cognitive 9

Language of Thought

the mind acts as a symbol manipulator similar to a Turing Machine.

Markov Chain

A system describing a sequence of distinct states where the probability of each transition depends only on the state that came before; it is a type of probabilistic finite-state machine.

Long-distance dependency

A linguistic problem for Markov models where the choice of one word requires a specific corresponding word later in the sequence

Phrase Structure Grammar

A linguistic framework that resolves Markov model limitations by organizing symbols into hierarchical trees and nested constituents.

Recursive Rule

A rule that embeds one instance of a symbol inside another instance of the same symbol, such as $S \rightarrow \text{if } S \text{ then } S$, which allows for productivity.

Hierarchical structure

A system where symbols are chunked into larger and larger nested constituents; used to explain natural language, perception (part-whole structures), and goal-directed action.

Productivity

One of the three aspects of thought explained by the Language of Thought, referring to the ability to generate an infinite number of expressions from finite symbols.

Formal System

A system that takes symbols, combines them into complex expressions, and manipulates them using processes.

Logical Structure

The property of Mentalese expressions containing analogs of logical operators: $∧$ ("and"), $∨$ ("or"), $¬$ ("not"), $→$ ("if… then"), $∃$ ("some"), and $∀$ ("all").

Constituency

The principle that complex expressions are built from simpler expressions, or constituents (e.g., $SIT( )$ + $JOHN$).

Compositionality

The principle that the meaning of a complex expression is a function of the meaning of its constituents and the way they are combined.

Syntactic Processes

Computations that manipulate symbols based on their formal syntactic properties (form) rather than their semantic properties (meaning).

Productivity

The ability to entertain a potential infinity of thoughts by applying a finite set of rules for building complex expressions to a finite set of symbols.

Systematicity of Thought

The interrelations between the thoughts we can have, explained by the LoT as simple symbols that can be recombined in different ways (e.g., $MIM(BL, GR)$ and $MIM(GR, BL)$).

Systematicity of Thinking

The interrelations between the ways in which we can think, based on the logical structure of LoT and syntactic rules of deduction (e.g., $(A ∧ B) → A$).

Language of Thought Hypothesis

The theory that higher-level cognition occurs in a mental language with logical form, where complex expressions are built from constituents following syntactic rules.

Mentalese

The mental language used in the Language of Thought (LoT) which has logical form but is distinct from natural language.