call : neural symbolic processing nips * 98 conference workshop ( part of international conference on neural information processing systems ) december 4 and 5 , 1998 breckenridge , colorado hybrid neural symbolic integration - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - stefan wermter , university of sunderland , uk ron sun , university of alabama , usa description and motivation - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - in the past it was very controversial whether neural or symbolic approaches alone will be sufficient to provide a general framework for intelligent processing . in recent years , the field of hybrid neural symbolic processing has seen a remarkable development . the motivation for the integration of symbolic and neural models of cognition and intelligent behavior comes from many different sources . > from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience , a symbolic interpretation of an artificial neural network architecture is desirable , since the brain has a neuronal structure and the capability to perform symbolic processing . this leads to the question how different processing mechanisms can bridge the large gap between , for instance , acoustic or visual input signals and symbolic reasoning for instance for language processing , inferencing , etc . > from the perspective of knowledge-based processing , hybrid neural / symbolic representations are advantageous , since different mutually complementary properties can be integrated . symbolic representations have advantages with respect to easy interpretation , explicit control , fast initial coding , dynamic variable binding and knowledge abstraction . on the other hand , neural representations show advantages for gradual analog plausibility , learning , robust fault-tolerant processing , and generalization to similar input . since these advantages are mutually complementary , a hybrid symbolic connectionist architecture can be useful if different processing strategies have to be supported . areas of interest - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - integration of symbolic and neural techniques for - integrating techniques for language and speech processing - integrating different modes of reasoning and inferencing - combining different techniques in data mining - integration for vision , language , multimedia - hybrid techniques in knowledge based systems - combining fuzzy / neuro techniques - neural / symbolic techniques and applications in engineering - exploratory research in - emergent symbolic behavior based on neural networks - interpretation and explanation of neural networks - knowledge extraction from neural networks - various forms of interacting knowledge representations - dynamic systems and recurrent networks - evolutionary techniques for cognitive tasks ( language , reasoning , etc ) - autonomous learning systems for cognitive agents that utilize both neural and symbolic learning techniques format - - - - - the workshop should provide a forum for presenting and discussing theory and practice of neural / symbolic integration . the format will consist of position statements / panel , group discussion and individual paper presentations . we intend to reserve a significant portion of time for open discussion . the proposed length of the workshop is two days . suggested panels are : 1 . connectionist models for language , vision , inferencing . what are principles for neural / symbolic representation ? 2 . hybrid neural models for new media ( multimedia , web searching , digital libraries , etc ) what will be the impact of hybrid techniques in the future ? submission - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - it is intended to publish the results after the workshop , either in a book ( springer ) or via a special issue of a journal . we invite papers which can take two forms : short position papers ( around 4 pages ) or full papers ( up to 12 pages ) . we intend to process submissions electronically . please a postscript file via ftp ( see below ) . the paper format should be compatible with latex article format : 11pt , 12 pages maximum , including title , address and email address , abstract , figures , references . notifications will be sent by email to the first author . postscript files can be uploaded with anonymous ftp . please send a notification message to stefan . wermter @ sunderland . ac . uk ftp isis . sunderland . ac . uk ( 157 . 228 . 12 . 13 ) login : anonymous password : < your email address > cd pub / wermter binary put < yourfile . ps > or < yourfile . ps . gz > quit the paper must arrive not later than 25th september 1998 at the address below . # # # # # # # # # # # # # # submission deadline : 25th september 1998 for an update on invited speakers , panel and information please see http : / / osiris . sunderland . ac . uk / ~ cs0stw / wermter / workshops / nips-workshop . html please send correspondence to : nips workshop contact - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * professor stefan wermter research chair in intelligent systems university of sunderland school of computing & information systems st peters way sunderland sr6 0dd united kingdom phone : + 44 191 515 3279 fax : + 44 191 515 2781 email : stefan . wermter @ sunderland . ac . uk http : / / osiris . sunderland . ac . uk / ~ cs0stw / * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *