The constructivist notion that features are purely functional
is incompatible with the classical computational metaphor of mind. I
suggest that the discontent expressed by Schyns, Goldstone &
Thibaut about fixed-features theories of categorization reflects the
growing impact of connectionism. Their perspective is similar to
recent research on implicit learning, consciousness, and development.
A hard problem remains, however: how to bridge the gap between
subsymbolic and symbolic cognition.
