Linked Life Data

18479531

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/18479531

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-5-15
pubmed:abstractText
Over the last quarter century, the dominant tendency in comparative cognitive psychology has been to emphasize the similarities between human and nonhuman minds and to downplay the differences as "one of degree and not of kind" (Darwin 1871). In the present target article, we argue that Darwin was mistaken: the profound biological continuity between human and nonhuman animals masks an equally profound discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. To wit, there is a significant discontinuity in the degree to which human and nonhuman animals are able to approximate the higher-order, systematic, relational capabilities of a physical symbol system (PSS) (Newell 1980). We show that this symbolic-relational discontinuity pervades nearly every domain of cognition and runs much deeper than even the spectacular scaffolding provided by language or culture alone can explain. We propose a representational-level specification as to where human and nonhuman animals' abilities to approximate a PSS are similar and where they differ. We conclude by suggesting that recent symbolic-connectionist models of cognition shed new light on the mechanisms that underlie the gap between human and nonhuman minds.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
1469-1825
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
31
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
109-30; discussion 130-178
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-11-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2008
pubmed:articleTitle
Darwin's mistake: explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Psychology, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. dcpenn@ucla.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural