ABSTRACT
Conceptual change can be accounted for at various levels of explanation. The cognitive level (Marr’s computational level), the representational (Marr’s “algorithmic”), and the implementational level. In this paper, we offer a dynamical account of types of conceptual change at the representational level. Our aim is to show that some classes of neural models can implement the types of change that we have proposed elsewhere. First we briefly describe at the cognitive level certain types of change that purport to account for some of the kinds of conceptual change. Then we lay forth the framework of dynamical connectionism; we discuss the representational level realizations of the cognitive level and claim that these can be depicted as points in the system’s activational landscape. We offer, third, a dynamical account of some types change and we claim that conceptual change can be modeled as a process of modification, appearance of new and disappearance of attractors and/or basins of attraction that shape the system’s landscape. Finally, we discuss the kinds of mechanisms at the representational level that could produce the types of change observed at the cognitive level, as modeled by means of dynamic connectionism.
