This paper presents a cognitive model-the Sensory Motor System (SMS)-for an action execution proc... more This paper presents a cognitive model-the Sensory Motor System (SMS)-for an action execution process, as a new module of the LIDA systems-level cognitive model. Action execution refers to a situation in which a software agent or robot executes a selected goal-directed action in the real world so as to output pertinent movement. Action execution requires transforming a selected goal-directed action into lower-level executable actions, and executing them. A sensorimotor system derived from the subsumption architecture has been implemented into the SMS; and several cognitive neuroscience hypotheses have been incorporated as well, including the two visual systems and others. A computational SMS has been created inside a LIDA-based software agent in Webots to model the execution of a grip action. The grip's design is inspired by the arm controller of the robot Herbert and the current study of human's action. Simulated results are compared to human performance.
Daniel Kahneman (2011) posits two main processes that characterize thinking: "System 1" is a fast... more Daniel Kahneman (2011) posits two main processes that characterize thinking: "System 1" is a fast decision making system responsible for intuitive decision making based on emotions, vivid imagery, and associative memory. "System 2" is a slow system that observes System 1's outputs, and intervenes when "intuition" is insufficient. Such an intervention occurs "when an event is detected that violates the model of the world that System 1 maintains" (Kahneman, 2011, p. 24). Here, we propose specific underlying mechanisms for Kahneman's Systems 1 and 2, in terms of the LIDA model, a broad, systemslevel, cognitive architecture (Stan Franklin et al., 2014). LIDA postulates that human cognition consists of a continuing, overlapping iteration of cognitive cycles, each a cognitive "atom," out of which higherorder processes are built. In LIDA terms, System 1 employs consciously mediated action selection in which a stimulus is acted upon within one or two cognitive cycles. In contrast, System 2, which LIDA posits to operate according to James' ideomotor theory (William James, 1950) , requires more cognitive cycles in its deliberative decision making. Thus, we suggest that System 2 employs multiple occurrences of System 1 in its operation. To test the proposed mechanisms, we perform an in silico experiment using a LIDA-based software agent.
IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 2014
We describe a cognitive architecture (LIDA) that affords attention, action selection and human-li... more We describe a cognitive architecture (LIDA) that affords attention, action selection and human-like learning intended for use in controlling cognitive agents that replicate human experiments as well as performing real-world tasks. LIDA combines sophisticated action selection, motivation via emotions, a centrally important attention mechanism, and multimodal instructionalist and selectionist learning. Empirically grounded in cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience, the LIDA architecture employs a variety of modules and processes, each with its own effective representations and algorithms. LIDA has much to say about motivation, emotion, attention, and autonomous learning in cognitive agents. In this paper we summarize the LIDA model together with its resulting agent architecture, describe its computational implementation, and discuss results of simulations that replicate known experimental data. We also discuss some of LIDA's conceptual modules, propose non-linear dynamics as a bridge between LIDA's modules and processes and the underlying neuroscience, and point out some of the differences between LIDA and other cognitive architectures. Finally, we discuss how LIDA addresses some of the open issues in cognitive architecture research.
A biologically inspired cognitive architecture must draw its insights from what is known from ani... more A biologically inspired cognitive architecture must draw its insights from what is known from animal (including human) cognition. Such architectures should faithfully model the high-level modules and processes of cognitive neuroscience. Also, biologically inspired cognitive architectures are expected to contribute to the BICA "challenge of creating a real-life computational equivalent of the human mind." One unified theory of cognition, Global Workspace Theory (GWT) has emerged as the most widely accepted, empirically supported theory of the role of consciousness in cognition. Recent experimental studies reveal rich cortical connectivity capable of supporting a large-scale dynamic network. We propose that brains in fact cyclically and dynamically form such a network according to GWT. The biologically inspired LIDA cognitive architecture implements GWT conceptually and computationally. Here we argue that the LIDA architecture's breadth, flexible motivations using feelings, explicit attention mechanism, and continual, incremental and online learning in several modalities provide a significant first step in the direction of the BICA challenge. We also measure LIDA against the architectural features listed in the BICA Table of Implemented Cognitive Architectures. Applying recent brain connectivity results, we go on to elucidate the relationship between LIDA and the underlying and motivating neuroscience, using the language of non-linear dynamics. In particular, we claim that LIDAʼs representations correspond to basins of attraction in the non-linear dynamics of neural activation patterns. In addition, we claim that the rhythms of LIDA's cognitive cycle and of its internal cognitive elements have definite psychophysiological corollaries in the oscillatory patterns observed in the human brain.
High-dimensional vector spaces have noteworthy properties that make them attractive for represent... more High-dimensional vector spaces have noteworthy properties that make them attractive for representation models. A reduced description model is a mechanism for encoding complex structures as single high-dimensional vectors. Moreover, these vectors can be used to directly process complex operations such as analogies, inferences, and structural comparisons. Also, it is possible to reconstruct the whole structure from the reduced description vector. Here we introduce the Modular Composite Representation (MCR) a new reduced description model that employs long integer vectors. We also describe several experiments with them and give a theoretical analysis of the distance distribution in this vector space and of properties of this representation. Finally, we compare MCR with other two reduced description models: Spatter Code and Holographic Reduced Representation.
Cooperation is often presented as one of the key concepts which differentiates multi-agent system... more Cooperation is often presented as one of the key concepts which differentiates multi-agent systems from other related disciplines such as distributed computing, object-oriented systems, and expert systems. However, it is a concept whose precise usage in agent-based systems is at best unclear and at worst highly inconsistent. Given the centrality of the issue, and the different ideological viewpoints on the subject, this was a lively panel which dealt with the following main issues.
at Springfield * As always, I want to close by thanking my Dean, as well as my Department Chair, ... more at Springfield * As always, I want to close by thanking my Dean, as well as my Department Chair, at the University of Illinois at Springfield for making it possible for me to devote more attention to this Newsletter than I would have been able to do otherwise. Let me end with a special note. Now when the APA site is relatively in order 2 I would want to guide the Readers towards this Newsletter's history. The older issues, I think especially those edited by Jon Dorbolo, 3 will remain an excellent source of information about the history of philosophy and computing and are still very much worth browsing through. Endnotes 1. I want to thank T. Beavers for his impromptu invitation during my visit there.
Abstract. Every agent aspiring to human level intelligence, every AGI agent, must be capable of a... more Abstract. Every agent aspiring to human level intelligence, every AGI agent, must be capable of a theory of mind. That is, it must be able to attribute mental states, including intentions, to other agents, and must use such attributions in its action selection process. The LIDA conceptual and computational model of cognition offers an explanation of how theory of mind is accomplished in humans and some other animals, and suggests how this explanation could be implemented computationally. Here we describe how the LIDA ...
This paper presents a cognitive model-the Sensory Motor System (SMS)-for an action execution proc... more This paper presents a cognitive model-the Sensory Motor System (SMS)-for an action execution process, as a new module of the LIDA systems-level cognitive model. Action execution refers to a situation in which a software agent or robot executes a selected goal-directed action in the real world so as to output pertinent movement. Action execution requires transforming a selected goal-directed action into lower-level executable actions, and executing them. A sensorimotor system derived from the subsumption architecture has been implemented into the SMS; and several cognitive neuroscience hypotheses have been incorporated as well, including the two visual systems and others. A computational SMS has been created inside a LIDA-based software agent in Webots to model the execution of a grip action. The grip's design is inspired by the arm controller of the robot Herbert and the current study of human's action. Simulated results are compared to human performance.
Daniel Kahneman (2011) posits two main processes that characterize thinking: "System 1" is a fast... more Daniel Kahneman (2011) posits two main processes that characterize thinking: "System 1" is a fast decision making system responsible for intuitive decision making based on emotions, vivid imagery, and associative memory. "System 2" is a slow system that observes System 1's outputs, and intervenes when "intuition" is insufficient. Such an intervention occurs "when an event is detected that violates the model of the world that System 1 maintains" (Kahneman, 2011, p. 24). Here, we propose specific underlying mechanisms for Kahneman's Systems 1 and 2, in terms of the LIDA model, a broad, systemslevel, cognitive architecture (Stan Franklin et al., 2014). LIDA postulates that human cognition consists of a continuing, overlapping iteration of cognitive cycles, each a cognitive "atom," out of which higherorder processes are built. In LIDA terms, System 1 employs consciously mediated action selection in which a stimulus is acted upon within one or two cognitive cycles. In contrast, System 2, which LIDA posits to operate according to James' ideomotor theory (William James, 1950) , requires more cognitive cycles in its deliberative decision making. Thus, we suggest that System 2 employs multiple occurrences of System 1 in its operation. To test the proposed mechanisms, we perform an in silico experiment using a LIDA-based software agent.
IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 2014
We describe a cognitive architecture (LIDA) that affords attention, action selection and human-li... more We describe a cognitive architecture (LIDA) that affords attention, action selection and human-like learning intended for use in controlling cognitive agents that replicate human experiments as well as performing real-world tasks. LIDA combines sophisticated action selection, motivation via emotions, a centrally important attention mechanism, and multimodal instructionalist and selectionist learning. Empirically grounded in cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience, the LIDA architecture employs a variety of modules and processes, each with its own effective representations and algorithms. LIDA has much to say about motivation, emotion, attention, and autonomous learning in cognitive agents. In this paper we summarize the LIDA model together with its resulting agent architecture, describe its computational implementation, and discuss results of simulations that replicate known experimental data. We also discuss some of LIDA's conceptual modules, propose non-linear dynamics as a bridge between LIDA's modules and processes and the underlying neuroscience, and point out some of the differences between LIDA and other cognitive architectures. Finally, we discuss how LIDA addresses some of the open issues in cognitive architecture research.
A biologically inspired cognitive architecture must draw its insights from what is known from ani... more A biologically inspired cognitive architecture must draw its insights from what is known from animal (including human) cognition. Such architectures should faithfully model the high-level modules and processes of cognitive neuroscience. Also, biologically inspired cognitive architectures are expected to contribute to the BICA "challenge of creating a real-life computational equivalent of the human mind." One unified theory of cognition, Global Workspace Theory (GWT) has emerged as the most widely accepted, empirically supported theory of the role of consciousness in cognition. Recent experimental studies reveal rich cortical connectivity capable of supporting a large-scale dynamic network. We propose that brains in fact cyclically and dynamically form such a network according to GWT. The biologically inspired LIDA cognitive architecture implements GWT conceptually and computationally. Here we argue that the LIDA architecture's breadth, flexible motivations using feelings, explicit attention mechanism, and continual, incremental and online learning in several modalities provide a significant first step in the direction of the BICA challenge. We also measure LIDA against the architectural features listed in the BICA Table of Implemented Cognitive Architectures. Applying recent brain connectivity results, we go on to elucidate the relationship between LIDA and the underlying and motivating neuroscience, using the language of non-linear dynamics. In particular, we claim that LIDAʼs representations correspond to basins of attraction in the non-linear dynamics of neural activation patterns. In addition, we claim that the rhythms of LIDA's cognitive cycle and of its internal cognitive elements have definite psychophysiological corollaries in the oscillatory patterns observed in the human brain.
High-dimensional vector spaces have noteworthy properties that make them attractive for represent... more High-dimensional vector spaces have noteworthy properties that make them attractive for representation models. A reduced description model is a mechanism for encoding complex structures as single high-dimensional vectors. Moreover, these vectors can be used to directly process complex operations such as analogies, inferences, and structural comparisons. Also, it is possible to reconstruct the whole structure from the reduced description vector. Here we introduce the Modular Composite Representation (MCR) a new reduced description model that employs long integer vectors. We also describe several experiments with them and give a theoretical analysis of the distance distribution in this vector space and of properties of this representation. Finally, we compare MCR with other two reduced description models: Spatter Code and Holographic Reduced Representation.
Cooperation is often presented as one of the key concepts which differentiates multi-agent system... more Cooperation is often presented as one of the key concepts which differentiates multi-agent systems from other related disciplines such as distributed computing, object-oriented systems, and expert systems. However, it is a concept whose precise usage in agent-based systems is at best unclear and at worst highly inconsistent. Given the centrality of the issue, and the different ideological viewpoints on the subject, this was a lively panel which dealt with the following main issues.
at Springfield * As always, I want to close by thanking my Dean, as well as my Department Chair, ... more at Springfield * As always, I want to close by thanking my Dean, as well as my Department Chair, at the University of Illinois at Springfield for making it possible for me to devote more attention to this Newsletter than I would have been able to do otherwise. Let me end with a special note. Now when the APA site is relatively in order 2 I would want to guide the Readers towards this Newsletter's history. The older issues, I think especially those edited by Jon Dorbolo, 3 will remain an excellent source of information about the history of philosophy and computing and are still very much worth browsing through. Endnotes 1. I want to thank T. Beavers for his impromptu invitation during my visit there.
Abstract. Every agent aspiring to human level intelligence, every AGI agent, must be capable of a... more Abstract. Every agent aspiring to human level intelligence, every AGI agent, must be capable of a theory of mind. That is, it must be able to attribute mental states, including intentions, to other agents, and must use such attributions in its action selection process. The LIDA conceptual and computational model of cognition offers an explanation of how theory of mind is accomplished in humans and some other animals, and suggests how this explanation could be implemented computationally. Here we describe how the LIDA ...
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