Temple University.
Cogn Sci. 2010 Sep;34(7):1315-56. doi: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01081.x.
It is frequently claimed that the human mind is organized in a modular fashion, a hypothesis linked historically, though not inevitably, to the claim that many aspects of the human mind are innately specified. A specific instance of this line of thought is the proposal of an innately specified geometric module for human reorientation. From a massive modularity position, the reorientation module would be one of a large number that organized the mind. From the core knowledge position, the reorientation module is one of five innate and encapsulated modules that can later be supplemented by use of human language. In this paper, we marshall five lines of evidence that cast doubt on the geometric module hypothesis, unfolded in a series of reasons: (1) Language does not play a necessary role in the integration of feature and geometric cues, although it can be helpful. (2) A model of reorientation requires flexibility to explain variable phenomena. (3) Experience matters over short and long periods. (4) Features are used for true reorientation. (5) The nature of geometric information is not as yet clearly specified. In the final section, we review recent theoretical approaches to the known reorientation phenomena.
人们经常声称，人类的思维是以模块化的方式组织起来的，这一假设与历史上的一个观点有关，尽管并非必然相关，即人类思维的许多方面都是先天指定的。这种思路的一个具体例子是提出人类重新定向的固有指定几何模块。从大规模模块化的立场来看，重新定向模块将是组织思维的大量模块之一。从核心知识的立场来看，重新定向模块是可以通过使用人类语言来补充的五个固有和封装模块之一。在本文中，我们提出了五条证据线，对几何模块假设提出了质疑，这些证据以一系列理由展开：（1）语言在特征和几何线索的整合中不是必需的，尽管它可能有帮助。（2） 重新定向模型需要灵活性来解释可变现象。（3） 短期和长期的经验都很重要。（4）特征用于真正的重新定向。（5） 几何信息的性质尚不清楚。在最后一节中，我们回顾了最近对已知重新定向现象的理论方法。
