connectionism

connectionism aka neural networks, parallel distributed processing
connectionism term was introduced by Donald Hebb in the 1940s (Elman et al. Preface xii)


 * Basic components**: simple processing elements (called nodes or units) and weighted connections between those elements. Processing units are likened to simple artificial neurons. (Elman et al, p.50)

Is this the same Connectionism of Bereiter? http://www.cocon.com/observetory/carlbereiter/chapter2.pdf which is attributed to McClelland, Rumelhart and the PDP group 1986

Reference:
Elman, Bates, Johnson, Karmiloff-Smith, Parisi, Plunkett. //Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development// (1997)

[|Philosophical Issues in Brain Theory and Connectionism] (Revised Version, 2002) Andy Clark & Chris Eliasmith Introduction In this article, we highlight three questions: (1) Does human cognition rely on structured internal representations? (2) How should theories, models and data relate? (3) In what ways might embodiment, action and dynamics matter for understanding the mind and the brain?

The first question concerns a fundamental assumption of most researchers who theorize about the brain. Do neural systems exploit classical compositional and systematic representations, distributed representations, or no representations at all? The question is not easily answered. Connectionism, for example, has been criticised for both holding and challenging representational views. The second quesútion concerns the crucial methodological issue of how results emerging from the various brain sciences can help to constrain cognitive scientific models. Finally, the third question focuses attention on a major challenge to contemporary cognitive science: the challenge of understanding the mind as a controller of embodied and environmentally embedded action.