Beyond the limitations of any imaginable mechanism: large language models and psycholinguistics

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.00077v1
• Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2023 20:49:38 GMT
• Title: Beyond the limitations of any imaginable mechanism: large language models and psycholinguistics
• Authors: Conor Houghton, Nina Kazanina, Priyanka Sukumaran
• Abstract summary: Large language models provide a model for language. They are useful as a practical tool, as an illustrative comparative, and philosophical, as a basis for recasting the relationship between language and thought.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: Large language models are not detailed models of human linguistic processing. They are, however, extremely successful at their primary task: providing a model for language. For this reason and because there are no animal models for language, large language models are important in psycholinguistics: they are useful as a practical tool, as an illustrative comparative, and philosophically, as a basis for recasting the relationship between language and thought.

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