A Cognitive Program for Semiotic Functions

Abstract

cial intelligence and neuropsychology. Its application to the general problem of semiosis is based on the hypothesis that computational programs are sufficient to account for the logic of representation. I will argue that any semiotic model requires a computational program describing operations carried out on a symbol system and that Peirce's notion of the interpretant can be stated in an equivalent cognitive version. The central thesis of this paper is that an elementary syntax for semiotic functions can be derived from the six developmental stages of sensorimotor intelligence observed by Piaget. It will be shown that the program logic of these functions corresponds to that of the six tropes postulated by Bloom. In the present model this equivalence is a consequence of the fact that the basic computational module in the neocortex is presumed to use a group of six operations. Since the model is based on work in a number of disciplines, it is possible here only to describe its abstract formalism; the interested reader will find in the references more complete information on the program itself and the neurological evidence. What I am proposing is clearly hypothetical, resulting from an interpretation of current models in the cognitive sciences. However, those disciplines are rapidly uncovering significant facts about mental functioning. A general model of semiotics compatable with present cognitive