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Quilty-Dunn J, Porot N, Mandelbaum E. The language-of-thought hypothesis as a working hypothesis in cognitive science. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e292. [PMID: 37766639 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23002431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/29/2023]
Abstract
The target article attempted to draw connections between broad swaths of evidence by noticing a common thread: Abstract, symbolic, compositional codes, that is, language-of-thoughts (LoTs). Commentators raised concerns about the evidence and offered fascinating extensions to areas we overlooked. Here we respond and highlight the many specific empirical questions to be answered in the next decade and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jake Quilty-Dunn
- Department of Philosophy and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA ; sites.google.com/site/jakequiltydunn/
| | - Nicolas Porot
- Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco ; nicolasporot.com
| | - Eric Mandelbaum
- Department of Philosophy and Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center & Baruch College, CUNY, New York, NY, USA ; ericmandelbaum.com
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Mandelbaum E, Porot N. How the Cognitive Science of Belief Can Transform the Study of Mental Health. JAMA Psychiatry 2023; 80:8-9. [PMID: 36350609 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.3611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
This Viewpoint highlights how new insights into belief acquisition, storage, and change can transform our understanding of psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Mandelbaum
- The Graduate Center and Baruch College, CUNY, New York, New York
| | - Nicolas Porot
- Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences, UM6P, Rabat, Morocco
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Abstract
Mental representations remain the central posits of psychology after many decades of scrutiny. However, there is no consensus about the representational format(s) of biological cognition. This paper provides a survey of evidence from computational cognitive psychology, perceptual psychology, developmental psychology, comparative psychology, and social psychology, and concludes that one type of format that routinely crops up is the language-of-thought (LoT). We outline six core properties of LoTs: (i) discrete constituents; (ii) role-filler independence; (iii) predicate-argument structure; (iv) logical operators; (v) inferential promiscuity; and (vi) abstract content. These properties cluster together throughout cognitive science. Bayesian computational modeling, compositional features of object perception, complex infant and animal reasoning, and automatic, intuitive cognition in adults all implicate LoT-like structures. Instead of regarding LoT as a relic of the previous century, researchers in cognitive science and philosophy-of-mind must take seriously the explanatory breadth of LoT-based architectures. We grant that the mind may harbor many formats and architectures, including iconic and associative structures as well as deep-neural-network-like architectures. However, as computational/representational approaches to the mind continue to advance, classical compositional symbolic structures - that is, LoTs - only prove more flexible and well-supported over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jake Quilty-Dunn
- Department of Philosophy and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA. , sites.google.com/site/jakequiltydunn/
| | - Nicolas Porot
- Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Rabat, Morocco. , nicolasporot.com
| | - Eric Mandelbaum
- Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, The Graduate Center & Baruch College, CUNY, New York, NY, USA. , ericmandelbaum.com
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Mandelbaum E, Dunham Y, Feiman R, Firestone C, Green EJ, Harris D, Kibbe MM, Kurdi B, Mylopoulos M, Shepherd J, Wellwood A, Porot N, Quilty-Dunn J. Problems and Mysteries of the Many Languages of Thought. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13225. [PMID: 36537721 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
"What is the structure of thought?" is as central a question as any in cognitive science. A classic answer to this question has appealed to a Language of Thought (LoT). We point to emerging research from disparate branches of the field that supports the LoT hypothesis, but also uncovers diversity in LoTs across cognitive systems, stages of development, and species. Our letter formulates open research questions for cognitive science concerning the varieties of rules and representations that underwrite various LoT-based systems and how these variations can help researchers taxonomize cognitive systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Mandelbaum
- Department of Philosophy, Baruch College.,Departments of Philosophy & Psychology, CUNY Graduate Center
| | | | - Roman Feiman
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University
| | - Chaz Firestone
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University
| | - E J Green
- Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| | - Daniel Harris
- Department of Philosophy, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center
| | - Melissa M Kibbe
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University
| | | | - Myrto Mylopoulos
- Departments of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Carleton University
| | - Joshua Shepherd
- Department of Philosophy, Carleton College.,Department of Philosophy, University of Barcelona
| | | | - Nicolas Porot
- Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
| | - Jake Quilty-Dunn
- Department of Philosophy & Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, Washington University in St Louis
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Epstein M, Quilty-Dunn J, Mandelbaum E, Emmanouil T. The Outlier Paradox: The Role of Iterative Ensemble Coding in Discounting Outliers. J Vis 2020. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.11.1472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
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Epstein ML, Quilty-Dunn J, Mandelbaum E, Emmanouil TA. The outlier paradox: The role of iterative ensemble coding in discounting outliers. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2020; 46:1267-1279. [PMID: 32757592 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Ensemble perception-the encoding of objects by their group properties-is known to be resistant to outlier noise. However, this resistance is somewhat paradoxical: how can the visual system determine which stimuli are outliers without already having derived statistical properties of the ensemble? A simple solution would be that ensemble perception is not a simple, one-step process; instead, outliers are detected through iterative computations that identify items with high deviance from the mean and reduce their weight in the representation over time. Here we tested this hypothesis. In Experiment 1, we found evidence that outliers are discounted from mean orientation judgments, extending previous results from ensemble face perception. In Experiment 2, we tested the timing of outlier rejection by having participants perform speeded judgments of sets with or without outliers. We observed significant increases in reaction time (RT) when outliers were present, but a decrease compared to no-outlier sets of matched range suggesting that range alone did not drive RTs. In Experiment 3 we tested the timing by which outlier noise reduces over time. We presented sets for variable exposure durations and found that noise decreases linearly over time. Altogether these results suggest that ensemble representations are optimized through iterative computations aimed at reducing noise. The finding that ensemble perception is an iterative process provides a useful framework for understanding contextual effects on ensemble perception. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael L Epstein
- Program in Psychology, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York
| | | | - Eric Mandelbaum
- Department of Philosophy, Baruch College, The City University of New York
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Porot N, Mandelbaum E. The science of belief: A progress report. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci 2020; 12:e1539. [PMID: 32627423 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2019] [Revised: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
The empirical study of belief is emerging at a rapid clip, uniting work from all corners of cognitive science. Reliance on belief in understanding and predicting behavior is widespread. Examples can be found, inter alia, in the placebo, attribution theory, theory of mind, and comparative psychological literatures. Research on belief also provides evidence for robust generalizations, including about how we fix, store, and change our beliefs. Evidence supports the existence of a Spinozan system of belief fixation: one that is automatic and independent of belief rejection. Independent research supports the existence of a system of fragmented belief storage: one that relies on large numbers of causally isolated, context-sensitive stores of belief in memory. Finally, empirical and observational data support at least two systems of belief change. One system adheres, mostly, to epistemological norms of updating; the other, the psychological immune system, functions to guard our most centrally held beliefs from potential inconsistency with newly formed beliefs. Refining our understanding of these systems can shed light on pressing real-world issues, such as how fake news, propaganda, and brainwashing exploit our psychology of belief, and how best to construct our modern informational world. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Reasoning and Decision Making Philosophy > Knowledge and Belief Philosophy > Foundations of Cognitive Science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Porot
- Philosophy, The Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Eric Mandelbaum
- Baruch College, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, New York, USA
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Abstract
Debates about modularity invariably involve a crucial premise about how visual illusions are experienced. This paper argues that these debates are wrongheaded, and that experience of illusions is orthogonal to the core issue of the modularity hypothesis: informational encapsulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Mandelbaum
- City University of New York Graduate Center, Baruch College, City University of New York, United States.
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Abstract
The idea that there is a "Number Sense" (Dehaene, 1997) or "Core Knowledge" of number ensconced in a modular processing system (Carey, 2009) has gained popularity as the study of numerical cognition has matured. However, these claims are generally made with little, if any, detailed examination of which modular properties are instantiated in numerical processing. In this article, I aim to rectify this situation by detailing the modular properties on display in numerical cognitive processing. In the process, I review literature from across the cognitive sciences and describe how the evidence reported in these works supports the hypothesis that numerical cognitive processing is modular. I outline the properties that would suffice for deeming a certain processing system a modular processing system. Subsequently, I use behavioral, neuropsychological, philosophical, and anthropological evidence to show that the number module is domain specific, informationally encapsulated, neurally localizable, subject to specific pathological breakdowns, mandatory, fast, and inaccessible at the person level; in other words, I use the evidence to demonstrate that some of our numerical capacity is housed in modular casing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Mandelbaum
- Department of Philosophy, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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Linz R, Lecocq E, Mandelbaum E. [Precipitating auto-antibodies in rabbits injected with killed bacteria]. C R Seances Soc Biol Fil 1968; 162:302-4. [PMID: 4236037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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Linz R, Lecocq E, Mandelbaum E. [On the formation of precipitating autoantibodies by rabbits. I. Precipitating autoantibodies formed after injection of living streptococci or staphylococci]. Ann Inst Pasteur (Paris) 1968; 114:379-93. [PMID: 5661583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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Linz R, Lecocq E, Mandelbaum E. [On the antibodies formed by rabbits injected with homologous tissues modified by a Streptococcus]. Ann Inst Pasteur (Paris) 1966; 110:205-17. [PMID: 5323847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
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Linz R, Lecocq E, Mandelbaum E. [Experimental allergic encephalitis and radiculitis in the rabbit after the injection of various preparations of nerve tissue]. Ann Inst Pasteur (Paris) 1965; 109:331-42. [PMID: 5317939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
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