Melanie Mitchell's "Analogy-Making as Perception" argues that analogy-making is a high-level perceptual process driven by the dynamic interaction between perception and concepts. This interaction generates "conceptual slippages," which are essential for creating analogies. The book introduces Copycat, a computer model co-developed with Douglas Hofstadter, designed to simulate the subconscious interplay of perception and concepts that underlies analogical thought.
The model emphasizes that both concepts and high-level perception emerge from a multitude of low-level, parallel, and non-deterministic activities. This perspective positions Copycat as an intermediate cognitive modeling approach, bridging symbolic and connectionist systems, and offers a unique way to understand the fluidity of concepts and high-level perception. Readers gain insight into the mechanisms by which analogies are formed through the interplay of perception and conceptualization.
Key concepts
- Conceptual slippages — The outcome of the interaction between perception and concepts that allows for the creation of analogies.
- Copycat — A computer model that simulates the subconscious interaction between perception and concepts in analogy-making.
- Emergent phenomena — Concepts and high-level perception arising from the collective behavior of numerous low-level activities.
- Low-level, parallel, non-deterministic activities — The foundational processes from which concepts and perception emerge in the Copycat model.