Paper Available: RAAM

[doug blank]

	    Exploring the Symbolic/Subsymbolic Continuum:
			 A Case Study of RAAM

	    Douglas S. Blank (blank at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)
	     Lisa A. Meeden (meeden at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)
	  James B. Marshall (marshall at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)

			  Indiana University
		Computer Science and Cognitive Science
			     Departments

Abstract:

This paper is an in-depth study of the mechanics of recursive
auto-associative memory, or RAAM, an architecture developed by Jordan
Pollack.  It is divided into three main sections: an attempt to place
the symbolic and subsymbolic paradigms on a common ground; an analysis
of a simple RAAM; and a description of a set of experiments performed
on simple "tarzan" sentences encoded by a larger RAAM.

We define the symbolic and subsymbolic paradigms as two opposing
corners of an abstract space of paradigms. This space, we propose, has
roughly three dimensions: representation, composition, and
functionality. By defining the differences in these terms, we are able
to place actual models in the paradigm space, and compare these models
in somewhat common terms.

As an example of the subsymbolic corner of the space, we examine in
detail the RAAM architecture, representations, compositional
mechanisms, and functionality. In conjunction with other simple
feed-forward networks, we create detectors, decoders and transformers
which act holistically on the composed, distributed, continuous
subsymbolic representations created by a RAAM. These tasks, although
trivial for a symbolic system, are accomplished without the need to
decode a composite structure into its constituent parts, as symbolic
systems must do.

The paper can be found in the neuroprose archive as blank.raam.ps.Z; a
detailed example of how to retrieve the paper follows at the end of
this message. A version of the paper will also appear in your local
bookstores as a chapter in "Closing the Gap: Symbolism vs
Connectionism," J. Dinsmore, editor; LEA, publishers. 1992.

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