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Modularity is a concept that has applications in the contexts of computer science, particularly programming, as well as cognitive science in investigating the structure of mind. A module can be defined variously, but generally must be a component of a larger system, and operate within that system independently from the operations of the other components of the system. Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Computer Science Open Directory Project: Computer Science Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies Belief that title science in computer science is inappropriate Categories: Computer science ...
Computer programming (often simply programming) is the craft of implementing one or more interrelated abstract algorithms using a particular programming language to produce a concrete computer program. ...
Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ...
The mind is the term most commonly used to describe the higher functions of the human brain, particularly those of which humans are subjectively conscious, such as personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. ...
Modularity in Computer Science Modularity is the property of computer programs that measures the extent to which they have been composed out of separate parts called modules. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
In computing, a module is a software entity that groups a set of (typically cohesive) subprograms and data structures. ...
Programs that have many direct interrelationships between any two random parts of the program code are less modular than programs where those relationships occur mainly at well-defined interfaces between modules. In general usage, an interface is the point, area, or surface along which two substances or other qualitatively different things meet; it is also used metaphorically for the juncture between items. ...
Modular programming techniques are those which increase modularity. (See also: structured programming, procedural programming, object-oriented programming and aspect-oriented programming.) Structured programming can be seen as a subset or subdiscipline of procedural programming, one of the major programming paradigms. ...
Procedural programming is a programming paradigm based upon the concept of the procedure call. ...
In computer science, object-oriented programming, OOP for short, is a computer programming paradigm. ...
In Software Engineering, the programming paradigm of aspect-oriented programming (AOP) (also called aspect-oriented software development (AOSD)) attempts to aid programmers in the Separation of concerns, or the breaking down of a program into distinct parts that overlap in functionality as little as possible. ...
Modularity in Cognitive Science The question of whether mind is structured in a modular fashion is a prominent one in the cognitive sciences. The basic modular position, as articulated by Jerry Fodor in his 1983 Monograph The Modularity of Mind, essentially argues that the mind is composed of independent, closed, domain-specific processing modules governed by a central controlling module, similar to the main program of a modular computer program. Fodor's proposal includes only lower-level cognitive processes, while he argues that higher-level processes are not modular. (See Also: Modularity of Mind) Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ...
Jerry Allan Fodor (b. ...
1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Modularity of Mind is the notion that a mind may be composed of modules, at least in part. ...
Other perspectives on modularity come from evolutionary psychology, particularly from the work of Leda Cosmides and John Tooby. This perspective suggests that modules are units of mental processing that evolved in response to selection pressures. On this view, much modern human psychological activity is rooted in adaptations that occurred earlier in human evolution, when natural selection was forming the modern human species. Evolutionary psychology (or EP) proposes that human and primate cognition and behavior can be better understood in light of human and primate evolutionary history. ...
Human evolution is the process of change and development, or evolution, by which human beings emerged as distinct species. ...
Natural selection is a process by which biological populations are altered over time, as a result of the propagation of heritable traits that affect the capacity of individual organisms to survive and reproduce. ...
Arguments Against Modularity In contrast to modular mental structure, some theories posit domain-general processing, in which mental activity is distributed across the brain and cannot be decomposed, even abstractly, into independent units. A staunch defender of this view is William Uttal, who argues in The New Phrenology (2003) that there are serious philosophical, theoretical, and methodological problems with the entire enterprise of trying to localize cognitive processes in the brain. Part of this argument is that a successful taxonomy of mental processes has yet to be developed. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In the anatomy of animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the supervisory center of the nervous system. ...
Taxonomy (from Greek ταξινομία (taxinomia) from the words taxis = order and nomos = law) may refer to either the classification of things, or the principles underlying the classification. ...
Works Cited Fodor, Jerry. (1983). Modularity of Mind: An Essay on Faculty Psychology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Uttal, William R. (2003). The New Phrenology: The Limits of Localizing Cognitive Processes in the Brain. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
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