Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T06:15:24.905Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

6 - Computer modeling of cognitive processes in biblical studies: the primacy of urban Christianity as a test case

from I - Memory and the transmission of biblical traditions

István Czachesz
Affiliation:
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Risto Uro
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki, Finland
Get access

Summary

This chapter has the goal of showing how computer modeling of cognitive and socio-cognitive processes can contribute to biblical studies. The invention of the computer has been a major factor in the early development of cognitive science, offering new ways to think about the human mind. On the one hand, scholars thought of the mind as some kind of computer; on the other hand, the computer provided opportunities to create simulations of cognitive processes. In recent decades, cognitive science partly abandoned the computer metaphor. New developments in brain studies, the emergence of sophisticated neuroimaging technology, as well as new insights in evolutionary psychology inspired biologically grounded, “wet” models of the human mind. Insights about the role of emotions in human behavior and the embodied nature of cognition moved cognitive theorizing further away from the computer metaphor. At the same time, however, computers also changed; it is commonplace that today's home computers (and even smartphones) surpass the computational power of the supercomputers of the 1960s and 1970s. Along with more powerful computers came various new approaches to modeling, such as neural networks, agent-based models, or evolutionary computation. Computer modeling is now capable of capturing various aspects and levels of cognition, including the dynamic structure of memory (including forgetting, blending, and errors), decision making, cooperation in groups (of individuals with complex cognitive abilities), the evolution of successful behavioral strategies, and evolutionary processes in ecological systems.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mind, Morality and Magic
Cognitive Science Approaches in Biblical Studies
, pp. 77 - 97
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×