Connectionist modelling in psychology: A localist manifesto

Over the last decade, fully distributed models have become dominant in conn ectionist psychological modelling, whereas the virtues of localist models h ave been underestimated, This target article illustrates some of the benefi ts of localist modelling. Localist models are characterized by the presence of localist representations rather than the absence of distributed represe ntations. A generalized localist model is proposed that exhibits many of di e properties of fully distributed models. It can be applied to a number of problems that are difficult for fully distributed models, and its applicabi lity can be extended through comparisons with a number of classic mathemati cal models of behaviour. There are reasons why localist models have been un derused, though these often misconstrue die localist position. In particula r, many conclusions about connectionist representation, based on neuroscien tific observation, can be called into question. There are still some proble ms inherent in the application of fully distributed systems and some inadeq uacies in proposed solutions to these problems. In the domain of psychologi cal modelling, localist modelling is to be preferred.