Representation in Dynamical Systems

Abstract: The brain is often called a computer and likened to a Turing machine, in part because the mind can manipulate discrete symbols such as numbers. But the brain is a dynamical system, more like a Watt governor than a Turing machine. Can a dynamical system be said to operate using "representations"? This paper argues that it can, although not in the way a digital computer does. Instead, it uses phenomena best described using mathematic concepts such as chaotic attractors to stand in for aspects of the world.