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    Symbolic representations need not play any role in comput... — Carmelics
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    Home/Philosophy of Language
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    Symbolic representations need not play any role in computational modeling when the goal is to demonstrate human-like performance in a biologically plausible model of language-related behavior

    Philosophy of Language
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    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

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    • 1.Biologically plausible models of language-related behavior (such as learning to apply words correctly to perceived objects, judging concept similarity, or assessing sentiment) can be constructed without symbolic representations
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    • 2.The computational goal in such cases is human-like performance, not symbolic fidelity
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Human-like performance on narrow benchmarks (word labeling, sentiment) systematically underdetermines the full cognitive profile of linguistic competence.
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    • 2.Chomsky and Fodor's poverty-of-the-stimulus arguments show that surface behavioral parity masks deep structural differences in generalization capacity.
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    • 3.A model that fails to generalize compositionally beyond training distribution has not demonstrated human-like language behavior, only local mimicry of it.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Fodor's Language of Thought hypothesis establishes that productive and systematic linguistic behavior requires a combinatorial, symbol-structured representational medium.
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    • 2.Connectionist systems that match human performance on trained tasks demonstrably fail systematically on structurally novel recombinations, as shown by Marcus (2001).
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    • 3.Biological plausibility cannot justify omitting symbolic structure if that structure is what explains the very behavioral profile the model claims to replicate.
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    Philosophy of LanguageConsciousness & Mind

    Key Terms

    Biologically plausible(describing models of how language behavior could work)
    Able to work in a way that matches how actual brains and bodies function, rather than being purely theoretical.
    Computational modeling(in artificial intelligence and cognitive science)
    Creating a computer program or mathematical system that simulates how something works, so you can study it and test ideas about it.
    Human-like performance(in artificial intelligence and cognitive science)
    When a computer or model does a task the way a human would, showing similar results, accuracy, or behavior.
    Language-related behavior(in linguistics and cognitive science)
    The actions and processes involved in how people understand, produce, and use language—like speaking, listening, reading, or understanding grammar.
    symbolic representations(Contrasted with imagistic representations in the context of language processing)
    Mental representations that encode content through abstract symbols rather than sensory images; the form posited by representationalist and connectionist accounts of language content.

    Related

    A model that fails to generalize compositionally beyond training distribution ha...Biological plausibility cannot justify omitting symbolic structure if that struc...Biologically plausible models of language-related behavior (such as learning to ...Chomsky and Fodor's poverty-of-the-stimulus arguments show that surface behavior...
    +4 moreShow less
    Connectionist systems that match human performance on trained tasks demonstrably...Fodor's Language of Thought hypothesis establishes that productive and systemati...

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: computational-linguistics
    View source passageHide passage
    On the other hand, if the computational goal is to demonstrate human-like performance in a biologically plausible (or biologically valid!) model of some form of language-related behavior, such as learning to apply words correctly to perceived objects or relationships, or learning to judge concept similarity, or to assess the tone (underlying sentiment) of a discourse segment, then symbolic representations need not play any role in the computational modeling. (However, to the extent that language
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Human-like performance on narrow benchmarks (word labeling, sentiment) systemati...
    The computational goal in such cases is human-like performance, not symbolic fid...

    Similar

    Biologically plausible models of language-related behavior (such as le...83%Something can be a representational model without being a logical mode...78%Different computational tasks require different capabilities from sema...77%Logical models and representational models are distinct concepts that ...77%
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    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
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