ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION In this chapter I want to consider one aspect of the relation between connectionism and the traditional information processing approach to cognitive psychology. The precise philosophical relationship between connectionism and symbolic approaches to cognitive psychology seems likely to be a subject of fervent debate for many years to come (e.g. Fodor & Pylyshyn, 1988; Pinker & Prince, 1988; Smolensky, 1988). It may seem that the pragmatic psychologist could safely ignore this philosophical debate and concentrate on the more important task of developing and testing new psychological theories. However, like it or not, this debate does have important implications for the way in which psychologists go about their daily activities.
