbolic representationism.
Literature:
Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gardner, H. (1985). The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution. New York: Basic Books.
Gärdenfors, P. (1999). Cognitive science: From computers to anthills as models of human thought. Human IT, 3(2), 9-36. www.hb.se/bhs/ith/2-99/pg.htm
Hjørland, B. (1991). Det kognitive paradigme i Biblioteks- og informationsvidenskaben. Biblioteksarbejde, #33, 5-37. (In Danish). (Click for pdf).
Hjørland, B. & Albrechtsen, H. (1995). Toward A New Horizon in Information Science: Domain Analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 1995, 46(6), 400-425.
Ingwersen, P. (1992). Information Systems Interaction. London: Taylor Graham. Available at: http://www.db.dk/pi/iri/files/Ingwersen_IRI.pdf
Leahey, T. H. (1992). The mytical revolutions of American psychology. American Psychologists, 47, 308-318.
Morris, E. K.
(1995). Debate on Cognitivism. Contemporary Psychology, 40(5),
489-490.
Norman, D.; Rumelhard,
D. & the LNR Group (1975). Explorations in Cognition. San
Francisco: Freeman.
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1983). Information Science as Viewed from the Perspective of Cognitive Science Pp. 63-74 IN: The Study of Information. Interdisciplinary Messages. Ed. by Fritz Machlup & Una Mansfield. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Still, Arthur & Alan Costall, A. (1991). Against Cognitivism. Alternative Foundations for Cognitive Psychology. England: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Winograd, T. & Flores, C. F. (1987), Understanding Computers and Cognition: a New Foundation for Design. Reading, Ma: Addison-Wesley.
See also: Cognitive view in LIS; Cognitivism & Psychologism (Epistemological lifeboat)
Cognitivism in Psychology (Epistemological lifeboat).
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 27-02-2006