Preprint: Generalization with Componential Attractors

[David Plaut]

******************* PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD TO OTHER BBOARDS *******************

The following preprint is available via local anonymous ftp (*not* from
neuroprose).  Instructions on how to retrieve it are at the end of this
messages.  The paper will appear in this year's Cognitive Science Society
Conference Proceedings.  
-Dave

		 Generalization with Componential Attractors:
	       Word and Nonwords Reading in an Attractor Network

		    David C. Plaut and James L. McClelland
			   Department of Psychology
			  Carnegie Mellon University

Networks that learn to make familiar activity patterns into stable attractors
have proven useful in accounting for many aspects of normal and impaired
cognition.  However, their ability to generalize is questionable, particularly
in quasiregular tasks that involve both regularities and exceptions, such as
word reading.  We trained an attractor network to pronounce virtually all of a
large corpus of monosyllabic words, including both regular and exception words.
When tested on the lists of pronounceable nonwords used in several empirical
studies, its accuracy was closely comparable to that of human subjects.  The
network generalizes because the attractors it developed for regular words are
componential---they have substructure that reflects common sublexical
correspondences between orthography and phonology.  This componentiality is
faciliated by the use of orthographic and phonological representations that
make explicit the structured relationship between written and spoken words.
Furthermore, the componential attractors for regular words coexist with much
less componential attractors for exception words.  These results demonstrate
that attractors can support effective generalization, challenging
``dual-route'' assumptions that multiple, independent mechanisms are required
for quasiregular tasks.

unix> ftp hydra.psy.cmu.edu			# or 128.2.248.152
Name: anonymous
Password: <email address>
ftp> cd pub/plaut
ftp> binary
ftp> get plaut.componential.cogsci93.ps.Z
ftp> quit
unix> zcat plaut.componential.cogsci93.ps.Z | lpr -

I'd like to thank Jordan Pollack for not maintaining this archive....

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David Plaut						        plaut+ at cmu.edu
Department of Psychology					  412/268-5145
Carnegie Mellon University				     FAX: 412/268-5060
Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890
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