A cognitive architecture refers to both a theory about the structure of the
human mind and to a computational instantiation of such a theory used in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and
computational cognitive science. The formalized models can be used to further refine a comprehensive theory of
cognition
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thoug ...
and as a useful artificial intelligence program. Successful cognitive architectures include
ACT-R (Adaptive Control of Thought - Rational) and
SOAR.
The research on cognitive architectures as software instantiation of cognitive theories was initiated by
Allen Newell in 1990.
The
Institute for Creative Technologies defines cognitive architecture as: "''hypothesis about the fixed structures that provide a mind, whether in natural or artificial systems, and how they work together – in conjunction with knowledge and skills embodied within the architecture – to yield intelligent behavior in a diversity of complex environments."
History
Herbert A. Simon, one of the founders of the field of artificial intelligence, stated that the 1960 thesis by his student
Ed Feigenbaum,
EPAM
EPAM Systems, Inc. ("Effective Programming for America") is an American company that specializes in service development, digital platform engineering, and digital product design, operating out of Newtown, Pennsylvania.
History Early years
I ...
provided a possible "architecture for cognition" because it included some commitments for how more than one fundamental aspect of the human mind worked (in EPAM's case,
human memory and human
learning).
John R. Anderson started research on human memory in the early 1970s and his 1973 thesis with
Gordon H. Bower provided a theory of human associative memory. He included more aspects of his research on long-term memory and thinking processes into this research and eventually designed a cognitive architecture he eventually called
ACT. He and his students were influenced by
Allen Newell's use of the term "cognitive architecture". Anderson's lab used the term to refer to the ACT theory as embodied in a collection of papers and designs (there was not a complete implementation of ACT at the time).
In 1983 John R. Anderson published the seminal work in this area, entitled ''The Architecture of Cognition.'' One can distinguish between the theory of cognition and the implementation of the theory. The theory of cognition outlined the structure of the various parts of the mind and made commitments to the use of rules, associative networks, and other aspects. The cognitive architecture implements the theory on computers. The software used to implement the cognitive architectures were also "cognitive architectures". Thus, a cognitive architecture can also refer to a blueprint for
intelligent agent
In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent (IA) is anything which perceives its environment, takes actions autonomously in order to achieve goals, and may improve its performance with learning or may use knowledge. They may be simple or c ...
s. It proposes (artificial)
computational processes that act like certain cognitive systems, most often, like a person, or acts
intelligent under some definition. Cognitive architectures form a subset of general
agent architectures. The term 'architecture' implies an approach that attempts to model not only behavior, but also structural properties of the modelled system.
Distinctions
Cognitive architectures can be
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
ic,
connectionist, or
hybrid. Some cognitive architectures or models are based on a set of
generic rules, as, e.g., the
Information Processing Language (e.g.,
Soar based on the
unified theory of cognition, or similarly
ACT-R). Many of these architectures are based on the-mind-is-like-a-computer analogy. In contrast subsymbolic processing specifies no such rules a priori and relies on emergent properties of processing units (e.g. nodes). Hybrid architectures combine both types of processing (such as
CLARION). A further distinction is whether the architecture is
centralized with a neural correlate of a
processor at its core, or
decentralized (distributed). The decentralized flavor, has become popular under the name of
parallel distributed processing in mid-1980s and
connectionism
Connectionism refers to both an approach in the field of cognitive science that hopes to explain mind, mental phenomena using artificial neural networks (ANN) and to a wide range of techniques and algorithms using ANNs in the context of artificial ...
, a prime example being
neural networks. A further design issue is additionally a decision between
holistic and
atomistic, or (more concrete)
modular structure.
In traditional
AI,
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ...
is often programmed from above: the programmer is the creator, and makes something and imbues it with its intelligence, though many traditional AI systems were also designed to learn (e.g. improving their game-playing or problem-solving competence).
Biologically inspired computing
Bio-inspired computing, short for biologically inspired computing, is a field of study which seeks to solve computer science problems using models of biology. It relates to connectionism, social behavior, and emergence. Within computer science ...
, on the other hand, takes sometimes a more
bottom-up, decentralised approach; bio-inspired techniques often involve the method of specifying a set of simple generic rules or a set of simple nodes, from the interaction of which emerges the overall behavior. It is hoped to build up complexity until the end result is something markedly complex (see complex systems). However, it is also arguable that systems designed
top-down
Top-down may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* "Top Down", a 2007 song by Swizz Beatz
* "Top Down", a song by Lil Yachty from '' Lil Boat 3''
* "Top Down", a song by Fifth Harmony from '' Reflection'' Science
* Top-down reading, is a part of ...
on the basis of observations of what humans and other animals can do rather than on observations of brain mechanisms, are also biologically inspired, though in a different way.
Notable examples
A comprehensive review of implemented cognitive architectures has been undertaken in 2010 by Samsonovich et al. and is available as an online repository.
Some well-known cognitive architectures, in alphabetical order:
See also
References
External links
*
* {{wikiquote-inline
de:Kognitionswissenschaft#Kognitive Architekturen