Introduction to Cognitive Science

7±2 Key Dates in Cognitive Science

Last Update: 20 April 2011

Note: NEW or UPDATED material is highlighted


This website is a summary of:

Boden, Margaret A. (2007), "The History of Cognitive Science: Seven Key Dates", in Stella Vosniadou, Daniel Kayser, & Athanassios Protopapas (eds.), Proceedings of the European Cognitive Science Conference 2007 (London: Taylor & Francis Psychology Press).



There are:
4 main dates (I-IV),


  1. 1943

    1. McCulloch, Warren S., & Pitts, Walter H. (1943), "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity", Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) 5: 115-133.

    2. Rosenblueth, Arturo; Wiener, Norbert; & Bigelow, Julian (1943), "Behavior, Purpose, and Teleology", Philosophy of Science 10(1) (January): 18-24.

    3. Craik, Kenneth J.W. (1943), The Nature of Explanation (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).



  2. 1956, the "annus mirabilis"

    1. Bruner, Jerome S.; Goodnow, Jacqueline J.; & Austin, George J. (1956), A Study of Thinking (New York: John Wiley).

    2. Miller, George A. (1956), "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information", Psychological Review 63(2) (March): 81-97.

    3. Rochester, N[athaniel]; Holland, J[ohn] H.; Haibt, L.H.; & Duda, W.L. (1956), "Tests on a Cell Assembly Theory of the Action of the Brain, Using a Large Digital Computer", Institute of Radio Engineers [now, IEEE] Transactions on Information Theory 2(3): 80-93.

      • Computational implementation of Hebb's "connectionist" theory of cell assemblies.

      • This issue also contains important papers by Newell & Simon, Shannon, Yngve, Chomsky, and Miller (see below).

    4. Place, U.T. (1956), "Is Consciousness a Brain Process?", British Journal of Psychology 47: 44-50.
      • Reprinted in:
        Cummins, Robert; & Cummins, Denise Dellarosa (eds.) (2000), Minds, Brains, and Computers: The Foundations of Cognitive Science, an Anthology (Malden, MA: Blackwell): 361-366.

    5. Dartmouth Summer Research Project on AI, including:

    6. IEEE Symposium on Information Theory, including:


  3. 1958

    1. Teddington Symposium on the Mechanization of Thought Processes, National Physical Laboratory (London), including:

      • Selfridge on Pandemonium:
        Selfridge, Oliver G. (1959), "Pandemonium: A Paradigm for Learning", in D.V. Blake & A.M. Uttley (eds.), Proceedings of the Symposium on Mechanisation of Thought Processes (London: HM Stationary Office): 511-529.

      • Rosenblatt on Perceptrons (see below)

      • McCarthy on common sense:
        McCarthy, John (1959), "Programs with Common Sense", in D.V. Blake & A.M. Uttley (eds.), Proceedings of the Symposium on Mechanisation of Thought Processes (London: HM Stationary Office).

      • Bar-Hillel on the frame problem

      • Minsky on heuristic programming

    2. Newell, Allen; Shaw, J.C.; & Simon, Herbert A. (1958), "Elements of a Theory of Human Problem Solving", Psychological Review 65(3): 151-166.

    3. Rosenblatt, Frank (1958), "The Perceptron: A Probabilistic Model for Information Storage and Organization in the Brain", Psychological Review 65(6): 386-408.


  4. 1960

    1. Harvard Center for Cognitive Studies founded (Bruner, Miller)

    2. Miller, George A.; Galanter, Eugene; & Pribram, Karl H. (1960), Plans and the Structure of Behavior (New York: Henry Holt).

    3. Putnam, Hilary (1960), "Minds and Machines", in Sidney Hook (ed.), Dimensions of Mind: A Symposium (New York: New York University Press): 148-179.


    1. 1969


      1. 1979


    2. 1986


    3. 1987

      • Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (Los Alamos, NM)

        • Langton, Christopher G. (ed.) (1989), Artificial Life: The Proceedings of an Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (September 1987, Los Alamos, New Mexico) (Redwood City, CA: Addison-Wesley).


To all of which I humbly add an eighth date (thus making the unofficial count 7±3):




Copyright © 2007–2011 by William J. Rapaport (rapaport@buffalo.edu)
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/575/7keydates.html-20110420