AN OPTIMAL YARDSTICK FOR COGNITION
Target Article by Worden on Optimal-Cognition

<hr> Robert P. Worden  (1996) An Optimal Yardstick for Cognition. Psycoloquy: 7(01) Optimal Cognition (1)<br>Versions: <a href=ftp://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/pub/psycoloquy//1996.volume.7/psyc.96.7.01.optimal-cognition.1.worden>ASCII</a> <a href=http://www.cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cgi/psyc/newpsy?7.01>formatted</a><hr>
<TITLE>Psycoloquy 7(01): An Optimal Yardstick for Cognition</TITLE>
<H1>AN OPTIMAL YARDSTICK FOR COGNITION<br>
Target Article by Worden on Optimal-Cognition<br>
</H1>
<ADDRESS>Robert P. Worden <br>
Logica UK Ltd <br>
Betjeman House <br>
104 Hills Road<br>
Cambridge CB2 1LQ, UK<br>
<br>
<a href=mailto:wordenr@logica.com>wordenr@logica.com</a> 
</ADDRESS>
<P><H1>Abstract</H1><BLOCKQUOTE>
Firstly, by analysing its biological function, I show
that there is a best possible form of cognition, which gives
greatest fitness. The results of this optimal cognition can be
calculated in any domain -- such as foraging, navigation, vision,
or conditioning. Secondly, internal representations and symbols
emerge as a feature of near-optimal cognition. This gives a
biological basis for cognitivism. Finally, we do not expect brains
to evolve to the precise optimum. However, there are indications
that animal cognition usually comes close to optimum efficiency,
while today's cognitive models (such as  neural nets or
reinforcement learning models) have a wide range of efficiencies.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><H1>Keywords</H1><i>
Bayes, conditioning, evolution, foraging, navigation,
neural nets, optimality, representation, situated action.
</i>
<H1>References</H1><UL>
<LI>Anderson, J.R. (1990) The Adaptive character of thought, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 
<LI>Barlow, H.B. (1978) The Efficiency of Detecting Changes in Random Dot Patterns, Vision Research, 18, 637-50. 
<LI>Barlow, H.B. (1980) The Efficiency of Perceptual Decisions, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London), B290, 71-82. 
<LI>Brooks, R.A. (1991) Intelligence without Representation, Artificial Intelligence, 47: 139-159. 
<LI>Burgess, A.E. (1990) High level Visual Detection Efficiencies, in Vision: Coding and Efficiency, Ed. Blakemore, C., Cambridge University Press, 1990. 
<LI>Clancey, W.J. (1993) Situated Action: a Neuropsychological Interpretation, Cognitive Science, 17:87-116. 
<LI>Churchland, P.S. and T.J. Sejnowski (1988) Neural representations and neural computations, in L. Nadel ed. Neural Connection and Mental Computation, MIT Press, Cambridge MA. 
<LI>Collett, T.S., B.A. Cartwright and B.A. Smith (1986) Landmark Learning and Visuo-spatial Memories in Gerbils. J. Comp Physiol. A 158:835-851. 
<LI>Dickinson, A. (1980) Contemporary animal learning theory, Cambridge University Press. 
<LI>Dupre, J. (1987) The Latest on the Best, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 
<LI>Edelman, G.M. (1992) Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On The Matter of the Mind, New York: Basic Books. 
<LI>Fodor J. and Z. Pylyshyn (1988) Connectionism and Cognitive Architecture, Cognition 28, 3-71. 
<LI>Gallistel, C.R. (1990) The organisation of learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 
<LI>Gould, S.J. and Lewontin R.C. (1979) The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptionist Program. Reprinted in Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology: an Anthology, Ed. E. Sober, MIT Press 1984. 
<LI>Gould, S.J. (1980) The Panda's Thumb, W.W. Norton, New York. 
<LI>Hayes, P.J., K.M. Ford and N. Agnew (1994) On Babies and Bathwater -- a Cautionary Tale, AI Magazine, Fall 1994, 15-26. 
<LI>Johnson-Laird, P.N. (1983) Mental Models, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 
<LI>Lewontin, R.C. (1987) The Shape of Optimality, in The Latest on the Best, ed. J. Dupre, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 
<LI>Machine Learning (1992) Special Issue on Reinforcement Learning, Vol 8 no. 3/4. 
<LI>Mackintosh, N.J. (1975) A Theory of Attention: Variations in the Associability of a Stimulus with reinforcement. Psychological Review, 82, 276-98. 
<LI>Marr, D. (1982) Vision, W.H. Freeman. 
<LI>Maynard Smith, J. (1982) Evolution and the Theory of Games, Cambridge University Press. 
<LI>Morris, R.G.M., P. Garrud, J.N.P. Rawlins and J. O'Keefe (1982) Place Navigation Impaired in Rats with Hippocampal Lesions. Nature 297: 681-683. 
<LI>O'Keefe, J. and L. Nadel (1978) The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 
<LI>Rescorla, R.A. and A.R. Wagner (1972) A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In A.H. Black and W.F. Prokasy (eds) Classical Conditioning II: Current Research and Theory, pp 64-99 Appleton- Century-Crofts, New York. 
<LI>Rumelhart, D.E. (1991) The architecture of mind: a connectionist approach, in M.I. Posner, ed., Foundations of Cognitive Science, MIT Press, Cambridge MA. 
<LI>Sejnowski, T. and P.S. Churchland (1991) Brain and Cognition, in M.I. Posner, ed., Foundations of Cognitive Science, MIT Press, Cambridge MA. 
<LI>Shepard, R.N. (1984) Ecological Constraints on Internal Representation: Resonant Kinematics of Perceiving, Imagining, Thinking and Dreaming. Psychological Review 91: 417-447. 
<LI>Staddon, J.E.R. (1987) Optimality Theory and Behaviour, in The Latest on the Best, ed. J. Dupre, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 
<LI>Stephens, D.W. and J.R. Krebs (1986) Foraging theory, Princeton University Press. 
<LI>Van Valen, L. (1973) A New Evolutionary Law. Evolutionary Theory, 1, 1-30. 
<LI>Vera, A. and Simon, A.H. (1993) Situated Action: A Symbolic Interpretation, Cognitive Science, 17:49-59. 
<LI>Wehner, R. and Srinivasan, M.V. (1981) Searching behaviour of desert ants, genus Cataglyphis (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). Journal of Comparative Physiology, 142, 315-338. 
<LI>Worden, R.P. (1992) Navigation by fragment-fitting: a theory of hippocampal function, Hippocampus 2, 165-188. 
<LI>Worden, R.P. (1995) A Speed Limit for Evolution (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 176, 137-152). 
<LI>Worden, R.P. (1996) Primate Social Intelligence (to be published in Cognitive Science). 
</UL>