Conceptions of the Human Mind Essays in Honor of George A. Miller

This volume is a direct result of a conference held at Princeton University to honor George A. Miller, an extraordinary psychologist. A distinguished panel of speakers from various disciplines -- psychology, philosophy, neuroscience and artificial intelligence -- were challenged to respond to Dr. Miller's query:

"What has happened to cognition? In other words, what has the past 30 years contributed to our understanding of the mind? Do we really know anything that wasn't already clear to William James?"

Each participant tried to stand back a little from his or her most recent work, but to address the general question from his or her particular standpoint. The chapters in the present volume derive from that occasion.

Contents: Preface. T. Bever, Toast for G.A. Miller. M.S. Gazzaniga, The Implication of Specialized Neuronal Circuits Versus Neuronal Number for Concepts Concerning the Nature of Human Conscious Experience. W. Hirst, On the Nature of Systems? J.F. Lehman, A. Newell, T. Polk, R.L. Lewis, The Role of Language in Cognition: A Computational Inquiry. S. Pinker, The Central Problem for the Psycholinguist. E.E. Jones, The Social in Cognition. R.E. Nisbett, Rules, Reasoning, and Choice Behavior. G. Harman, Can Science Understand the Mind? J. Bruner, Explaining and Interpreting: Two Ways of Using Mind. S. Carey, Speaking of Objects, as Such. W.R. Garner, How Mind Works, if There Is One. P.N. Johnson-Laird, How the Mind Thinks. R.N. Shepard, On the Physical Basis, Linguistic Representation, and Conscious Experience of Colors. M. Cole, Remembering the Future.