Paperback : HK$284.00
"The question for me is how can the human mind occur in the physical universe. We now know that the world is governed by physics. We now understand the way biology nestles comfortably within that. The issue is how will the mind do that as well."--Allen Newell, December 4, 1991, Carnegie Mellon
University
The argument John Anderson gives in this book was inspired by the passage above, from the last lecture by one of the pioneers of cognitive science. Newell describes what, for him, is the pivotal question of scientific inquiry, and Anderson gives an answer that is emerging from the study of brain and
behavior.
Humans share the same basic cognitive architecture with all primates, but they have evolved abilities to exercise abstract control over cognition and process more complex relational patterns. The human cognitive architecture consists of a set of largely independent modules associated with different
brain regions. In this book, Anderson discusses in detail how these various modules can combine to produce behaviors as varied as driving a car and solving an algebraic equation, but focuses principally on two of the modules: the declarative and procedural. The declarative module involves a memory
system that, moment by moment, attempts to give each person the most appropriate possible window into his or her past. The procedural module involves a central system that strives to develop a set of productions that will enable the most adaptive response from any state of the modules. Newell argued
that the answer to his question must take the form of a cognitive architecture, and Anderson organizes his answeraround the ACT-R architecture, but broadens it by bringing in research from all areas of cognitive science, including how recent work in brain imaging maps onto the cognitive
architecture.
"The question for me is how can the human mind occur in the physical universe. We now know that the world is governed by physics. We now understand the way biology nestles comfortably within that. The issue is how will the mind do that as well."--Allen Newell, December 4, 1991, Carnegie Mellon
University
The argument John Anderson gives in this book was inspired by the passage above, from the last lecture by one of the pioneers of cognitive science. Newell describes what, for him, is the pivotal question of scientific inquiry, and Anderson gives an answer that is emerging from the study of brain and
behavior.
Humans share the same basic cognitive architecture with all primates, but they have evolved abilities to exercise abstract control over cognition and process more complex relational patterns. The human cognitive architecture consists of a set of largely independent modules associated with different
brain regions. In this book, Anderson discusses in detail how these various modules can combine to produce behaviors as varied as driving a car and solving an algebraic equation, but focuses principally on two of the modules: the declarative and procedural. The declarative module involves a memory
system that, moment by moment, attempts to give each person the most appropriate possible window into his or her past. The procedural module involves a central system that strives to develop a set of productions that will enable the most adaptive response from any state of the modules. Newell argued
that the answer to his question must take the form of a cognitive architecture, and Anderson organizes his answeraround the ACT-R architecture, but broadens it by bringing in research from all areas of cognitive science, including how recent work in brain imaging maps onto the cognitive
architecture.
Preface:
1: Cognitive Architecture
2: The Modular Organization of the Mind
3: Human Associative Memory
4: The Adaptive Control of Thought
5: What Does It Take to be Human? Lessons from High School
Algebra
6: How Can the Human Mind Occur?
Bibliography:
John R. Anderson is the R. K. Mellon University Professor of
Psychology and Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He
has led the development of the ACT-R cognitive architecture and its
applications, especially intelligent tutoring systems. Anderson has
been recognized as a leader in the field of cognitive science by a
number of awards, including the American Psychological
Association's Distinguished Scientific Career Award, the David
E.
Rumelhart Prize for Contributions to the Formal Analysis of Human
Cognition, the Howard Crosby Warren Medal for outstanding
achievement in Experimental Psychology, and the Dr. A.H. Heineken
Prize for Cognitive
Science. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a past
president of the Cognitive Science Society.
"An eloquent, personal and closely argued book, that synthesizes
decades of Anderson's ground-breaking work, integrates that work
with the latest advances from brain imaging, and provides
inspiration and direction for the future of cognitive science. This
book puts cognitive architecture back at the heart of the subject,
and provides a rich and coherent account of the computational
machine that is the human brain."--Nick Chater, Professor of
Cognitive and
Decision Sciences, University College, London
"Few theorists in cognitive psychology or cognitive science have
had the impact that John Anderson has had. The lineage of ACT
architectures has given rise to an industry of theoretical modeling
work that is the only truly comprehensive and coordinated effort to
model the functional architecture of human cognition. In this book,
Anderson charts a new direction for his work, seeking to relate his
model of a unified cognitive architecture to the architecture
of
the brain. As a result, this book is a must-read for anyone who
believes that progress in understanding the relationship between
mind and brain requires that the question be attacked from all
levels
of analysis. No one is better positioned to do so from the highest
levels of analysis, and this volume is a bold and timely foray out
onto the bridge from higher level cognition to the brain."
--Jonathan D. Cohen, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and
Director, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton
University
"In this ground-breaking book, John Anderson brings together
research on computational models of the mind and research on the
operation of the brain. The book also provides the best description
of the latest version of ACT, which is a significant extension in
functionality and theory from its predecessors. The book is a must
read for researchers and students in Cognitive Science."--John E.
Laird, Professor, University of Michigan
"In 2006 John Anderson received the world's major award in
cognitive science, the Heineken Prize, for his groundbreaking
theory on human cognition. His new book represents a courageous
effort to further develop that theory; ambitious in its attempt to
develop a coherent, general theory of human cognition of all of its
physical, computational, and neuroscientific detail. It seems to me
that the advanced tools of the present theory can, with great
profit, be
applied in meeting an ultimate challenge: explaining the role of
language in human cognition."--Willem J.M. Levelt, Director
Emeritus, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
"The mission of cognitive neuroscience is (or at least should be)
to connect cognition with neural function, to explain how gray
matter gives rise to the psychology of thought. Where many people
settle for a mere geography-- an inventory of what happens where--
Anderson aims for something much more ambitious: an understanding
of how cognition happens at all. By combining trenchant
psychological analysis with well-motivated neuroimaging, Anderson
provides a
new paradigm for addressing the core questions in cognitive
neuroscience. An important step in the science of relating mind and
brain."--Gary Marcus, Professor of Psychology and Director, Infant
Language
Center, New York University
"An eloquent, personal and closely argued book, that synthesizes
decades of Anderson's ground-breaking work, integrates that work
with the latest advances from brain imaging, and provides
inspiration and direction for the future of cognitive science. This
book puts cognitive architecture back at the heart of the subject,
and provides a rich and coherent account of the computational
machine that is the human brain."--Nick Chater, Professor of
Cognitive and
Decision Sciences, University College, London
"Few theorists in cognitive psychology or cognitive science have
had the impact that John Anderson has had. The lineage of ACT
architectures has given rise to an industry of theoretical modeling
work that is the only truly comprehensive and coordinated effort to
model the functional architecture of human cognition. In this book,
Anderson charts a new direction for his work, seeking to relate his
model of a unified cognitive architecture to the architecture
of
the brain. As a result, this book is a must-read for anyone who
believes that progress in understanding the relationship between
mind and brain requires that the question be attacked from all
levels
of analysis. No one is better positioned to do so from the highest
levels of analysis, and this volume is a bold and timely foray out
onto the bridge from higher level cognition to the brain."
--Jonathan D. Cohen, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and
Director, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton
University
"In this ground-breaking book, John Anderson brings together
research on computational models of the mind and research on the
operation of the brain. The book also provides the best description
of the latest version of ACT, which is a significant extension in
functionality and theory from its predecessors. The book is a must
read for researchers and students in Cognitive Science."--John E.
Laird, Professor, University of Michigan
"In 2006 John Anderson received the world's major award in
cognitive science, the Heineken Prize, for his groundbreaking
theory on human cognition. His new book represents a courageous
effort to further develop that theory; ambitious in its attempt to
develop a coherent, general theory of human cognition of all of its
physical, computational, and neuroscientific detail. It seems to me
that the advanced tools of the present theory can, with great
profit, be
applied in meeting an ultimate challenge: explaining the role of
language in human cognition."--Willem J.M. Levelt, Director
Emeritus, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
"The mission of cognitive neuroscience is (or at least should be)
to connect cognition with neural function, to explain how gray
matter gives rise to the psychology of thought. Where many people
settle for a mere geography-- an inventory of what happens where--
Anderson aims for something much more ambitious: an understanding
of how cognition happens at all. By combining trenchant
psychological analysis with well-motivated neuroimaging, Anderson
provides a
new paradigm for addressing the core questions in cognitive
neuroscience. An important step in the science of relating mind and
brain."--Gary Marcus, Professor of Psychology and Director, Infant
Language
Center, New York University
"...Anderson's ACT-R architecture is among the best on the market.
His prose is very clear and readable...How can the Human Mind Occur
in the Physical Universe? offers an expansive look under the hood
of one of the main architectures in cognitive
science."--Metapsychology Online Review
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