Neural Network Models as Evidence for Different Types of Visual Representations

Cook (1995) criticizes the work of Jacobs ond Kosslyn (1994) on spatial relations, shape representations, and receptive fields in neural network models on the grounds that first-order correlations between input and output unit activities con explain the results. We reply briefly ta Cook’s orguments here (ond in Kosslyn, Chabris, Morsolek, Jacobs, & Koenig, 1995) and discuss how new simulations can confirm the importance of receptive field size as a crucial variable in the encoding of categorical ond coordinate spatial relations and the corresponding shape representations; such simulations would testify to the computational distinction between the different types of representations.