Stafford, T. (2009) What use are computational models of cognitive processes? In: Mayor, J., Ruh, N. and Plunkett, K., (eds.) Connectionist Models of Behaviour and Cognition II. 11th Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop, 16-18 Jul 2008, Oxford, UK. Progress in Neural Processing (18). World Scientific Publishing , 265 - 274. ISBN 978-981-283-422-5
Abstract
Computational modellers are not always explicit about their motivations for constructing mod- els, nor are they always explicit about the theoretical implications of their models once con- structed. Perhaps in part due to this, models have been criticised as “black-box” exercises which can play little or no role in scientific explanation. This paper argues that models are useful, and that the motivations for constructing computational models can be made clear by considering the roles that tautologies can play in the development of explanatory theories. From this, additionally, I propose that although there are diverse benefits of model building, only one class of benefits — those which relate to explanation — can provide justification for the activity.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Connectionist Models of Behaviour and Cognition II, eds. Julien Mayor, Nicolas Ruh and Kim Plunkett, Copyright @ 2009 with permission from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Dec 2015 17:02 |
Last Modified: | 19 Aug 2019 13:53 |
Published Version: | https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | World Scientific Publishing |
Series Name: | Progress in Neural Processing |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1142/9789812834232_0022 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:92213 |