Beyond Information Processing: Rethinking Cognition and the Brain

The information processing model of cognition became the popular model of understanding brain function in the 1950's and helped transition the scientific study of psychology from that of behaviour to that of the ever elusive mind. It has also served as the foundation for modern cognitive science and underpins developments in artificial intelligence, including large language models (LLMs). As scientists, we constantly toe the line between the integrity of a scientific paradigm and its usefulness. It is often hard to discard one that cracks at the edges, but still works wonderfully. In this talk, I explore the idea of information processing models and how it constrains our understanding of cognition. What other ways are there to think of cognition and how the brain achieves that. I will use theory, ideas and experimental work to put forth potential alternatives to another way of thinking of information processing.