The meaning of representation in animal memory

摘要: A representation is a remnant of previous experience that allows to affect later behavior. This paper develops metatheoretical view and applies it issues concerning in animals. To describe representational system one must specify the following: domain or range situations represented world which applies; content set features encoded preserved by system; code transformational rules relating corresponding world; medium, representation's physical instantiation; dynamics, how changes with time. In part because behaviorist assumption hypothetical, covert occurring an organism during learning correspond overt are observed, animal behavior have been largely ignored as irrelevant misleading. However, can be inferred representations, acting models environmental regularities, operate at many levels behavioral functioning, both cognitive noncognitive. Objections use this concept explanations behavior, based on claim indeterminate considerations parsimony, answered. Animal representations may specialized terms tasks species. Data from involving spatial memory, delayed matching-to-sample, sequence suggest some foundations for general theory representations.