POSTPONED. DATE TBA
Speaker
Kate Harper
Title
Alexander Bain and Sigmund Freud - A Look at Two 19th Century Neural Network Models
Abstract
This paper explores the previously little appreciated aspects of the works of Alexander Bain and Sigmund Freud. In 1873, Bain published, Mind and Body, which outlines something that anticipates the modern conception of the neural net. In this book, Bain explicitly attempts to integrate physiology and psychology by conceiving a neurological network that could explain learning, memory, and consciousness. Bain theorized that specific neuronal groupings, and the unique growths at cellular junctions, were of primary importance for the development of the psyche.
Similarly, Freud developed a neural network model in his Project for a Scientific Psychology (1895), emphasizing the importance of neuronal connections and the activity at cell junctions (contact barriers). In this work, Freud established, theoretically and diagrammatically, a neurological explanatory framework for psychic functioning, in which cellular proximity and neuronal groupings were crucial to the development of cognition, learning, conscious thought, and memory.
In looking at their neural network models, both Bain and Freud emphasized physiology and associationism; they both followed the associative theories of Locke, Hume, Hartley, and John Stuart Mill. Moreover, both Freud and Bain were influenced, either directly or indirectly, by physiologists Quain, Sharpey, Carpenter, Mueller, and Bell. Furthermore, Freud was influenced by the work of physiologist David Ferrier, who was a student of Bain’s.
Bain and Freud had the same goal; to integrate physiological and psychological knowledge in order to more fully explain psychic functioning. Thus, this presentation will explain some of the key aspects of the neural network theories of Bain and Freud and explore the ways in which they tried to connect the disciplines of neurophysiology and psychology. Interestingly, both Bain and Freud created neural net theories that went somewhat unnoticed, while other aspects of their work flourished. Consequently, this paper will also briefly consider some of the reasons their models have garnered little attention.
<img src="
" alt="Alexander Bain" />
<img src="
" alt="Bain Neural Network" />
Alexander Bain (1818-1903) - and a neural network diagram from his 1873 book – Body and Mind: The Theories of their Relations.
<img src="
" alt="Sigmund Freud" />
<img src="
" alt="Freud Neural Network" />
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) - and his hand drawn diagram of Neuronal Energy Transmission from Project for a Scientific Psychology (1895).
Directions
York University