Computation and Representation

[@folkertslinus]

It's fascinating how learning about cognitive science makes you reflect on your way of thinking itself - awesome video bro

[@NothingButThought]

My dad has aphantasia and he only found out about it a few years back, when I talked about seeing pictures whilst reading. He does see images when he dreams though.

[@RYANRHODES-cogsci]

Whenever I talk about aphantasia to groups of people, one or two people will realize they have it - and they often have no idea that other people are actually experiencing mental imagery! One of my former professors just watched this video and discovered that he has aphantasia!

[@bethhamlin3518]

I only recently realized I have it while taking a Cognitive Psych course.@@RYANRHODES-cogsci

[@MrAndreaCaso]

The best introduction to CogSci topics on the internet, hands down. Thank you for posting!

[@manosprotonotarios5187]

to estimate the difference that weber's law predicts needs a number of repetitions of independent trials - also the money you spent is not spent :) you can change them back to a dollar and buy something

[@mandavishukla-o2v]

Thankyou for all videos.. LOVE FROM INDIA 💌

[@marlehanmohamed1815]

Took me some weeks of reading before getting back to this video again. Excellent extension of your previous 'Computational Theory of Mind' video. I got better understanding. Thanks so much. I wish to advance more knowledge around classical computational model (rule-governed, symbolic manipulation, serial) vs connectionist model (neural-inspired, sub-symbolic, distributed) of human cognition. Wonder if you got future video on this, Ryan.

[@ariiana333]

Great video! Really made me understand this topic better!🎉

[@ok-dv9dg]

just found this channel and love your videos! thank you!

[@RYANRHODES-cogsci]

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying them

[@ok-dv9dg]

@@RYANRHODES-cogsci If I have any questions about Cognitive Science as a study programme, should I write them here or should I contact you on social media or somewhere else?

[@RYANRHODES-cogsci]

@@ok-dv9dg Feel free to contact me on twitter: twitter.com/wavyphd

[@tanvi_1840]

Hi there! Just one thing- You are amazing!

[@RYANRHODES-cogsci]

Thank you!

[@tesafilm8447]

But what does computation as operation over representations even mean? How does it tie in with the more formal notion of computation?

[@alikomutan9927]

Love your content 👌👌👍👍

[@RYANRHODES-cogsci]

Thanks!

[@Raj0520]

Hey bro, u have cleared a lot of my doubts. But i still got one, it is said that mental states or intentional mental states such as belief or desire are defined as "relations" to mental representation. What is this relation? What is mental representation related to?

[@robertfarquharson2878]

In Classic (Fodorian) theory, the “relation to” part is the computational part of the representational theory of mind. You represent the proposition “that p”, some state of the world. But what is your “attitude” to that proposition? Do you believe it, fear it, desire it? So, your mental state in total is a “propositional attitude”, a particular kind of relation (an attitude) to a proposition (a representation).

[@THash-qs5qg]

The whole thing on Weber's law with the bag of pennies (and some falling) was wayyy too long and not really helpful....but you made it up by ending with this very important phrase: "The mind is an information processor that performs computations over representations"!

[@HAPPENSTANCE-j7c]

Your argument against realism was based on the idea that because our minds have a way to represent the world we don't have direct access to the world but is direct experience the same as thinking in abstractions ?

[@ScienceDrummer]

So wait, do people actually see a cat when they visualize it, as if they were actually looking at one? Or is it more vague and limited than what I'm thinking? Also, the red bag might have more older copper pennies than the blue bag which could have newer zinc pennies, making the red bag potentially heavier.

[@RYANRHODES-cogsci]

It's variable, but yeah! Some people have very vivid imagery, and some less so - it's kind of a spectrum. But if you don't have any imagery, you might have aphantasia!