Cited by 3,315Neural Networks and ApplicationsCognitive Science and Education ResearchCognitive Computing and Networks

Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition: Psychological and Biological Models

McClelland, James L., Rumelhart, David E., AU·1987·The MIT Press eBooks

Abstract

What makes people smarter than computers? These volumes by a pioneering neurocomputing group suggest that the answer lies in the massively parallel architecture of the human mind. They describe a new theory of cognition called connectionism that is challenging the idea of symbolic computation that has traditionally been at the center of debate in theoretical discussions about the mind. The authors' theory assumes the mind is composed of a great number of elementary units connected in a neural network. Mental processes are interactions between these units which excite and inhibit each other in parallel rather than sequential operations. In this context, knowledge can no longer be thought of as stored in localized structures; instead, it consists of the connections between pairs of units that are distributed throughout the network. Volume 1 lays the foundations of this exciting theory of parallel distributed processing, while Volume 2 applies it to a number of specific issues in cognitive science and neuroscience, with chapters describing models of aspects of perception, memory, language, and thought.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.7551/mitpress/5237.001.0001

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Cognitive science has developed task-performing computational models that decompose cognition into functional components.

    “Cognitive science has developed computational models that decompose cognition into functional components.”

    From Cognitive computational neuroscience (2018) · cites this paper as [6]

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
McClelland, J. L., Rumelhart, D. E., & AU
Venue
The MIT Press eBooks
Publisher
The MIT Press
Published
1987
OpenAlex
W4253020087
Cited by
3,315
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 73 · 2023: 134 · 2022: 85 · 2021: 91 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 78 · 2018: 69 · 2017: 65 · 2016: 64 · 2015: 54 · 2014: 59 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 39
FWCI
42.46
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
The MIT Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Neural Networks and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Cognitive Computing and Networks
Keywords
parallel distributed processing, connectionism, artificial neural networks, cognitive architecture, symbolic computation, distributed knowledge, perception, memory, language, thinking, neuroscience, cognitive science

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review