Serial Order: A Parallel Distributed Processing Approach.

A theory of serial order is proposed which attempts to deal both with the classical problem of the temporal organization of internally generated action sequences as well as with certain of the parallel aspects of sequential behavior. The theory describes a dynamical system which is embodied as a parallel distributed processing or connectionist network. The trajectories of this dynamical system come to follow desired paths corresponding to particular action sequences as a result of a learning process during which constraints are imposed on the system. These constraints enforce sequentiality where necessary, and as they are relaxed, performance becomes more parallel. The theory is applied to the problem of coarticulation in speech production and simulation experiments are presented.