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Discrimination Nets as Psychological Models *
Author(s) -
Barsalou Lawrence W.,
Bower Gordon H.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1207/s15516709cog0801_1
Subject(s) - inefficiency , contingency , computer science , cognition , cognitive psychology , contingency table , sensitivity (control systems) , test (biology) , property (philosophy) , psychology , artificial intelligence , machine learning , neuroscience , electronic engineering , engineering , economics , biology , microeconomics , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , epistemology
Simulations of human cognitive processes often employ discrimination nets to model the access of permanent memory. We consider two types of discrimination nets—EPAM and positive‐proper‐only nets—and argue that they have insufficient psychological validity. Their deficiencies arise from negative properties, insufficient sensitivity to the discriminativeness of properties, extreme sensitivity to missing or incorrect properties, inefficiency in representing multiple knowledge domains, and seriality. We argue that these deficiencies stem from a high degree of test contingency in utilizing property information during acquisition and memory search. Discrimination nets are compared to other models that have less or no test contingency (e.g., PANDEMONIUM) and that thereby avoid the problems of discrimination nets. We propose that understanding test contingency and discovering psychologically valid ways to implement it will be central to understanding and simulating memory indexing in human cognition.