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Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this...
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Perception is iconic, perceptual working memory is discursive.

Ned Block1

  • 1Department of Philosophy, New York University, New York, NY, USA Ned.block@nyu.eduhttps://www.nedblock.us.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|September 28, 2023
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Perception is iconic, not structured like a language-of-thought (LoT). Evidence for LoT structure in object representations actually relates to perceptual working memory, not basic perception.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • The nature of perceptual object representations is a key debate in cognitive science.
  • The language-of-thought (LoT) hypothesis proposes that thinking is a form of symbolic manipulation.
  • Previous research has explored whether perceptual representations share characteristics with LoT.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically evaluate the evidence for language-of-thought (LoT) structure in perceptual object representations.
  • To distinguish between the representational format of perception and perceptual working memory.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing evidence cited for LoT structure in perceptual representations.
  • Theoretical distinction between iconic perception and structured working memory.

Main Results:

  • The cited evidence for LoT structure pertains to perceptual working memory, not perception itself.
  • Perception is characterized as iconic, lacking the discursive structure of LoT.
  • Perceptual working memory representations are derived from iconic perception but are recoded within a discursive format.

Conclusions:

  • Perceptual object representations are fundamentally iconic.
  • Language-of-thought (LoT) structure is not evident in basic perception.
  • The findings highlight a crucial distinction between perceptual encoding and working memory recoding.