Unified theory of cognition

Unified theory of cognition

"Unified Theories of Cognition" is a book written by Allen Newell in 1987. Newell argues for the need of a set of general assumptions for cognitive models that account for all of cognition: a unified theory of cognition (UTC).

A UTC must explain how intelligent organisms flexibly react to stimuli from the environment, how they exhibit goal-directed behaviour and acquire goals rationally, how they represent knowledge (or which symbols they use), and learning.

Newell's UTC argues that the mind functions as a single system. He also claims the established cognitive models are vastly underdetermined by experimental data. Therefore, a UTC accounting for the experimental data would provide constraints on the modeling process, resulting in more rigorous and predictive models. A UTC could also be applied as theoretical constructs to a much wider range of cognitive phenomena. When a phenomenon cannot plausibly be explained by the UTC's mechanisms, it could indicate the UTC is wrong.

Newell understands the term cognition to include perception and motor control.

The cognitive architecture Soar is an implementation of a UTC.

Further reading

* Newell, A. (1994)."Unified Theories of Cognition", Harvard University Press; Reprint edition, ISBN 0-674-92101-1.
* Newell, A. (1973). "You can’t play 20 questions with nature and win: Projective comments on the papers of this symposium". In W. G. Chase (ed.), Visual Information Processing. New York: Academic Press. ( [http://shelf1.library.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/tiff2pdf/newell/box000044/fld00003939/bdl0001/doc01/newell.pdf Read article online] .)

ee also

*blue brain
*cognitive architecture
*Soar

External links

* [http://www.j-paine.org/students/lectures/lect5/node3.html What is a unified theory of cognition?]
* [http://www.j-paine.org/students/lectures/lect4/node13.html You can't play 20 questions with nature and win]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • cognition — cognitional, adj. /kog nish euhn/, n. 1. the act or process of knowing; perception. 2. the product of such a process; something thus known, perceived, etc. 3. knowledge. [1375 1425; late ME cognicioun < L cognition (s. of cognitio), equiv. to… …   Universalium

  • Music theory — is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods. In a grand sense, music theory distills… …   Wikipedia

  • Institute for Mathematics Complexity and Cognition — The Institute for Mathematics Complexity and Cognition (MC2) of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies brings together scientists from the government, academia and the private sector to examine the foundations of mathematical theories of… …   Wikipedia

  • Communication theory — is a field of information and mathematics that studies the technical process of information[1] and the human process of human communication.[2] Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins …   Wikipedia

  • Communication Theory as a Field — In 1999 Robert T. Craig wrote a landmark article[1] Communication Theory as a Field [2] which has since received the Best Article Award from the International Communication Association[3] as well as the Golden Anniversary Monograph Award from the …   Wikipedia

  • Dual inheritance theory — (DIT), also known as gene culture coevolution, was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s to explain how human behavior is a product of two different and interacting evolutionary processes: genetic evolution and cultural evolution. DIT is a… …   Wikipedia

  • Constructal theory — Design in nature is flow. The two sides of the constructal law: we predict the occurrence of design in nature, and we design devices for human use. The constructal law puts forth the idea that the generation of design (configuration, pattern,… …   Wikipedia

  • Cyborg theory — Part of the series on Cyborgs Cyborgology Bionics / Biomimicry Biomedical engineering Brain computer interface Cybernetics Distributed cognition Genetic engineering Human ecosystem Human enhancement Intelligence amplification Whole brain… …   Wikipedia

  • Tree of Knowledge System — The Tree of Knowledge (ToK) System is a novel, theoretical approach to the unification of psychology developed by professor Gregg Henriques of James Madison University.The outline of the system was published in 2003 in Review of General… …   Wikipedia

  • Cognitive architecture — A cognitive architecture is a blueprint for intelligent agents. It proposes (artificial) computational processes that act like certain cognitive systems, most often, like a person, or acts intelligent under some definition. Cognitive… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”