An approach to testing strong equivalence . The cognitive penetrability approach seeks to establish whether phenomena are equivalent at the level of functional architecture by investigating whether phenomena are independent of beliefs and goals, that is if they are primitive. If manipulation of beliefs and goals systematically alters the empirical phenomenon then the phenomenon is not describing functional architecture and is cognitively penetrable.
The cognitive penetrability approach was used in the imagary debate in cognitive science in the 1980's.
Pylyshyn, Z. W., "Computing in cognitive science", in Posner, M.I. (ed.) 1989, Foundations of Cognitive Science, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Contributed by J. Andrews, November 23, 1995