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Psychology Terms >> Parallel Processing, Parallel Distributed Processing
Parallel Processing
Parallel processing is a system in which many steps are going on at the same time.
Parallel processing is usually contrasted with serial processing.
Parallel Distributed Networks
Generally, networks consist of nodes with connections set to various weights connecting them. In a parallel distributed network, information is represented as a distributed pattern of node activation (many nodes are active).
This type of network contrasts with models where information is represented locally, or through the activation of single node (i.e. 'dog' is represented through the activation of the dog node). I.e., it contrasts with symbolic networks.
Attractive components of PDP networks:
Extremely powerful
Biologically Plausible
Graceful Degradation
Necessary to Fully Specify Model
Parallelism
Soft Constraints. etc.
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