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Assessment and Communication for People with Disorders of Consciousness

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Published on: August 1, 2017

Codes, communication and cognition.

Stevan Harnad¹

¹Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal (Québec) H3C 3P8, Canada; Department of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, SouthamptonSO17 1TW, UK. harnad@soton.ac.uk.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences

|November 29, 2019

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Neural coding is criticized for implying a homuncular decoder. However, complex causal throughput, as suggested by Turing, offers a more accurate framework for understanding neural processes, distinct from the symbol grounding problem.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Philosophy of Mind
Cognitive Science

Background:

The concept of neural coding faces criticism for its homuncular implications, suggesting neural signals require a "decoder."
This "dualistic" view implies an internal entity must interpret neural information, which is problematic.

Purpose of the Study:

To re-evaluate the metaphor of neural coding in light of criticisms.
To propose an alternative framework for understanding neural signal processing.
To clarify the relationship between neural coding and the symbol grounding problem.

Main Methods:

Philosophical analysis of the concept of neural coding.
Examination of Alan Turing's contributions to computation and information processing.
Distinguishing neural coding from the symbol grounding problem.

Main Results:

The notion of neural coding, as traditionally understood, is critiqued for its homuncular assumptions.
An alternative perspective focusing on complex, interactive causal throughput is supported.
Turing's work provides a precedent for understanding information processing without explicit decoding.

Conclusions:

The metaphor of neural coding may be misleading and should be reconsidered.
Complex causal throughput offers a more robust framework for neural processing.
Neural coding is largely irrelevant to the symbol grounding problem.