Download Further Cognitive Science

Cognitive Computing
2012
The computer and the mind
INTRODUCTION
See: http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/~mas02mb
Professor Mark Bishop
Reading list
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Essential texts:
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Harnish, R., (2002), Minds, Brains & Computers, Blackwell, ISBN
0-631-21260-4
Secondary texts:
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Boden, M., (1990), The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, OUP,
ISBN 0-19-824854-7
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Boden, M., (1996), The Philosophy of Artificial Life, OUP, ISBN
0-19-875155-9
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An introduction to cognitive
science
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Harnish, R., “Minds, Brains, Computers”
 W1: Principles of Dualism
 W2: Principles of Associationism
 W3: Principles of Behaviourism
 W4: Principles of Connectionism
 W5: Principles of Identity Theory
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W6: READING WEEK
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W7: Principles of Functionalism
W8: Principles of Knowledge Representation (1)
W9: Principles of Knowledge Representation (2)
W10: The Computational Theory of Mind
W11: The Connectionist Theory of Mind
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Foundation of artificial
intelligence and artificial life
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The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, (Boden)
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W1: Computing Machinery & Intelligence, (Turing).
W2: Minds, Brains & Programs, (Searle).
W3: Computer Science as Empirical Enquiry, (Newell & Simon).
W4: Cognitive Wheels, (Dennett).
W5: Some Reductive Strategies in Cognitive Neurobiology, (Churchlands)
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W6: READING WEEK
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W7: Making a mind versus modeling the brain, (Dreyfus & Dreyfus)
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The Philosophy of Artificial Life, (Boden)
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W8: Artificial Life, (Langton).
W9: From Robots to Rothko, (Wheeler)
W10: Autonomy and Artificiality, (Boden)
W11: Tierra, (Ray)
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Assessment
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Write an extended (5,000 word) essay (to be submitted by 4pm,
Friday last day of the autumn term)
Problems with representations.
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i.e. Amongst other issues, your essay may discuss:
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What is a representation?
Intentionality: how might a representation ‘represent’ reality?
The danger of homunculus fallacies.
Representations and the Cartesian theatre.
Processing – using – representations in cognition.
Action-orientated representations, etc. etc.
How to cognize without using representations?
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Cognitive Computing
2012
The computer and the mind
FIRST STEPS
Professor Mark Bishop
First steps in Cognitive Science
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How is it that cognitive systems - such as ourselves
- can:
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think;
hold conversations;
recognise objects;
play tennis;
feel pain; see red.
Cognitive Science is concerned with explaining how
such behaviours are realised.
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The ‘representational theory of
mind’
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The ‘representational theory of
mind’ is the dominant theory of the
nature of mental content in
cognitive science, modern
philosophy of mind and
experimental psychology.
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In contrast to theories of naive or
direct realism - where sense
provides us with direct awareness
of the external world - it postulates
the existence of mental
intermediaries – representations between the observing subject and
the objects in the external world.
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These intermediaries stand for represent - to the mind objects of
the world.
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What is cognition?
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An attempt to explain the processes that underlie [conscious]
thought; this leads to the:
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Narrow Definition of Cognition: the mental manipulation of
mental representations.
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Cognitivism: the belief that cognition consists of discrete, internal
mental states (representations) whose manipulation can be described in
terms of rules or algorithms.
Broad Definition of Cognition: involves investigation of:
 Attention.
 Memory.
 Learning.
 Reasoning.
 Problem solving.
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What is computation?
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Broad Definition: Is simply whatever computer do...
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give off heat;
play music;
watch DVDs etc.
Narrow Definition: Computation is ‘information processing’.
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For David Marr - like Newell & Simon before him - ‘Information
Processing systems’ involve manipulation of symbols.
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For Marr Information Processing (IP) systems have three levels
of description:
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What problems does the IP system solve?
What algorithms does the IP system employ?
How are the algorithms implemented?
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What is intelligence (1)
We need to identify intelligence so that we can rightly ascribe
the quality to a machine if, and when, it is present.
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Is Intelligence:
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The deduction of mathematical proof?
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The ability to do intelligence tests?
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A computer demonstrated strength in this ability in 1963,
‘Empirical explorations with the logic theory machine’, (Newell,
Shaw & Simon).
A computer demonstrated strength in this ability in 1968, ‘A
heuristic Program to solve Geometric Analogy Problems’,
(Minsky).
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What is intelligence (2)
Answer specialised questions about a complex
knowledge domain?
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A computer demonstrated strength in this ability in 1971,
‘On Generality and Problem Solving ...’, the DENDRAL
Expert System project, (Feigenbaum et al).
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Answering general questions about a simple
knowledge domain?
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A computer demonstrated strength in this ability in 1973,
‘A Procedural Model of Language Understanding’,
(Winograd), SHRDLU: the blocks world.
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What is intelligence (3)
The ability to play a strong game of chess?
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A computer has demonstrated strength in this ability
from 1988.
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The DEEP THOUGHT project (1988 - 1997).
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.. But did it have human help….
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In game two DB made one exceptionally good move..
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But then subsequently missed an obvious counter move
(luckily for IBM so did Kasparov).
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So, what is a chair?
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How do I know the object - pictured right - is a chair?
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Are there specific rules/features that define if a given
object is a chair? I.e. has the given object:
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A back?
A seat?
Four legs?
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It seems apparent that there is no one distinctive
feature set necessary and sufficient for the property of
‘chairiness’.
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Thus there is no reason to look - as we have
traditionally - for one, essential core in which the
meaning of a concept (e.g. chair) is located and which
is, therefore, common to all uses of that word.
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This lack of rigid rule based structure has posed
serious problems for rule based, computational
attempts to solve problems in object
categorization.
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On family resemblance
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An alternative approach to object categorization is
suggested in the later work of the great twentieth
century philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein.
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In ‘Philosophical Investigations’, Wittgenstein
suggested family resemblance as a suitable
analogy for the means of connecting particular
uses of the same concept.
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In other words, we correctly say of something that
it is a chair, iff it has a group of features in common
- it shares a family resemblance to - objects we
class as chairs.
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I.e. we should travel with the concept's uses through
"a complicated network of similarities, overlapping and
criss-crossing" (PI 66).
Family resemblance also serves to exhibit the lack
of boundaries and the distance from exactness
that characterize different uses of the same
concept
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So what is cognitive science? (1)
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The Narrow Definition of Cognitive Science:
 Cognitive Science is not an area of study but a
doctrine
 Specifically the Computational Theory of Mind,
(CTM).
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But this definition of Cognitive Science is risky..
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The mind/brain is a type of computer.
If cognition turns out not to be computational then on
this definition there is no Cognitive Science…
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What is cognitive science? (2)
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Broad Definition – the scientific study of cognition which involves:
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Computer Science / Artificial Intelligence
 Instantiation of complex (intelligent) system in a real machine.
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Neuroscience
 Aims to provide a functional analysis of various portions of the brain.
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Psychology
 Investigation of attention, memory, learning, reasoning, problem solving etc.
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Linguistics
 Understanding of language. eg. Cholmsky’s work on transformative grammars.
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Anthropology
 Investigating cognitive phenomena from a cross cultural perspective.
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Philosophy
 Many problems in Cognitive Science are old philosophical problems recast in new language.
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The Mind/Body problem; free will; consciousness etc.
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