• Event Date: February 17, 2004
  • Event Start Time: 1:00 PM
  • Event End Time: 2:00 PM
  • Event Location: Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS, EHESS & ENS), Paris
  • Event Type: Talks: RuCCS Colloquia
  • Event Semester: Spring 2004
  • Event Contact: Dan Sperber
  • Event Extra info: <a href="www.dan.sperber.com">Dan Sperber</a>

Fodor maintains that a massively modular mind, unlike the human mind, couldn't be context-sensitive.  Drawing on Relevance Theory, I argue that, in a massively modular mind where modules compete for resources, an "invisible hand" beneficial effect may result from this competition, dynamically selecting contextually relevant inputs for actual processing.  I outline some implication of this claim for evolutionary and for experimental cognitive psychology.