From neural dynamics to true combinatorial structures

Various issues concerning the neural blackboard architectures for combinatorial structures are discussed and clarified. They range from issues related with neural dynamics, the structure of the architectures for language and vision, alternative architectures, to linguistic issues concerning the language architecture. Particular attention is given to the nature of true combinatorial structures and the way in which information can be retrieved from them in a productive and systematic manner. To begin, we would like to express our appreciation for the work done by the commentators. They have presented us with a wide array of comments on the target article, ranging from dynamics and neural structure to intricate lexical issues. The topic of the target article was to solve the four problems described by Jackendoff (2002), and to illustrate that the solutions offered have the potential for further development. The problems described by Jackendoff concern the issue of the neural instantiation of combinatorial structures. Although it is true that language provides the most complex and hierarchical examples of combinatorial structures, combinatorial structures are also found in other domains of cognition, such as vision. Therefore, we discussed sentence structure and visual binding as examples of combinatorial structures. We argued and illustrated that these structures can be instantiated in neural terms by means of neural blackboard architectures. We aimed to discuss as many topics as possible within the framework of a target article. As a result, we had to glance over many details and related issues. The commentaries received offer us a possibility to discus some of these in more detail, and to rectify some of the misunderstandings about the nature of the architectures that might have resulted from this approach.

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