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Lesson 1 : History and Research Methods
Computers and Cognitive Revolution
In 1950, Alan Turing discussed the relationship between machines and intelligence. His influential paper set the stage for developing the metaphor between the mind and the computer. Turing devised the now famous test of intelligence, named the Turing test. The basic idea of this test is a framework to examine whether a machine has intelligence. Watch Video 1.1. for an explanation.
JEREMY, REPORTER: Very credible scientists out there are pushing A.I. as the next big thing. Even Alan Turing predicted that one day computers would have minds of their own.
To find out whether a computer was intelligent or not, Turing devised a test. It was very simple. He said that if you can have a conversation with it and believe it be human, then it must have some kind of intelligence.
[A SERIES OF IMAGES OF A COMPUTER TESTING ROOM IS SHOWN]
He even scripted an example of the kind of intelligent chats that might occur.
[DRAMATIZATION OF A MAN TALKING TO A COMPUTER]MAN: In the first line of your sonnet, which reads, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" would not a spring day do as well or better?
COMPUTER: It wouldn't scan.
MAN: How about a winter's day? That would scan all right.
COMPUTER: Yes, but nobody wants to be compared to a winter's day.
MAN: Would you say that Mr. Pickwick reminded you of Christmas?
COMPUTER: In a way.
MAN: Yet Christmas is a winter's day, and I don't think that Mr. Pickwick would mind the comparison.
COMPUTER: I don't think you're serious. By a winter's day, one means a typical winter's day, rather than a special one like Christmas.
[LAUGHTER]
JEREMY: In 1950, Turing predicted that within a hundred years, we'd be able to have a conversation like that on any subject with a machine. However, there are those who say we can do it now, 50 years early.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JEREMY, SITTING IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER: This is what they're talking about.
[A WOMAN'S FACE APPEARS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN]
JEREMY: This is Ella. Don't be fooled by the picture. She's a machine, and I'm supposed to be able to have a conversation with her. So let's give it a try. What's she saying here?
ELLA: Hello, my name's Ella. Nice to meet you. Please tell me what name I should call you.
JEREMY: Jeremy, say.
ELLA: Does being a man pay well?
JEREMY: Do you like cheese?
ELLA: I'm not so excited about cheese. A little is OK.
JEREMY: I saw the Doobie Brothers there.
ELLA: How did it look to you?
JEREMY: Not it look, they look. You've never heard of the Doobie Brothers, have you?
ELLA: What's heard of the Doobie Brothers?
[LAUGHTER]
JEREMY: You don't even know where to put apostrophes.
She's intelligent in the same way that I think my dog's intelligent. Who, what, where, why, and how—you should be a newspaper reporter. Again, let me change the subject a little. Hmm, she doesn't know, does she?
[VIDEO ENDS]
Turing set the stage for looking at the relationship between the mind and the computer. It was around this time (1950s and 1960s) that digital computer use was rising at universities across the country (there still weren’t any at home yet; most of the computers at the time took up large rooms—yes, rooms!). In fact, look at Figure 1.3 of MIT’s Whirlwind computer from 1951. It took up 3,100 square feet of floor space—bigger than many homes—and had a memory of 32 kB (32,768 bytes). Compare that amount to the new iPhone 5 on the right in Figure 1.3. The iPhone 5 has a volume of 3.31 in3 and a memory of 64 GB (68,720,000,000 bytes).
Figure 1.3. Computers in 1951 vs. 2013
Similarities
The spread of computers gave researchers another way to think about the mind. Both computers and people must use and store information. In fact, the metaphor between computers and the mind has proven quite useful over the years. For example, take a look at a flow diagram for an early computer and compare that with a diagram of an early model of attention (covered more in Lesson 4).
Figure 1.4. Early Comptuer Flow Diagram
Figure 1.5. Early Model of Attention
Notice the similarity in the form of the two images. The flow diagrams that were used by computer scientists proved useful in describing the mind as well.
But the similarities between the computers and the mind go beyond diagramming how they work. Both have to code information in a way that can be used. Computers use binary code to represent information (a series of 0s and 1s). Input into a computer (from a keyboard, mouse, camera, or any other device) is coded into binary code so that the hardware and software of the computer are able to use, manipulate, and store the information. A similar transformation takes place during the output, whether the information is presented on a screen or sent to a printer or speaker.
Our minds must perform similar operations. When we perceive information from the environment, our sensory receptors must take energy from the environment (electromagnetic energy for light, sound waves for sound, etc.) and convert the energy into signals that the brain can use (action potentials). Note that we will cover the brain and action potentials in Lesson 2 and perception in Lesson 3. The brain must also represent the information in a way that allows us to connect the information from the environment with information that we have experienced before (for example, to allow us to identify objects and people). The brain has to store information so we can retrieve it later (e.g., memory, which is covered in Lessons 5–8) as well as manipulate the information so we can use it (e.g., knowledge—Lesson 9, problem solving—Lesson 12, and reasoning and decision making—Lesson 14). The representation of information is critical to our understanding of how our minds operate, and we will examine this issue throughout the remainder of the semester.
Differences
While the computer metaphor of the mind has proven useful in our understanding, the metaphor is far from perfect. A few key differences between the mind and the computer are
- active versus passive processing and
- serial versus parallel processing.
While active versus passive processing might not be the best way to describe the problem, humans have the ability to learn great amounts of information. Currently, computers are limited in the ways that they can process information; everything must be programmed into a computer. The transformations that computers make are based on code written by developers. You could make the argument that humans are based on code as well, but we are able to handle and interact with our environment in a much more complex fashion. Additionally, most current computers (although this is slowly changing) are designed to run serially (one step must be completed before another can be started). Humans on the other hand, are able to run in parallel (with many processes running at the same time). These differences have large implications for the way that we handle and represent information from our environment but also limit the extent to which computers can be used as an analogy to our minds.