Resource-rational analysis: Understanding human cognition as the optimal use of limited computational resources

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falk Lieder ◽  
Thomas L. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Cognitive Modeling ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Architectures ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Constraints ◽  
Rational Models ◽  
And Linguistics

Abstract Modeling human cognition is challenging because there are infinitely many mechanisms that can generate any given observation. Some researchers address this by constraining the hypothesis space through assumptions about what the human mind can and cannot do, while others constrain it through principles of rationality and adaptation. Recent work in economics, psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics has begun to integrate both approaches by augmenting rational models with cognitive constraints, incorporating rational principles into cognitive architectures, and applying optimality principles to understanding neural representations. We identify the rational use of limited resources as a unifying principle underlying these diverse approaches, expressing it in a new cognitive modeling paradigm called resource-rational analysis. The integration of rational principles with realistic cognitive constraints makes resource-rational analysis a promising framework for reverse-engineering cognitive mechanisms and representations. It has already shed new light on the debate about human rationality and can be leveraged to revisit classic questions of cognitive psychology within a principled computational framework. We demonstrate that resource-rational models can reconcile the mind's most impressive cognitive skills with people's ostensive irrationality. Resource-rational analysis also provides a new way to connect psychological theory more deeply with artificial intelligence, economics, neuroscience, and linguistics.

Uncovering cognitive constraints is the bottleneck in resource-rational analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cvetomir Dimov
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Cognitive Architectures ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Constraints ◽  
Major Constraint ◽  
The Mind

Abstract A major constraint in resource-rational analysis is cognitive resources. Yet, uncovering the nature of individual components of the human mind has progressed slowly, because even the simplest behavior is a function of most (if not all) of the mind. Accelerating our understanding of the mind's structure requires more efforts in developing cognitive architectures.

scholarly journals The anchoring bias reflects rational use of cognitive resources

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falk Lieder ◽  
Tom Griffiths ◽  
Quentin J.M. Huys ◽  
Noah D. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Reasoning Under Uncertainty ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Rational Use ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Anchoring Bias

Cognitive biases, such as the anchoring bias, pose a serious challenge to rational accounts of human cognition. We investigate whether rational theories can meet this challenge by taking into account the mind’s bounded cognitive resources. We asked what reasoning under uncertainty would look like if people made rational use of their finite time and limited cognitive resources. To answer this question, we applied a mathematical theory of bounded rationality to the problem of numerical estimation. Our analysis led to a rational process model that can be interpreted in terms of anchoring-and-adjustment. This model provided a unifying explanation for ten anchoring phenomena including the differential effect of accuracy motivation on the bias towards provided versus self-generated anchors. Our results illustrate the potential of resource-rational analysis to provide formal theories that can unify a wide range of empirical results and reconcile the impressive capacities of the human mind with its apparently irrational cognitive biases.

Advancing rational analysis to the algorithmic level

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falk Lieder ◽  
Thomas L. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Architectures ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Cognitive Constraints ◽  
Methodological Advance ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Human Rationality

Abstract The commentaries raised questions about normativity, human rationality, cognitive architectures, cognitive constraints, and the scope or resource rational analysis (RRA). We respond to these questions and clarify that RRA is a methodological advance that extends the scope of rational modeling to understanding cognitive processes, why they differ between people, why they change over time, and how they could be improved.

Conquer and Score: A Word Formation Game for Language Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Anealka Aziz Hussin ◽  
Tuan Sarifah Aini Syed Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
English Language ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Safe Environment ◽  
Learning Path ◽  
Derivational Morphemes ◽  
And Linguistics ◽  
Formation Game

Engaging students in language activities can sometimes be challenging for language educators. One of the ways to engage students in language activities is through language games. Language games can motivate students to communicate, strengthens their ability to comprehend the language and enhance their problem-solving and cognitive skills. Language games also have a vast potential to increase engagement of the students, thus lead to the creation of the Conquer & Score: The Derivational Island. It is a word formation enrichment game catering to students learning lexicology and linguistics. The topic was chosen based on the result of an online quiz on the types of morphemes. The game focuses on the derivational morphemes used to form the English language words. The game requires knowledge of morphology as well as basic lexical analysis skills. The game provides educators a fun and engaging reinforcement activity for the students. Gamification elements used in the game such as rewards, flexible learning path and progress indicator offer a safe environment for competition, which can motivate students to outdo each other to win the game. This paper also highlights some important aspects of games in learning.

scholarly journals Extended parenting and the evolution of cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1803) ◽  
pp. 20190495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Uomini ◽  
Joanna Fairlie ◽  
Russell D. Gray ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Learning

Traditional attempts to understand the evolution of human cognition compare humans with other primates. This research showed that relative brain size covaries with cognitive skills, while adaptations that buffer the developmental and energetic costs of large brains (e.g. allomaternal care), and ecological or social benefits of cognitive abilities, are critical for their evolution. To understand the drivers of cognitive adaptations, it is profitable to consider distant lineages with convergently evolved cognitions. Here, we examine the facilitators of cognitive evolution in corvid birds, where some species display cultural learning, with an emphasis on family life. We propose that extended parenting (protracted parent–offspring association) is pivotal in the evolution of cognition: it combines critical life-history, social and ecological conditions allowing for the development and maintenance of cognitive skillsets that confer fitness benefits to individuals. This novel hypothesis complements the extended childhood idea by considering the parents' role in juvenile development. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses, we show that corvids have larger body sizes, longer development times, extended parenting and larger relative brain sizes than other passerines. Case studies from two corvid species with different ecologies and social systems highlight the critical role of life-history features on juveniles’ cognitive development: extended parenting provides a safe haven, access to tolerant role models, reliable learning opportunities and food, resulting in higher survival. The benefits of extended juvenile learning periods, over evolutionary time, lead to selection for expanded cognitive skillsets. Similarly, in our ancestors, cooperative breeding and increased group sizes facilitated learning and teaching. Our analyses highlight the critical role of life-history, ecological and social factors that underlie both extended parenting and expanded cognitive skillsets. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

Managing Cognitive Load in the Design of Assistive Technology for Those with Learning Disabilities

2010 ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boaventura DaCosta ◽  
Soonhwa Seok
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human Information Processing ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Effective Learning Environments

This is the second of three chapters serving as the introduction to this handbook which addresses the relationship between human cognition and assistive technologies and its design for individuals with cognitive disabilities. In this chapter the authors present strategies to manage cognitive load in the design of instructional materials for those with learning disabilities. The authors introduce cognitive load theory, which proposes a set of instructional principles grounded in human information processing research that can be leveraged in the creation of efficient and effective learning environments. They attempt to separate conjecture and speculation from empirically-based study and consolidate more than twenty-five years of research to highlight the best ways in which to increase learning. Altogether, the authors affirm the approach discussed in the last chapter—that technology for learning should be created with an understanding of design principles empirically supported by how the human mind works, particularly when it comes to the design of assistive technologies for individuals with learning disabilities.

Modelling Interactive Behaviour with a Rational Cognitive Architecture

2009 ◽  
pp. 1154-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Peebles ◽  
Anna L. Cox
Keyword(s):  
World Wide ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Graph Reading ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Modelling Methods ◽  
Interactive Behaviour

In this chapter we discuss a number of recent studies that demonstrate the use of rational analysis (Anderson, 1990) and cognitive modelling methods to understand complex interactive behaviour involved in three tasks: (1) icon search, (2) graph reading, and (3) information retrieval on the World Wide Web (WWW). We describe the underlying theoretical assumptions of rational analysis and the adaptive control of thought-rational (ACT-R) cognitive architecture (Anderson & Lebiere, 1998), a theory of cognition that incorporates rational analysis in its mechanisms for learning and decision making. In presenting these studies we aim to show how such methods can be combined with eye movement data to provide detailed, highly constrained accounts of user performance that are grounded in psychological theory. We argue that the theoretical and technological developments that underpin these methods are now at a stage that the approach can be more broadly applied to other areas of Web use.

From Psychology to Philosophy

Prejudice ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
Endre Begby
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Epistemic Normativity ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Capacity Limitations ◽  
Ideal Approach

Calls to develop a framework for ‘non-ideal epistemology’ have recently gained traction in philosophical discourse, but little detail has yet been offered as to what this might involve. This chapter aims to remedy this shortcoming, both as a broader theoretical development and with specific view toward the epistemology of prejudice. Specifically,this chapter develops the notion of non-ideal epistemology along two dimensions. Along one dimension, constraints arising from distinctive capacity limitations of the human mind (“endogenous non-ideality”) are considered. In another dimension, constraints arising from specific limitations on the information environments that epistemic agents are forced to operate within (“exogenous non-ideality”) are considered. Taking a non-ideal approach to epistemology does not, however, mean giving up on epistemic normativity altogether: to the contrary, this chapter argues that non-ideal epistemology provides the only way for such norms to provide a genuine critical grip on human cognition at all.

E-Learning, Mobility, and Time

2015 ◽  
pp. 396-416
Author(s):  
Melody M. Terras ◽  
Judith Ramsay
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Learning ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Psychological Dimension

Psychological theory and research has contributed to the characterisation and resolution of numerous applied problems in educational and technological contexts. In this chapter, the authors consider psychological theory and research concerning time and discuss how it can inform the understanding of the temporal dimension of mobile learning. Mobile learning presents a number of specific psychological challenges to learners (Terras & Ramsay, 2012), and in this chapter, the authors explore those psychological influences that are time-based. Specifically, they highlight the importance of considering the psychological dimension of time (i.e. how it is perceived and experienced) and illustrate how the subjective experience of time influences the mobile learning experience. The authors identify eight important psychological factors that educational developers and technologists alike should seek to manage in the quest for successful mobile learning. In doing so, they characterise the psychological infrastructure that is required to support the temporal aspects of mobile learning. In particular, the authors highlight the importance of time perception and time management skills as learners need to monitor and allocate their time appropriately across the learning task. Mobile learners also require good meta-cognitive awareness, and they require a high degree of meta-cognitive skills in order to effectively monitor and control their environment and thereby their learning. The discussion highlights the psychological challenges that learners, education providers, and software developers need to overcome in order to address the temporal demands of elearning and maximise the potential of mobile learning.

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