A book which promises a theory of human intelligence, capable of being modelled on present day computers, and a synthesis of the theories of Hebb, Miller, Sokolov and Piaget promises a great deal.
Computers are intrinsically stupid, and AI workers regard the simulation of human thought processes as an extremely long-term goal, contenting themselves with extending the capability of machines to perform "intelligent" functions, for example the ability to interpret complex inputs or to find new solutions to problems. However, despite the computer model this is really an essay in theoretical psychology rather than true artificial intelligence.
A major portion of the book is devoted to an interpretation of Piaget's theory of intellectual development up to about age two, which is the end of the so-called sensori-motor period and is of course a good deal short of playing chess or solving cryptarithmetic problems. The interpretation is in terms of a data structure on the one hand and an operating system on the other. The data structure is composed of elements tentatively corresponding to Hebb's cell assemblies or Piaget's schemata. The operating system; as a wired-in hardware part, roughly represents the regulating system of the brain stem.
The input and output elements of the data structure are initially connected so as to.provide reflexive circular reactions, such as sucking and grasping. The properties of the operating system control the amount of reverberation or activity in the elements and the extent to which each can excite adjacent elements, by analogy controlling the attention span of the whole system.
The orienting response, described by Sokolov, is an essential feature of the operating system. Orienting, amongst other things decreases motor activity (reverberation in output elements) thus allowing new input elements to activate and control motor elements. Changes in the data structure take place through experience with a variety of new sensations and objects. Like Hebb's cell assemblies, they grow with experience.
These processes are equated with the Piagetian notions of accommodation and assimilation, but as a basically associative model, both classical and instrumental conditioning come within its scope. With the UCS and UCR considered as elements which reverberate simultaneously with the CS, a new element, a co-ordinating assembly, is set up forming a link between CS and CR such that activity flows through a co-ordinated set of elements. In operant conditioning the reinforcer is 621