Cognitive Architectures Flashcards
- How to implement a cognitive system? - Cognitive Architecture – A Definition - Classification of Cognitive Architectures - Requirements Analysis - ACT-R – A Cognitive Architecture
What is a cognitive architecture?
A cognitive architecture is a model of a cognitive system that defines the basic and irreducible cognitive operations that enable the human mind.
(In theory, each task that humans can perform should consist of a series of these discrete operations.)
(A cognitive architecture is a theory about the structure of the human mind and to a computational instantiation of such a theory.)
How was the design of cognitive architectures motivated?
The design of cognitive architectures was originally motivated in cognitivist cognitive science by Newell’s concept of a unified theory of cognition.
What is a cognitive model?
A cognitive model is an instantiation of a cognitive architecture with a specific body of knowledge.
What are the goals of cognitive architectures?
Modelling of the human mind
- advance understanding of cognition through computer-executable description of cognitive processes
- reproduction of experimental data
- focus on generality and robustness
Construction of artificial cognitive systems
- design of artificial systems that are as capable as living creatures
What are the advantages of cognitive architectures?
Cognitive architectures are…
- generic and can be applied to different domains
- unified models that coherently integrate many different aspects of cognition
- executable implementations of cognition theories
What are the levels of modeling regarding cognitive systems?
- sociological level: interaction between agents
- psychological level: cognition in individual agents
- componential level: cognitive architecture
What do cognitivist cognitive architectures model?
A cognitivist cognitive architecture models those aspects of cognition that are task-independent and constant over time.
- specifies only basic components and processes such as memory, knowledge
- generic model that reflects a specific set of assumptions
- the architecture is a framework that does not include any domain knowledge required for cognitive processing
What are production systems in cognitivist cognitive architectures?
A production system is a set of rules of the form if-then
- conditions are propositions on system components
- production systems are Turing complete and can adapt
- a production is activated (its action executed) when all of its conditions are satisfied
- when more than one production rules are satisfied, precedence rules are applied
What are emergent cognitive architectures?
Emergent cognitive architectures are frameworks that facilitate development. They model the innate skills of a newborn agent (i.e. its phylogenetic configuration).
- body is active part of the architecture
- during ontogeny (development), the architecture is instantiated through the acquisition of experience
- the architecture needs to provide a structure that accommodates different cognitive functions
- as a result of development, the architecture can change over time
What are design considerations for cognitive architectures?
Scope (compactness and comprehensiveness)
- cognitive architectures are generic and minimalistic -> not desirable to model all relevant cognitive functions
Generality (simplicity and realism)
- generality is an important tradeoff: too general means that the architecture will be under-constrained and meaningless
What are requirements for cognitive architectures?
Realism
- ecological realism: capability of an agent to engage in everyday activities of its natural environment
- bio-evolutionary realism: model of human intelligence should be reducible to a model of animal intelligence
- cognitive realism: capture of all essential characteristics of human cognition
- eclecticism: incorporation of results from prior research
Behavioral characteristics
- reactivity: quick reactions through immediate and fixed responses without elaborate cognitive processing
- sequentiality: sequential execution of activities
- routineness: learning, adaptation and execution of recurring patterns e.g. by trial and error
Cognitive characteristics:
- explicit processes: accessible and precise
- implicit processes: inaccessible and imprecise
- synergistic interaction: implicit & explicit processes interact to complement and supplement each other
- learning: implicit and explicit processes interact during top-down learning (explicit learning first, implicit learning later) and bottom-up learning (implicit learning first, explicit learning later)
- modularity: some cognitive faculties are specialized and separated through functional or physical encapsulation
Development
- value systems and motives: guidance during action selection and motivational drive for development
- physical embodiment
- sensorimotor contingencies: store relations between actions and resulting sensory feedback
- perception: capacity for unsupervised perceptual categorization
- constitutive autonomy: autonomous operation of developmental processes
What is the requirement of ecological realism?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Realism
capability of an agent to engage in everyday activities of its natural environment
What is the requirement of bio-evolutionary realism?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Realism
the model of human intelligence should be reducible to a model of animal intelligence
What is the requirement of cognitive realism?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Realism
capture of all essential characteristics of human cognition
What is the requirement of eclecticism?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Realism
incorporation of results from prior research
What is the requirement of reactivity?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Behavioral characteristics
quick reactions through immediate and fixed responses without elaborate cognitive processing
What is the requirement of sequentiality?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Behavioral characteristics
sequential execution of activities
What is the requirement of routineness?
Requirement for cognitive architectures / Behavioral characteristics
learning, adaptation and execution of recurring patterns e.g. by trial and error