THE SIMULATION OF VERBAL LEARNING BEHAVIOR Edward A

The purpose of this report is to describe in detail an information Processing model of elementary human symbolic learning processes. This model is realized by a computer program called the Elementary Perceiver and Memorizer (EPAM). The critical evaluation of EPAM must ultimately depend not upon the interest which it may have as a learning machine, but upon its ability to explain and Predict the phenomena of verbal learning. I should like to preface my discussion of the simulation of verbal learning with some brief remarks about the class of information processing models of which EPAM is a member. These are models of mental processes, not brain hardware. No physiological or neuro assumptions are made, nor is any attempt made to explain information processes in terms of more elementary neural processes. The central processing mechanism is assumed to be serial; i.e., capable of doing only one (or a very few) things at a time. These models use as a basic unit the information symbol; i.e., a pattern of bits which is assumed to be the brain's internal representation of environmental data.