Thought Catalouge

Computational Cognitive Science
By - Joel Marceline (19PT10)

In a nutshell Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes.
Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include language, perception, memory, attention, reasoning, and emotion; to understand these faculties, cognitive scientists borrow from fields such as linguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, neuroscience, and anthropology.

One of the fundamental concepts of cognitive science is that “thinking can best be understood in terms of representational structures in the mind and computational procedures that operate on those structures.”
We often think of our intelligence as one factor that distinguishes us from other animals. Humans write songs, build complex technologies, and communicate with language.
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However, when we attempt to more specifically define what makes us unique in this sense we often are forced to realize that there is intelligence in systems besides humans. Certainly animals show certain types of intelligent behavior (e.g., simple problem solving, complex and adaptive movements).

Computational cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of intelligence and this intelligence is best described in terms of computational systems (i.e., computer algorithms or programs). As a result, this field of study brings together many disparate fields interested in computation including computer science, data science, neuroscience, linguistics, psychology, and philosophy.

Some computational cognitive scientists emphasize the design of new intelligent computer systems (artificial intelligence) that may operate on principles different from the way biological intelligence works. Others work to understand how biological brains enable intelligence (e.g., how do our neurons support our ability to understand language?).

Still others seek to understand the relationships between these different types of intelligence in a kind of “comparative psychology” (e.g., we have learned a lot about humans by studying animals, we can derive similar insights by comparing humans and artificial intelligence algorithms.)

Research in computational cognitive science thus lies at the intersection of technological engineering and the social sciences and humanities. Researchers in this area attempt to understand what makes us human by leveraging cutting edge developments in technology. Looking forward, computational cognitive science is likely to transform not only what we know about ourselves but also the kinds of future technologies that will inhabit our cities, homes, offices, pockets, and even bodies.

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One of the few factors which attribute to Human civilization - Language and Communication.
In Linguistics -> Semantics ->The symbol grounding problem concerns how it is that words (symbols in general) get their meanings, and hence is closely related to the problem of what meaning itself really is.
The problem of meaning is in turn related to the problem of how it is that mental states are meaningful, hence to the problem of consciousness: what is the connection between certain physical systems and the contents of subjective experiences.

Modeling the process of construction and reasoning with meaning representations of Natural Language expressions
Solve ambiguity “Will will write his will ? ; Headline: Teacher Strikes Idle Kids, Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half”
Closely Related with NLP and Computational Linguistics.

Another factor is agriculture and settling down of humans.
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures and societies, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values.
On having a good understanding - modeling systems local to a culture , understand what factors has made us value somethings over others.

Origin of Consciousness, Thought
To model what and how we think we have to understand relative realities and how to model them on commonalities.
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Psychology is the science of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, as well as feelings and thought.
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning
The binding problem is a term used at the interface between neuroscience, cognitive science and philosophy of mind that has multiple meanings.

Firstly, there is the segregation problem: a practical computational problem of how brains segregate elements in complex patterns of sensory input so that they are allocated to discrete “objects”.
In other words, when looking at a blue square and a yellow circle, what neural mechanisms ensure that the square is perceived as blue and the circle as yellow, and not vice versa?

Secondly, there is the combination problem: the problem of how objects, background and abstract or emotional features are combined into a single experience.
Using EEG and other BCI interfaces to study how, why and where neurons fire the responses to make us perform a specific action.
Damaged and healthy brains - People with disabilities.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were inspired by information processing and distributed communication nodes in biological systems. ANNs have various differences from biological brains.
Specifically, neural networks tend to be static and symbolic, while the biological brain of most living organisms is dynamic (plastic) and analogue.

Connectionism is an approach in the fields of cognitive science that hopes to explain mental phenomena using artificial neural networks (ANN).
Connectionism presents a cognitive theory based on simultaneously occurring, distributed signal activity via connections that can be represented numerically, where learning occurs by modifying connection strengths based on experience.

Currently making ANI Artificial narrow intelligence) Based systems are more widely spread and researched upon. Ex: AI Chatbots , AlphaZero etc
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - Same level as the human cognition and function - whatever emotions quantitatively are. Improving with the popularity of BCI.
Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) - Another level of thinking than humans , beyond our brains can wrap around , A sentient being - A God??

What it means for us to gain insight into the “why we think and do the things we do?” , how it probably would affect Court systems/Laws etc.
Creation of Artificial Sentient Life (Sounds Sci-Fi-esq) and the Problems Caused or solved directly(Job loss , loss of biological “life” ) and Indirectly (The way we think and interact with reality , Autonomy , Rights etc. (Roko’s Basilisk)

[Eg: How it changed with the wide spread use of mobile computing, we increasingly interact with artificial systems like our smartphone or computer which display elements of intelligence as well (e.g., understanding spoken language, planning out the best way to get home, etc…)])
Moral Dilemmas , Thought Experiments -> Trolley Problem

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Computational Cognitive Science