Representation and Computation in Cognitive Models

Abstract

One of the central issues in cognitive science is the nature of human representations. We argue that symbolic representations are essential for capturing human cognitive capabilities. We start by examining some common misconceptions found in discussions of representations and models. Next we examine evidence that symbolic representations are essential for capturing human cognitive capabilities, drawing on the analogy literature. Then we examine fundamental limitations of feature vectors and other distributed representations that, despite their recent successes on various practical problems, suggest that they are insufficient to capture many aspects of human cognition. After that, we describe the implications for cognitive architecture of our view that analogy is central, and we speculate on roles for hybrid approaches. We close with an analogy that might help bridge the gap.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jun 21, 2017
Source ID
10.1111/tops.12277

Entities

People

  • Chen Liang
  • Irina Rabkina
  • Ken Forbus

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • National Science Foundation
  • Northwestern University
  • Office of Naval Research

Tags

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.