Relevance, goal management and cognitive technology

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-232
Author(s):  
Roger Lindsay ◽  
Barbara Gorayska
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Cognitive Technology ◽  
Goal Management ◽  
Connectionist Networks ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Technological Interventions ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence

An accumulating body of research suggests that it is profitable to treat human cognition as a system that is primarily concerned with goal management. More specifically, it appears that the symbolic representation of goals, the location of relevant objects and operations and the construction of plans to achieve them, using objects and operations as components, are processes which are central to human cognition. The aim of the present paper is to suggest that relevance-based goal management processes are consistent with recent neuropsychological evidence that the human cognitive apparatus is duplex in nature. Furthermore, relevance information can provide a much-needed bridge between connectionist networks and the symbolic planning modules that characterise mature human cognition. The paper explores some phenomena, such as ethical reasoning, that have not been explained within previous theoretical frameworks. Finally, it is argued that, in addition to offering new explanations of familiar phenomena, the theoretical analysis of cognitive processes developed in the early part of the paper also suggests a range of novel technological interventions.

scholarly journals Cognitive Factories: Modeling Situated Entropy in Physical Work Carried Out by Humans and Robots

Entropy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Fox ◽  
Adrian Kotelba ◽  
Ilkka Niskanen
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Distributed Cognition ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Information Gain ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Physical Work ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Assembly Work ◽  
Factory Production ◽  
Physical Components

Entropy in factories is situated. For example, there can be numerous different ways of picking, orientating, and placing physical components during assembly work. Physical components can be redesigned to increase the Information Gain they provide and so reduce situated entropy in assembly work. Also, situated entropy is affected by the extent of knowledge of those doing the work. For example, work can be done by knowledgeable experts or by beginners who lack knowledge about physical components, etc. The number of different ways that work can be done and the knowledge of the worker combine to affect cognitive load. Thus, situated entropy in factories relates to situated cognition within which knowledge is bound to physical contexts and knowing is inseparable from doing. In this paper, six contributions are provided for modelling situated entropy in factories. First, theoretical frameworks are brought together to provide a conceptual framework for modelling. Second, the conceptual framework is related to physical production using practical examples. Third, Information Theory mathematics is applied to the examples and a preliminary methodology in presented for modelling in practice. Fourth, physical artefacts in factory production are reframed as carriers of Information Gain and situated entropy, which may or may not combine as Net Information Gain. Fifth, situated entropy is related to different types of cognitive factories that involve different levels of uncertainty in production operations. Sixth, the need to measure Net Information Gain in the introduction of new technologies for embodied and extended cognition is discussed in relation to a taxonomy for distributed cognition situated in factory production. Overall, modelling of situated entropy is introduced as an opportunity for improving the planning and control of factories that deploy human cognition and cognitive technologies including assembly robotics.

scholarly journals Social and emotion dimensional organizations in the abstract semantic space: the neuropsychological evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaosha Wang ◽  
Guochao Li ◽  
Gang Zhao ◽  
Yunqian Li ◽  
Bijun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Semantic Space ◽  
Abstract Word ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Semantic Judgment ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence

AbstractAn essential aspect of human cognition is supported by a rich reservoir of abstract concepts without tangible external referents (e.g., “honor”, “relationship”, “direction”). While decades of research showed that the neural organization of conceptual knowledge referring to concrete words respects domains of evolutionary salience and sensorimotor attributes, the organization principles of abstract word meanings are poorly understood. Here, we provide neuropsychological evidence for a domain (sociality) and attribute (emotion) structure in abstract word processing. Testing 34 brain-damaged patients on a word-semantic judgment task, we observed double dissociations between social and nonsocial words and a single dissociation of sparing of emotional (relative to non-emotional) words. The lesion profiles of patients with specific dissociations suggest potential neural correlates positively or negatively associated with each dimension. These results unravel a general domain-attribute architecture of word meanings and highlight the roles of the social domain and the emotional attribute in the non-object semantic space.

Relevance, goal management and cognitive technology

2004 ◽  
pp. 63-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Lindsay ◽  
Barbara Gorayska
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Technology ◽  
Goal Management

FUZZY POSITIONING MODELING OF NATURAL LANGUAGE LOCATION DESCRIPTION

2020 ◽  
Vol XLIII-B4-2020 ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
H. Fan ◽  
M. Yang ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
J. Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Difficult Problem ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Technology ◽  
Location Services ◽  
Location Service ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Development Direction ◽  
Indoor And Outdoor

Abstract. The development of cognitive technology and natural language understanding has made the interaction between humans and machines more mature. Natural language interactive location services through language or text are more in line with human cognitive habits, and it is the future development direction of location service techniques. Different from accurate GPS location, the uncertainty of human cognition causes the natural language position description is of uncertainty. How to take the uncertainty of position description into account to model it, and further establish a positioning computing framework that supports the expression of uncertainty, is a difficult problem in this field. At present, quantitative spatial relationship models can be well applied to navigation and positioning. However, these models cannot be directly transferred to deal with qualitative spatial relationships, such as positioning based on natural language descriptions. An effective solution is to establish a method to transform the qualitative natural language positioning into a quantitative one. To build this transformation, we proposed a fuzzy positioning model based on fussy mathematics theory and methods. The proposed model was validated using indoor and outdoor positioning experiments. The experiments showed that it could achieve a high positioning accuracy both indoor and outdoor.

scholarly journals From Calculus to Language Game

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Durt ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Technical Problem ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Language Game ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Rule Following ◽  
Cognitive Technology ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Creating Meaning

Cognitive technology is an increasingly important form of technology that can deal with meaning by either replicating or simulating human cognition. Cognitive technology can make use of information technology, but it strives to go beyond mere information processing by recognizing, changing, and creating meaning. This presents us with a two-sided challenge: On the one hand, cognitive technology is challenged to ‘understand’ meaning in ordinary language. And on the other, it challenges us to rethink fundamental questions of human cognition and sense-making. Both challenges demand a better understanding of the difference between the technical transformation of symbols and the understanding of meaning in the ordinary sense. After explaining the topic in relation to both the insights and the limitations of the reflections by Turing, Searle, and Heidegger, this paper primarily builds on Wittgenstein’s contributions to a better understanding of the difference between two conceptions of meaning and their implications for technical replication and simulation. The paper shows that Wittgenstein developed his early calculus account of meaning into that of language games and that language games not only come in many different varieties, but are also much more flexible than calculi. Of particular interest will be the difference between rigid and creative rule-following. Creative rule-following involves an intricate interplay of very different bodily, mental, and cultural constituents, so that its simulation is not merely a technical problem but also requires clarification of a number of profound philosophical questions. It will become clear that the challenge of cognitive technology shows up at unexpected places and that is much bigger than usually assumed.

Past the Anthropocentric: Sociocognitive Perspectives for Tech-Mediated Language Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 146-151
Author(s):  
Maria Ocando Finol
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Ecological Relationship ◽  
The One

AbstractResearchers in second language acquisition (SLA) have long debated the nature of human cognition and how it affects second language learning (L2L). On the one hand, and largely dominating the field of SLA, is the cognitive approach, which focuses on the brain as the unit for cognitive analysis. On the other hand, sociocultural theory holds that human cognition is mediated by cultural artifacts. These perspectives present significantly different views on interaction, understanding it as either auxiliary or instrumental in the learning process, or “fundamentally constitutive” of learning (Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004, p. 502). Increasingly concerned with the role of technology in language learning, current computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research demands theoretical frameworks that account for the ecological relationship between learners, the tools they use, and the environments they inhabit. This article raises the issue of how anthropocentric perspectives on technology have permeated the field of CALL until now, inhibiting its development. I suggest the need for CALL to adopt a less instrumental, more determinist (Carr, 2010) view of the role that technology plays in language learning, by engaging in sociocognitive research (Atkinson, 2010) that embraces the transformative power that technology has over cognition.

scholarly journals Fifty Years of Prefrontal Cortex Research: Impact on Assessment

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 755-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W. Burgess ◽  
Donald T. Stuss
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Research Impact ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Impact

AbstractOur knowledge of the functions of the prefrontal cortex, often called executive, supervisory, or control, has been transformed over the past 50 years. After operationally defining terms for clarification, we review the impact of advances in functional, structural, and theoretical levels of understanding upon neuropsychological assessment practice as a means of identifying 11 principles/challenges relating to assessment of executive function. Three of these were already known 50 years ago, and 8 have been confirmed or emerged since. Key themes over this period have been the emergence of the use of naturalistic tests to address issues of “ecological validity”; discovery of the complexity of the frontal lobe control system; invention of new tests for clinical use; development of key theoretical frameworks that address the issue of the role of prefrontal cortex systems in the organization of human cognition; the move toward considering brain systems rather than brain regions; the advent of functional neuroimaging, and its emerging integration into clinical practice. Despite these huge advances, however, practicing neuropsychologists are still desperately in need of new ways of measuring executive function. We discuss pathways by which this might happen, including decoupling the two levels of explanation (information processing; brain structure) and integrating very recent technological advances into the neuropsychologist’s toolbox. (JINS, 2017,23, 755–767)

scholarly journals Neuropsychological evidence of multi-domain network hubs in the human thalamus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Hwang ◽  
James M. Shine ◽  
Joel Bruss ◽  
Daniel Tranel ◽  
Aaron Boes
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Network Analyses ◽  
Large Scale Network ◽  
Human Thalamus ◽  
Scale Network ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence ◽  
Thalamic Function

Hubs in the human brain support behaviors that arise from brain network interactions. Previous studies have identified hub regions in the human thalamus that are connected with multiple functional networks. However, the behavioral significance of thalamic hubs has yet to be established. Our framework predicts that thalamic subregions with strong hub properties are broadly involved in functions across multiple cognitive domains. To test this prediction, we studied human patients with focal thalamic lesions in conjunction with network analyses of the human thalamocortical functional connectome. In support of our prediction, lesions to thalamic subregions with stronger hub properties were associated with widespread deficits in executive, language, and memory functions, whereas lesions to thalamic subregions with weaker hub properties were associated with more limited deficits. These results highlight how a large-scale network model can broaden our understanding of thalamic function for human cognition.

scholarly journals Neuropsychological evidence of multi-domain network hubs in the human thalamus

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Hwang ◽  
James M Shine ◽  
Joel Bruss ◽  
Daniel Tranel ◽  
Aaron Boes
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Network Analyses ◽  
Large Scale Network ◽  
Human Thalamus ◽  
Scale Network ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence ◽  
Thalamic Function

Hubs in the human brain support behaviors that arise from brain network interactions. Previous studies have identified hub regions in the human thalamus that are connected with multiple functional networks. However, the behavioral significance of thalamic hubs has yet to be established. Our framework predicts that thalamic subregions with strong hub properties are broadly involved in functions across multiple cognitive domains. To test this prediction, we studied human patients with focal thalamic lesions in conjunction with network analyses of the human thalamocortical functional connectome. In support of our prediction, lesions to thalamic subregions with stronger hub properties were associated with widespread deficits in executive, language, and memory functions, whereas lesions to thalamic subregions with weaker hub properties were associated with more limited deficits. These results highlight how a large-scale network model can broaden our understanding of thalamic function for human cognition.

scholarly journals What is a cognitive map? Organising knowledge for flexible behaviour

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy E.J. Behrens ◽  
Timothy H. Muller ◽  
James C.R. Whittington ◽  
Shirley Mark ◽  
Alon B. Baram ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Spatial Context ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The World ◽  
Multiple Domains ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractIt is proposed that a cognitive map encoding the relationships between entities in the world supports flexible behaviour, but the majority of the neural evidence for such a system comes from studies of spatial navigation. Recent work describing neuronal parallels between spatial and non-spatial behaviours has rekindled the notion of a systematic organisation of knowledge across multiple domains. We review experimental evidence and theoretical frameworks that point to principles unifying these apparently disparate functions. These principles describe how to learn and use abstract, generalisable knowledge and suggest map-like representations observed in a spatial context may be an instance of general coding mechanisms capable of organising knowledge of all kinds. We highlight how artificial agents endowed with such principles exhibit flexible behaviour and learn map-like representations observed in the brain. Finally, we speculate on how these principles may offer insight into the extreme generalisations, abstractions and inferences that characterise human cognition.

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