Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

In this volume, originally published in 1970, an attempt is made to examine the more logical aspects of thinking, such as the ability to abstract and the manner in which concepts develop. The author describes the features that had long been regarded as central to thinking by experimental and theoretical psychologists of the time and he places more emphasis on the part played by language in cognitive activity. In the second part the author points out how such basic features of thinking as concept and hypothesis formation, inference making and the use of ordinary English are essentially things that can be carried out by a computer. His use of theories and his methods of modelling the human brain and the way it works comprise an intriguing and highly sophisticated attempt to provide an appropriate framework in which problems of thinking can be studied. Professor George was the author of several books, the best known of which at the time were The Brain as a Computer and Cybernetics and Biology. His writings covered many aspects of psychology, philosophy and logic, as well as cybernetics. At the time of original publication he was Professor of Cybernetics at Brunel University and Chairman of the Bureau of Information Science.

Originally published in 1962, the problems of cognition dealt with in this book include learning, perception, thinking, memory and linguistic behaviour. It is not a textbook in the ordinary sense, since it presents a particular approach to the subject through experimental psychology, and also, to some extent, through philosophy, cybernetics and logic. A brief mention is made of ethological and physiological matters. It argues that cognition is a stepping-stone to integration with allied sciences. A large-scale study of the organism-as-a-whole needs to be supplemented by other biological and logical studies, but preparatory to this, cognitive psychologists must try and discover more rigorous ways of presenting their theories and models, since the mode of communicating an idea can never be wholly separated from that idea. Furthermore cognition, even at the organism-as-a-whole level, needs to broaden out and link up with social studies and studies in personality and individual difference. This book, pointed to a new direction that psychology should take; without contributing greatly to existing knowledge in the obvious sense, it suggests new methods and new ways of regarding the existing knowledge at the time.

Originally published in 1962, the problems of cognition dealt with in this book include learning, perception, thinking, memory and linguistic behaviour. It is not a textbook in the ordinary sense, since it presents a particular approach to the subject through experimental psychology, and also, to some extent, through philosophy, cybernetics and logic. A brief mention is made of ethological and physiological matters. It argues that cognition is a stepping-stone to integration with allied sciences. A large-scale study of the organism-as-a-whole needs to be supplemented by other biological and logical studies, but preparatory to this, cognitive psychologists must try and discover more rigorous ways of presenting their theories and models, since the mode of communicating an idea can never be wholly separated from that idea. Furthermore cognition, even at the organism-as-a-whole level, needs to broaden out and link up with social studies and studies in personality and individual difference. This book, pointed to a new direction that psychology should take; without contributing greatly to existing knowledge in the obvious sense, it suggests new methods and new ways of regarding the existing knowledge at the time.

In this volume, originally published in 1970, an attempt is made to examine the more logical aspects of thinking, such as the ability to abstract and the manner in which concepts develop. The author describes the features that had long been regarded as central to thinking by experimental and theoretical psychologists of the time and he places more emphasis on the part played by language in cognitive activity. In the second part the author points out how such basic features of thinking as concept and hypothesis formation, inference making and the use of ordinary English are essentially things that can be carried out by a computer. His use of theories and his methods of modelling the human brain and the way it works comprise an intriguing and highly sophisticated attempt to provide an appropriate framework in which problems of thinking can be studied. Professor George was the author of several books, the best known of which at the time were The Brain as a Computer and Cybernetics and Biology. His writings covered many aspects of psychology, philosophy and logic, as well as cybernetics. At the time of original publication he was Professor of Cybernetics at Brunel University and Chairman of the Bureau of Information Science.