NCS survey paper

[Arun Jagota]

New e-publication: survey paper

David A. Medler, A Brief History of Connectionism, 
Neural Computing Surveys, 1, 61-101, 1998, 123 references.
http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/~jagota/NCS
medler at cnbc.cmu.edu

Abstract:

Connectionist research is firmly established within the scientific 
community, especially within the multi-disciplinary field of 
cognitive science. This diversity, however, has created an environment 
which makes it difficult for connectionist researchers to remain aware 
of recent advances in the field, let alone understand how the field 
has developed.  This paper attempts to address this problem by 
providing a brief guide to connectionist research.  The paper begins 
by defining the basic tenets of connectionism. Next, the development 
of connectionist research is traced, commencing with connectionism's 
philosophical predecessors, moving to early psychological and 
neuropsychological influences, followed by the mathematical and 
computing contributions to connectionist research. Current research is 
then reviewed, focusing specifically on the different types of network 
architectures and learning rules in use. The paper concludes by 
suggesting that neural network research---at least in cognitive 
science---should move towards models that incorporate the relevant 
functional principles inherent in neurobiological systems.