Exploiting Holistic Computation: An evaluation of the Sequential RAAM (1998)
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@TECHREPORT{Hammerton98exploitingholistic,
author = {James Alistair Hammerton},
title = {Exploiting Holistic Computation: An evaluation of the Sequential RAAM},
institution = {},
year = {1998}
}
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Abstract
In recent years it has been claimed that connectionist methods of representing compositional structures, such as lists and trees, support a new form of symbol processing known as holistic computation. In a holistic computation the constituents of an object are acted upon simultaneously, rather than on a one-by-one basis as is typical in traditional symbolic systems. This thesis presents rstly, a critical examination of the concept of holistic computation, as described in the literature, along with a revised de nition of the concept that aims to clarify the issues involved. In particular it is argued that holistic representations are not necessary for holistic computation and that holistic computation is not restricted to connectionist systems. Secondly, an evaluation of the capacity of a particular connectionist representation, the Sequential RAAM, to generate representations that support holistic symbol processing is presented. It is concluded that the Sequential RAAM is not as eective a vehicle for holistic symbol processing as it initially appeared, but that there may be some scope for improving its performance. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people: My supervisor, Peter Hancox, for his support, advice and guidance throughout my PhD. The other members of my thesis group, Russell Beale, Riccardo Poli and Ela Claridge for the advice, questions and suggestions they oered during progress reviews. Additionally I'd like to thank Russell for his comments on this thesis and both Russell and Riccardo for the informal discussions I had with them about my work.
