creators_name: Choe, Yoonsuck editors_name: Gray, Wayne D. editors_name: Schunn, Christian D. type: confpaper datestamp: 2003-02-09 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:56 metadata_visibility: show title: Second order isomorphism: A reinterpretation and its implications in brain and cognitive sciences ispublished: pub subjects: neuro-mod subjects: comp-neuro-sci subjects: cog-psy subjects: comp-sci-neural-nets full_text_status: public keywords: thalamus analogy activeness TRN (thalamic reticular nucleus) abstract: Shepard and Chipman's second order isomorphism describes how the brain may represent the relations in the world. However, a common interpretation of the theory can cause difficulties. The problem originates from the static nature of representations. In an alternative interpretation, I propose that we assign an active role to the internal representations and relations. It turns out that a collection of such active units can perform analogical tasks. The new interpretation is supported by the existence of neural circuits that may be implementing such a function. Within this framework, perception, cognition, and motor function can be understood under a unifying principle of analogy. date: 2002 date_type: published publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pagerange: 190-195 refereed: TRUE citation: Choe, Yoonsuck (2002) Second order isomorphism: A reinterpretation and its implications in brain and cognitive sciences. [Conference Paper] document_url: http://cogprints.org/2281/1/choe.cogsci02.pdf