What makes people smarter than computers? These volumes by a pioneering neurocomputing group suggest that the answer lies in the massively parallel architecture of the human mind. They describe a new theory of cognition called connectionism that is challenging the idea of symbolic computation that has traditionally been at the center of debate in theoretical discussions about the mind. The authors' theory assumes the mind is composed of a great number of elementary units connected in a neural network. Mental processes are interactions between these units which excite and inhibit each other in parallel rather than sequential operations. In this context, knowledge can no longer be thought of as stored in localized structures; instead, it consists of the connections between pairs of units that are distributed throughout the network. Volume 1 lays the foundations of this exciting theory of parallel distributed processing, while Volume 2 applies it to a number of specific issues in cognitive science and neuroscience, with chapters describing models of aspects of perception, memory, language, and thought.

以“心理活动象大脑”作为理论启示，采用结构和功能模拟等方法，通过对大脑的同构型和同形型模型的研究来揭示认知过程的本质。在具体研究过程中，特别注重和强调神经网络的整体活动以及联结权重的作用，对感觉、学习、记忆、语言、思维、认知障碍等问题进行较为深入的研究。本书对此进行较为详细的介绍和分析研究，并进行较为全面和客观的评价。