Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:23:10.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Computational limits don't fully explain human cognitive limitations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Ernest S. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, New York University, New York, NY10012. [email protected]://cs.nyu.edu/faculty/davise/
Gary F. Marcus
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003. [email protected]://garymarcus.com/

Abstract

The project of justifying all the limits and failings of human cognition as inevitable consequences of strategies that are actually “optimal” relative to the limits on computational resources available may have some value, but it is far from a complete explanation. It is inconsistent with both common observation and a large body of experimentation, and it is of limited use in explaining human cognition.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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.)

References

Austerweil, J. & Griffiths, T. (2011) Seeking confirmation is rational for deterministic hypotheses. Cognitive Science 35(3):499526. doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01161.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, G. (2008) Kluge: The haphazard evolution of the human mind. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Oaksford, M. & Chater, N. (1994) A rational analysis of the selection task as optimal data selection. Psychological Review 101(4):608–31. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.101.4.608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plous, S. (1993) The psychology of judgment and decision making. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar