title: Cognitive science as an interface between rational and mechanistic explanation.
abstract: Cognitive science views thought as computation; and computation, by its very nature, can be understood in both rational and mechanistic terms. In rational terms, a computation solves some information processing problem (e.g., mapping sensory information into a description of the external world; parsing a sentence; selecting among a set of possible actions). In mechanistic terms, a computation corresponds to causal chain of events in a physical device (in engineering context, a silicon chip; in biological context, the nervous system). The discipline is thus at the interface between two very different styles of explanation--as the papers in the current special issue well illustrate, it explores the interplay of rational and mechanistic forces.
authors.affiliation: Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chater
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D003662:Decision Theory; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011908:Rationalization; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: Cognitive science; Computation; Mechanistic explanation; Rationality