Connectionism

/kəˈnekʃənɪzəm/ noun

Definition

A theory or approach in psychology and artificial intelligence proposing that mental processes arise from connections between many simple processing units.

Etymology

From 'connection' plus the suffix '-ism', which creates nouns describing theories, systems, or movements. Connectionism emerged as a major theory in cognitive science.

Kelly Says

Connectionism revolutionized how we think about brains and AI—instead of imagining the mind as a logical computer following rules, connectionism showed that human-like intelligence could emerge from networks of simple connected units, much like actual neurons.

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