Topic Editor: Lawrence W. Barsalou (Emory
University)
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the seminal Cognitive
Science Conference in 1979, the Society sponsored two symposia
at its 2008 conference that traced the trajectory of Cognitive
Science from its inception through the present into the future. The
first symposium addressed the trajectories of major disciplines
in Cognitive Science (Psychology, Artificial Intelligence,
Philosophy, Linguistics, Anthropology). The
second symposium addressed the trajectories of major perspectives
(Cognitive Architectures, Emergentist Approaches, Developmental
Systems, Cognitive Ecology, Grounded Cognition). Each speaker addressed
the following questions:
1. What
was your discipline/perspective like at the time of the 1979 conference?
2. How has the discipline/perspective
changed over the past 30 years to what it is today?
3. How do you foresee the discipline/perspective
changing in the next 30 years?
Further materials on the symposium (slides and video
clips of all presentations) are archived in the CogSci
2008 Video Archive.
A special issue of topiCS will contain articles based
on these presentations, as well as additional articles that
address the trajectories of other significant disciplines and
perspectives not covered in the symposia. At this point, 15
cognitive scientists have signed up to write 3,000 to 4,000
word papers:
- John R. Anderson (Cognitive Architectures)
- Lawrence W. Barsalou (Grounded Cognition)
- William Bechtel (Philosophy)
- Susan Chipman (Education)
- Rick Cooper & Tim Shallice (Neuroscience)
- Kenneth D. Forbus (Artificial Intelligence)
- Dedre Gentner (Psychology)
- Wayne Gray (Cognitive Engineering)
- Edwin Hutchins (Cognitive Ecology)
- James L. McClelland (Emergentist Approaches)
- Douglas L. Medin (Anthropology)
- Elissa L. Newport (Linguistics)
- Richard Shiffrin (Formal
Models and Cognitive Modeling)
- Linda B. Smith (Developmental Systems)
- Michael Tomasello (Primate Cognition)
Discussions about where Cognitive Science
is going are important to hold periodically. We hope that this
special issue will stimulate thought and discussion about the future,
and that it produces positive influence on future research in the community. |
