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70 views

CGS401 Lec2

Uploaded by

yhjkl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Cognitive Science -

2
Dr. Ark Verma
Some more about Cognitive Science…

• Cognitive Science refers not so much to the sum of the participating


disciplines but to their intersection or converging work on specific
problems.

• It represents a collaborative effort among researchers working in the various


fields. The unifying factor, although is the quest about the nature of the
mind, with the use of the scientific method.

• One of the central ideas in cognitive science is the idea of computation.


• The idea that the mind functions as an information processor, carries a few
caveats.

• The information processor must both represent information and


transform information.

• For this purpose, it is important that the mind must incorporate some
form of mental representation and processes that act on and manipulate
that information.
• The analogy is between a computer & the mind.

• Computers are digital information processors. They perform a variety of


information processing tasks.

• Information gets into the computers via input devices, such as keyboards or
modems.

• This information can then be stored on the computer – for e.g., on its hard drive -
in the form of binary representations.

• The information can then be processed and manipulated using software, such as a
text editor.

• The results of this processing may next serve as an output, either to the monitor or
the printer.

• The same is supposed to be happening with the mind, albeit it an abstract manner.
• What is a representation?

• A representation is something that stands for something else. (remember 0s, &
1s)

• There are possibly four categories of representation:


• A concept stands for a single entity or a group pf entities. Single words are good
examples of concepts. The word apple refers to the concept that represents that
particular type of fruit.

• A proposition is a statement about the world an can be illustrated with sentences.


For e.g., the sentence, “Mary has black hair.” is a proposition that is itself made
up of a few concepts.

• A rule is a representation that can specify the relationships between propositions.


For e.g., ”If it is raining, I will bring my umbrella.”
• An analogy helps us make comparisons between two similar situations.
• Also, there are four crucial aspects of any representation:

• A representation bearer for e.g., a computer or a human must realize a


representation.

• A representation must have content, i.e., the meaning it stands for. The thing or
things in the external world that a representation stands for are called referents.

• A representation must be grounded, i.e., there must be some way in which the
representation and its referent come to be related.

• A representation must be interpretable by some interpreter, either the


representation bearer or somebody else.
• In more detail:

• Since the representation stands for something else, means that it is symbolic.
Symbols are surrogates that point towards the original referent.

• Similarly, for a mental representation, one can say that there is some
symbolic entity “in the mind” that stands for a referent, say “money”.

• Now, mental representations can stand for many different types of things
and are by no means limited to simple conceptual idea of money.

• In fact, research suggests that there are more complex mental


representations that can stand for rules – for e.g., knowing how to drive a
car and analogies, which mayenable us to solve certain problems or notice
similarities.
• Further, human mental representation, especially linguistic ones, are said to
be semantic, i.e., they have meaning. Now, exactly what constitutes
meaning and how a representation can be meaningful are topics of debate.

• According to one view, a representation’s meaning is derived from the


relationship between the representation and what it is about. The term
that describes this relation is intentionality.

• Intentionality means “directed on the object.” Mental states & events are
intentional, i.e., they refer to some actual thing or things in the world.

• Another important characteristic of intentionality has to do with the


relationship between inputs and outputs to the world. An intentional
representation must be triggered by its referents or things related to it.
• Consequently, , activation of a representation (i.e., thinking about it) should
cause behaviors or actions that are somehow related to the referent.
• For e.g., if a friend tells you about a vacation they took in the summer
on the hills. Related images etc. start popping up, i.e., the representation
of the mountains are activated. Such a relation between the input & the
output is known as an appropriate causal relation.

• Symbols can be assembled into what are called physical symbol systems, or
more simply as formal logical systems.

• In a formal logical system, symbols are combined into expressions.


These expressions can then be manipulated using processes. The result
of a process can be a new expression.
• Let’s take an example:
• “animals that nurse their young ones are mammals.”

• The processes would be the rules of deduction that allow us to derive


true concluding expressions from known expressions.

• In this instance, we could start off with the two known expressions:
• Animals that nurse their young ones are mammals.
• Whales nurse their young ones.

• This could lead to the concluding expression:


• Whales are mammals.
• According to the physical symbol system hypothesis (PSSH), a formal
logical system can allow for intelligence (Newell & Simon, 1976).

• Since we, as humans appear to have representational and computational


capacity, being able to use things that stand for things, we seem to be
intelligent. Much in the same way, as machines can be deemed intelligent.

• Several critiques have been leveled against the PSSH (Nilsson, 2007).
• It is argued that the symbols computers use have no meaning or
semantic quality. To be meaningful, symbols have to be connected to the
environment in some way.
• People and perhaps other animals seem to have meaning because we
have bodies an can perceive things and act on them. This “grounds” the
symbols and imbues them with semantic quality.

• Computing machines, that are not embodied with sensors (e.g., cameras,
& microphones) and effectors (e.g., limbs).

• This issue is known as the symbol grounding problem and is in effect a


re - expression of the concept of intentionality.
• A counter argument to this is that the computer systems do have the
capability to designate. – An expression can designate an object if it can
affect the object itself or behave in ways that depend on that object.

• One could argue that a robot capable of perceiving an object like a


coffee mug and being able to pick it up, could develop semantics
towards it in the same way a person might. So, the robot could, in fact
be intelligent.
• Types of representation.

• Concepts are the most basic form of mental representation. It’s an idea
that represents things that we have grouped together. For instance, the
concept chair does not refer to a specific chair; but to all possible chairs.

• Also, concepts need not always refer to concrete items. They can stand
for abstract ideas – for example, “justice” or “love”.

• They can be related to one another in complex ways. Either in a


hierarchical fashion, where a concept at one level of organization stands
for all members of the class just below it. For e.g., “Golden retrievers”,
belongs to the category of “dogs”.
• A proposition is a statement or assertion typically posed in the form of a
simple sentence. An essential feature of a proposition is that it can be
proved true or false.
• For instance, the statement, “The moon is made out of cheese.” is
grammatically correct an may represent a belief, but is a false statement.
• We can apply the rules of formal logic to propositions to determine the
validity of those propositions.
• One logical inference is called a syllogism. A syllogism contains a series of
propositions. The first two (or more) are premises and the last is a
conclusion.
• All men like football.
• Charlie is a man.
• Charlie likes football.
• Now, the conclusion can be wrong if either of the two premises are not
fully and completely true.

• Logical conclusions are only as reliable as the premises on which they


are based.

• Propositions are more sophisticated representations than concepts


because they express relationships – sometimes very complex ones –
between concepts.

• The rules of logic are best thought of as computational processes that


can be applied to propositions to assess their validity.
• However, logical relations between propositions may themselves be
considered a separate type of representation.

• Now, formal logic is at the core of a type of computing system that


produces effects in the real world: production systems.
• Inside a production system, a production rule is conditional statement of
the type: “If x, then y.” where x and y are propositions. Here ‘if’ is an
antecedent, whereas y is the consequent.

• Production rules, like these that are used in the computational algorithms
that run self-driving cars.
• Rules bring up the question of what knowledge really is. We usually
think of knowledge as factual. But then, there can be two types:
• Declarative knowledge used to represent facts.
• Procedural knowledge refers to skills.

• So, it is very important that information processing systems have some


way of representing actions if they are to help an organism or machine
perform those actions.

• Rules, therefore provide a way to represent procedural knowledge.


• Finally, Analogy is a specific type of mental representation – which can
be classified as a form of reasoning.
• Thinking analogically involves applying one’s familiarity with an old
situation to a new situation.

• Analogies are a useful form of representation because they allow us to


generalize our learning. We can apply what we already have learned to
similar situations without having to figure out everything all over again.
Several models of analogical reasoning have been proposed.

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