Automaton Theory and Learning Systems

Edited by D J Stewart

Turing's epoch-making work on computable numbers gave the world the concept of the Turing machine and laid the foundation stone of automaton theory. In drawing attention to the need for a general and logical theory of automata, Von Neumann voiced two expectations: the first that "some of the regularities which we observe in the organisation of natural organisms may be instructive in our thinking and planning of artificial automata", and the second "that a good deal of our experience and difficulties with our artificial automata can be to some extent projected on our interpretations of natural organisms".

The field of learning is one such area of interaction and this book is a collection of papers which exemplify the types of development which have occurred. A complete spectrum is covered, from the mechanical procedures of algorithms and the set theory of mechanism and homeostasis through to the design of learning machines and the implications of this work for our understanding of human learning in social groups.

Contributors include: A M Andrew; W Ross Ashby; F H George; Gordon Pask; J C Shepherdson; D J Stewart.

Academic Press   1967

A Cybernetic Approach to Colour Perception

N C Paritsis and D J Stewart

The question of how we perceive colour has fascinated philosophers, painters and physiologists over the centuries. This book is a fresh treatment from the viewpoint of cybernetics.

The reader is shown the problems involved, the variety of views and approaches that exist, and the anatomy and physiology of colour vision, and gains information on colour blindness, colour contrast, mixture and assimilation, and constancy.

Contents include: A Cybernetic Approach. A Model of a Neuron. Modelling the Classification System of Colour Vision. Applications to the Psychology of Colour Perception. Summary of Conclusions and Suggestions Resulting from the Model.

ISBN 0-677-05620-6   Gordon and Breach Science Publishers   1983