Books in the Oxford Series on Cognitive Models and Architectures series

The field of cognitive modelling has progressed beyond modelling cognition in the context of simple laboratory tasks to those studied by researchers in the field of human-factors. This volume presents advances in the two main theories of control, as well as contrasts among approaches to human-performance models.

The human cognitive architecture consists of a set of largely independent modules associated with different brain regions. This book discusses in detail how these various modules can combine to produce behaviours as varied as driving a car and solving an algebraic equation.

This volume presents an unprecedented attempt to illustrate via agent based simulation the emergence of norms meant as prescribed conducts applied by the majority. The simulated scenarios are populated with cognitive agents generating norms by detecting and deciding to respect them.

This book aims to understand human cognition and psychology through a comprehensive computational theory of the mind, namely, a "cognitive architecture."

The order that material, for both facts and skills, is presented or explored by a learner can influence what is learned, how fast performance increases, and sometimes, even that the material is learned at all. This volume explores some of the foundational topics in this area of intersection between psychology, machine learning, and others.

Although computational models of cognition have become very popular, these models are relatively limited in their coverage of cognitionΓÇö they usually only emphasize problem solving and reasoning, or treat perception and motivation as isolated modules. The first architecture to cover cognition more broadly is Psi theory, developed by Dietrich Dorner. By integrating motivation and emotion with perception and reasoning, and including grounded neuro-symbolicrepresentations, Psi contributes significantly to an integrated understanding of the mind. It provides a conceptual framework that highlights the relationships between perception and memory, language and mental representation, reasoning and motivation, emotion and cognition, autonomy and social behavior. It is,however, unfortunate that Psi''s origin in psychology, its methodology, and its lack of documentation have limited its impact. The proposed book adapts Psi theory to cognitive science and artificial intelligence, by elucidating both its theoretical and technical frameworks, and clarifying its contribution to how we have come to understand cognition.

How to Build a Brain provides a guided exploration of a new cognitive architecture that takes biological detail seriously while addressing cognitive phenomena. The Semantic Pointer Architecture (SPA) introduced in this book provides a set of tools for constructing a wide range of biologically constrained perceptual, cognitive, and motor models.

Recent years have seen the rise of a remarkable partnership between the social and computational sciences on the phenomena of emotions. This book reports on the state-of-the-art in both social science theory and computational methods, and illustrates how these two fields, together, can both facilitate practical computer/robotic applications and illuminate human social processes.

How do "minds" work? In Exploring Robotic Minds: Actions, Symbols, and Consciousness as Self-Organizing Dynamic Phenomena, Jun Tani answers this fundamental question by reviewing his own pioneering neurorobotics research project.

How do minds make societies, and how do societies change? Paul Thagard systematically connects neural and psychological explanations of mind with major social sciences (social psychology, sociology, politics, economics, anthropology, and history) and professions (medicine, law, education, engineering, and business). Social change emerges from interacting social and mental mechanisms.

Paul Thagard uses new accounts of brain mechanisms and social interactions to forge theories of mind, knowledge, reality, morality, justice, meaning, and the arts. Natural Philosophy brings new methods for analyzing concepts, understanding values, and achieving coherence. It shows how to unify the humanities with the cognitive and social sciences.

How do brains make minds? Paul Thagard's Brain-Mind presents a unified, brain-based theory of cognition and emotion with applications to the most complex kinds of thinking, right up to consciousness and creativity. Neural mechanisms are used to explain mental operations for analogy, action, intention, language, and the self.