The Formats of Cognitive Representation: A Computational Account
Dimitri Coelho Mollo, Alfredo Vernazzani
Abstract
Abstract Cognitive representations are typically analyzed in terms of content, vehicle, and format. Although current work on formats appeals to intuitions about external representations, such as words and maps, in this article, we develop a computational view of formats that does not rely on intuitions. In our view, formats are individuated by the computational profiles of vehicles, that is, the set of constraints that fix the computational transformations vehicles can undergo. The resulting picture is strongly pluralistic, makes space for a variety of different formats, and is intimately tied to the computational approach to cognition in cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
Topics & Concepts
Variety (cybernetics)Computer scienceComputational modelRepresentation (politics)CognitionSet (abstract data type)Cognitive scienceSpace (punctuation)Computational complexity theoryArtificial intelligenceComputational intelligenceTheoretical computer sciencePsychologyAlgorithmProgramming languageOperating systemPoliticsPolitical scienceLawNeuroscienceConstraint Satisfaction and OptimizationLanguage and cultural evolutionPhilosophy and History of Science