<Bob Clark (940605.1416 EDT)>
Bill Powers (940601.2120)
I rejected the template concept decades ago, almost as soon as I
understood what was being proposed. Perception is simply a set of
signals, not a set of patterns. Recognition of lines and letters
and other forms is not produced by having models of the lines and
patterns and forms in the perceptual functions and doing a
point-by-point comparison.
I find statements much like this in my memory of previous posts from
you. I don't think my memory is identical to this -- my recall is
not that reliable. That is to say, my available templates suggest
past experience of this viewpoint, but certainly there is no detailed
match.
Your discussion in B:CP Chapter 15, Memory, pp 212-213, seems to
include the use of a form of template to identify incoming sets of
signals:
*In associative addressing, the information sent to the computing
*device's address input is not a location number, but a fragment of
*what is recorded in one or more locations in memory. Memory is
*still divided into storage units, each unit containing many bits of
*information, but these units have no specifically addressable
*locations. Furthermore, when an associative address is sent to such
*a memory device, information may be retrieved from many locations,
*not just one.
*Whether or not the contents of a given memory unit are retrieved
*depends on whether or not the address fragment matches part of the
*stored information. Any part of the stored information can be used
*as an address, a match resulting in replay of the rest of the
*information in that memory unit.
In your current post you are considering making the identification in
the feedback function -- which seems, as you point out, much too
complex.
But the use of stored sets of signals as templates by means of which
to identify incoming sets of signals seems consistent with many
experiences. A face may remind one of another person. A tune may
remind one of a concert. If the match is fairly complete, the item
may be said to have been recognized. The current "Elvis Presley's"
remind one of the original as well as being recognized as pretenders.
Regards, Bob Clark