ABSTRACT

Predictive Processing (PP) is an increasingly influential neurocognitive-computational framework. PP research has so far focused predominantly on lower level perceptual, motor, and various psychological phenomena. But PP seems to face a “scale-up challenge”: How can it be extended to conceptual thought, language, and other higher cognitive competencies? Compositionality, arguably a central feature of conceptual thought, cannot easily be accounted for in PP because it is not couched in terms of classical symbol processing. I argue, using the example of language, that there is no strong reason to think that PP cannot be scaled up to higher cognition. I suggest that the tacitly assumed common-sense conception of language as Generative Grammar (“folk linguistics”) and its notion of composition leads to the scale-up concerns. Fodor’s Language of Thought Hypothesis (LOTH) plays the role of a cognitive computational paradigm for folk linguistics. Therefore, we do not take LOTH as facing problems with higher cognition, at least with regard to compositionality. But PP can plausibly play the role of a cognitive-computational paradigm for an alternative conception of language, namely Construction Grammar. If Construction Grammar is a plausible alternative to folk linguistics, then PP is not in a worse position than LOTH.

摘要

预测处理 (PP) 是一个越来越有影响力的神经认知计算框架。迄今为止，PP 研究主要集中在较低水平的知觉、运动和各种心理现象上。但PP似乎面临着“规模化挑战”：如何将其扩展到概念思维、语言等更高的认知能力？组合性，可以说是概念思维的一个核心特征，在 PP 中不容易解释，因为它没有用经典符号处理来表达。我以语言为例，认为没有充分的理由认为 PP 不能扩展到更高的认知。我认为默认的语言常识概念是生成语法（“民间语言学”）及其构成概念导致了扩大关注。福多的思想语言假设 (LOTH) 扮演着民间语言学认知计算范式的角色。因此，我们不认为 LOTH 面临更高认知的问题，至少在组合性方面。但是 PP 可以合理地扮演另一种语言概念即构造语法的认知计算范式的角色。如果构式语法是民间语言学的合理替代品，那么 PP 的处境并不比 LOTH 差。