Application Of Cognitive Science Research Articles

ANTONINA HARBUS. Cognitive Approaches to Old English Poetry.

The introductory chapter of this book outlines recent applications of cognitive science to literary studies, with sections on cognitive science itself, cognitive poetics, cognitive cultural studies, conceptual metaphor, the embodied mind, together with a brief overview of how the study proposes to bring these to a reading of Old English poetry. Successive chapters present these differing cognitive theories in greater detail before they are applied to various Old English poems (or sections of them): cognitive theory of metaphor is used to interpret images of the wandering mind in The Wanderer and the mind imaged as enclosure in Soul and Body II (chapter 2); cognitive notions of conceptual blending are applied to The Dream of the Rood, Riddle 43 and part of The Battle of Maldon (chapter 3); ‘Text World Theory’ is brought into relation with Wulf and Eadwacer and sections of Beowulf and Genesis B (chapter 4); ideas of cognition or Theory of Mind are illustrated by reference to The Dream of the Rood, Beowulf and Elene (chapter 5). The final two chapters, conversely, ‘set out to demonstrate the contribution that can be made by Anglo-Saxon Studies … to Cognitive Science itself’ (p. 130): notions of the self and of identity trigger a discussion of The Wife’s Lament and other Old English elegies (chapter 6), and, finally, some recent psychological ideas about the emotions are given a historical context with further discussion of Wulf and Eadwacer and of Beowulf. There is a short conclusion (with paragraphs summing up each of the chapters), an extensive bibliography, and a rather brief index.

The situated HKB model: how sensorimotor spatial coupling can alter oscillatory brain dynamics

Despite the increase of both dynamic and embodied/situated approaches in cognitive science, there is still little research on how coordination dynamics under a closed sensorimotor loop might induce qualitatively different patterns of neural oscillations compared to those found in isolated systems. We take as a departure point the Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB) model, a generic model for dynamic coordination between two oscillatory components, which has proven useful for a vast range of applications in cognitive science and whose dynamical properties are well understood. In order to explore the properties of this model under closed sensorimotor conditions we present what we call the situated HKB model: a robotic model that performs a gradient climbing task and whose “brain” is modeled by the HKB equation. We solve the differential equations that define the agent-environment coupling for increasing values of the agent's sensitivity (sensor gain), finding different behavioral strategies. These results are compared with two different models: a decoupled HKB with no sensory input and a passively-coupled HKB that is also decoupled but receives a structured input generated by a situated agent. We can precisely quantify and qualitatively describe how the properties of the system, when studied in coupled conditions, radically change in a manner that cannot be deduced from the decoupled HKB models alone. We also present the notion of neurodynamic signature as the dynamic pattern that correlates with a specific behavior and we show how only a situated agent can display this signature compared to an agent that simply receives the exact same sensory input. To our knowledge, this is the first analytical solution of the HKB equation in a sensorimotor loop and qualitative and quantitative analytic comparison of spatially coupled vs. decoupled oscillatory controllers. Finally, we discuss the limitations and possible generalization of our model to contemporary neuroscience and philosophy of mind.

Intelligent decision support and modeling

The influence of cognitive science and psychology on decision theory is bringing about changes to assumptions about decision making, and, as a consequence, the way that decisions should be modeled and supported. The three articles published in this Special Issue on intelligent decision support and modeling reflect an emerging literature that incorporates psychology into decision modeling and decision support. This literature represents only a starting point, and much remains to be done in terms of acknowledging the influence of psychology on engineering decisions. Decision support tools will probably never completely make up for engineers’ lack of the cognitive capacity needed to make the multitude of decisions associated with engineering design in a fully informed, unbiased way. Incorporating rational choice theory and psychology into decision support tools seems to be a fruitful path toward promoting optimal decisions in engineering. The last two to three decades have brought about important changes to the field of decision theory, particularly in response to the generally accepted principle that the act of cognitive representation and framing of decisions should follow the axioms of expected utility theory. The standard theory for decision making is based on subjective expected utility theory (e.g., Savage, 1954; Schmeidler, 1989), which involves the enumeration of possibilities, an analysis of the possible outcomes, and the selection of the utility-maximizing decision (Gilboa & Schmeidler, 2001). In engineering design, decision theory is generally applied as a systematic procedure for selecting design variables when there is uncertainty over the preferences associated with the objectives (Thurston, 1991, 2001). In schools of engineering, operations research, computer science, and business around the world, students continue to be taught a set of methodologies consonant with rational choice theory (Wood, 2004), which is founded upon the analysis of information as the basis of decision. In short, decision support and modeling in engineering design generally follows a framework of selecting design variables that optimize the expected utility of the design, and, in so doing, casts engineering design within a rational process (Hazelrigg, 1998). The perceived increased accuracy and rigor of the decisions and the decision support systems built upon the premise of utility maximization can mask the realities of eliciting preferences from engineers, which may be subject to psychological biases. Kahneman and Tversky (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974; Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) drew attention to the realities of human decision making in describing the heuristics that human beings employ in decision making under uncertainty, which are subject to psychological biases that can lead to systematic and predictable errors. In recent years, Kahneman and colleagues have published a series of articles dealing with strategies to correct for these psychological biases (e.g., Kahneman & Lovallo, 1993; Kahneman et al., 2011) and entire fields of behavioral finance, behavioral economics, and behavioral strategy have grown up around the application of cognitive science and psychology to the theory and practice of decision making under uncertainty in specific contexts. This influence is now being felt in the engineering design domain in the modeling and support of engineering decisions, which is built upon a rich heritage of studies on the cognitive and behavioral strategies of engineers. The three articles published in this Special Issue reflect a shift away from normative subjective utility maximization as the only model for decision making and decision support toward greater consideration to the exigencies of engineering decision making in practice. All three articles contribute to decision support and modeling and treat these as integrated issues rather than as compartmentalized problems. The article “Bayesian Project Diagnosis for the Construction Design Process” by Matthews and Philip is perhaps the most “traditional” of the three articles. The article deals with the problem of forecasting potential problems in construction processes. We use traditional in the sense that Bayesian modeling is an accepted method for estimating the probability of an event or outcome of interest (Marshall & Oliver, 1995). They model the construction process as a Markov chain, with transition probabilities associated with progressing through various Reprint requests to: Andy Dong, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, University of Sydney, Engineering Building (J05), Sydney 2006, Australia. E-mail: andy.dong@sydney.edu.au Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing (2012), 26, 371–373. # Cambridge University Press 2012 0890-0604/12 $25.00 doi:10.1017/S0890060412000248

Current Trends in the Application of Cognitive Science to Magic

This overview of cognitive approaches to the history of religion covers key players in the history of theories of cognition as applied to the history of religion. Noting at the outset that there is a long history of psychologizing religious phenomena, the author nods at skeptical philosophers of antiquity before going on to touch base with the prehistory of modern approaches in the idea of participation fostered by Lucien Lévy-Bruhl and its culmination in the cognitive neuroscience of such thinkers as Ernst Gellhorn, Eugene d'Aquili and Charles Laughlin. It is argued that the neurocognitive approach illuminates how practitioners can exert real power over themselves and others, suggesting a new, "realist" approach which focuses on the ways in which magical beliefs and practices reference and influence reality.

A tutorial introduction to Bayesian models of cognitive development

We present an introduction to Bayesian inference as it is used in probabilistic models of cognitive development. Our goal is to provide an intuitive and accessible guide to the what, the how, and the why of the Bayesian approach: what sorts of problems and data the framework is most relevant for, and how and why it may be useful for developmentalists. We emphasize a qualitative understanding of Bayesian inference, but also include information about additional resources for those interested in the cognitive science applications, mathematical foundations, or machine learning details in more depth. In addition, we discuss some important interpretation issues that often arise when evaluating Bayesian models in cognitive science.

From Environmental Campaigns to Advancing the Public Dialog: Environmental Communication for Civic Engagement

This essay examines the claims of environmental identity campaigns regarding the issue of climate change. Identity campaigns are based on the idea that more effective environmental messages developed through the application of cognitive science by professional communications experts can favorably influence public opinion, and thus support legislative action to remedy this issue. Based on a review of the sociological and psychological literature regarding social change and mobilization, I argue that while this approach may offer short term advantages, it is most likely incapable of developing the large scale mobilization necessary to enact the massive social and economic changes necessary to address global warming. Specifically, theoretical and empirical research on the role of the public sphere, civil society and social movements shows that democratic civic engagement is core to successful social change efforts. However, identity campaigns focus on a communications process that centers on elite led one way communications, which falls to allow for any form of civic engagement and public dialogue. This undermines the creation of a democratic process of change and reinforces the professionalization of political discourse, leading to a weakening of the mobilization capacity over this issue of global warming. The essay concludes with the outlines of an environmental communication process that aims at enhancing civic engagement and democratic decision making.

Application of Cognitive Science in Special Needs Education

Application of Cognitive Science in Special Needs Education

The cognitive poetics of literary resonance

AbstractThe application of cognitive science to literary scholarship in the form of a cognitive poetics offers the opportunity for accounting for many features of literary reading that have been rendered only in vague or impressionistic terms in the past. In this paper, an argument for cognitive poetics is made, with a focus on the affective and experiential phenomenon of resonance. This is modelled through cognitivist work on the field of attention and perception, to give a particularly literary-angled approach. The argument is exemplified with reference to a Shakespeare sonnet and then further demonstrated in a poem by Dylan Thomas, where the notion of a lacuna is developed to account for the phenomenon of “felt absence”. The paper concludes with observations on the role of cognitive poetics in relation to cognitive science, literary criticism, and in its own right.

Machines, Faces, Neurons: Towards an Ethics of Dance

The final installment of a continuing series on choreography considering the mutual interrogation of philosophy and dance, the articles propose a tentative ethics of dance as a “practical philosophy” under the influence of Gilles Deleuze read through specific choreographic practices. Gerald Siegmund describes his private experience of Boris Charmatz's choreographic machine as a metaphor for the entrapment of theatre and as generative of new bodily subjectivities. Introducing anthropological applications of cognitive science to the particular strategies of choreographers working in Brazil, Christine Greiner argues for a political conception of self through dance. Examining the kinetics of the face in RoseAnne Spradlin's Survive Cycle, Victoria Anderson Davies meditates on the relationship of facial expression to language, to consciousness, and to movement.

Apparatus, Attention, and the Body: The Theatre Machines of Boris Charmatz

The final installment of a continuing series on choreography considering the mutual interrogation of philosophy and dance, the articles propose a tentative ethics of dance as a “practical philosophy” under the influence of Gilles Deleuze read through specific choreographic practices. Gerald Siegmund describes his private experience of Boris Charmatz's choreographic machine as a metaphor for the entrapment of theatre and as generative of new bodily subjectivities. Introducing anthropological applications of cognitive science to the particular strategies of choreographers working in Brazil, Christine Greiner argues for a political conception of self through dance. Examining the kinetics of the face in RoseAnne Spradlin's Survive Cycle, Victoria Anderson Davies meditates on the relationship of facial expression to language, to consciousness, and to movement.

Creative Endurance and the Face Machine: RoseAnne Spradlin's Survive Cycle

The final installment of a continuing series on choreography considering the mutual interrogation of philosophy and dance, the articles propose a tentative ethics of dance as a “practical philosophy” under the influence of Gilles Deleuze read through specific choreographic practices. Gerald Siegmund describes his private experience of Boris Charmatz's choreographic machine as a metaphor for the entrapment of theatre and as generative of new bodily subjectivities. Introducing anthropological applications of cognitive science to the particular strategies of choreographers working in Brazil, Christine Greiner argues for a political conception of self through dance. Examining the kinetics of the face in RoseAnne Spradlin's Survive Cycle, Victoria Anderson Davies meditates on the relationship of facial expression to language, to consciousness, and to movement.

Researching Dance in the Wild: Brazilian Experiences

The final installment of a continuing series on choreography considering the mutual interrogation of philosophy and dance, the articles propose a tentative ethics of dance as a “practical philosophy” under the influence of Gilles Deleuze read through specific choreographic practices. Gerald Siegmund describes his private experience of Boris Charmatz's choreographic machine as a metaphor for the entrapment of theatre and as generative of new bodily subjectivities. Introducing anthropological applications of cognitive science to the particular strategies of choreographers working in Brazil, Christine Greiner argues for a political conception of self through dance. Examining the kinetics of the face in RoseAnne Spradlin's Survive Cycle, Victoria Anderson Davies meditates on the relationship of facial expression to language, to consciousness, and to movement.

Staging Nothing: Hamlet and Cognitive Science

In Hamlet, few things are as powerful as nothing. Nothing is seen by the watchman Barnardo at the start of the play. Nothing lies between Ophelia's legs. Nothing makes the player king weep for Hecuba. Nothing is the thing that makes up the king. Nothing comes up thirty times in Hamlet. 2 The presence of nothing in the text calls attention to the absence that nothing is supposed to stand for. Cognitive linguistics challenges a stable definition of nothing, illuminating the things from which no things spring. In performance, Hamlet's destabilization of nothing goes even further, pointing to the something that each particular nothing is. Staging nothing both sheds light on a major debate within cognitive linguistics and calls attention to the traditional assumption of a suspension of disbelief. The Way We Think In a 2001 issue of SubStance, a Dialogue took place between Ellen Spolsky on one side and John Tooby and Leda Cosmides on the other, regarding the ways literature may be evolutionarily adaptable. While both sides agreed on the value of literature, and used science to make an argument for it, the gulf between the two theories turned out to be fairly wide. Tooby and Cosmides follow a computational model of the brain derived from the work of Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker; Spolsky argues with cognitive scientists such as Eleanore Rosch and George Lakoff for an embodied brain. The paradigm shift between seeing the brain as a computer, with input undergoing algorithmic processing, and viewing it more as an organism, shaping and being shaped by its environment, is beginning to have profound impact on various fields. Until the debate is settled, any application of cognitive science to the humanities should foreground the paradigm in which it operates. Rather than rehearse the

Trajectory of cognitive science and psychological assessment: Current status and expectations.

Salient commonalities and distinctions of the set of contributions to this special section are synthesized and discussed. The examination provides a springboard for observations on future developments in cognitive-science applications. Issues considered include imminence and nature of clinical implementation, prediction of selected client transactions outside the assessment context, integration with complementing modes of clinical assessment, and reciprocal information sharing by clinical and nonclinical cognitive scientists.

Book review: Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science by Alvin I. Goldman (MIT Press/Bradford Books 1993)

Alvin Goldman is a well known philosopher who feels that cognitive science can make positive contributions to philosophy. Readings in Philosophy and Cognitive Science/ is a large, very nicely done volume of important articles by philosophers and cognitive scientists. Conceived by Goldman as a companion to his recent text Philosophical Applications of Cognitive Science/ [ag:paocs], it connects work in the various disciplines of cognitive science to philosophy. The two texts make a strong case that philosophy must take seriously work in the cognitive sciences. The emphasis is primarily on the constituent discipline of psychology, particularly cognitive psychology. AI researchers will find their discipline rather underrepresented in both volumes. The books are best seen as offering AI researchers a good look at how the other constituent disciplines of cognitive science impact the naturalization of philosophy.

Classroom lessons: integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice

Introduction: cognitive science and educational practice - an introduction, Kate McGilly. Part 1 Domain-specific applications: rightstart - providing the central conceptual prerequisites for first formal learning of arithmetic to students at risk for school failure, Sharon A. Griffin et al a cognitive approach to the teaching of physics, Earl Hunt and Jim Minstrell enhancing the acquisition of conceptual structures through hypermedia, Kathryn T. Spoehr. Part 2 Across-the-curriculum applications: intelligence in context - enhancing students' practical intelligence for school, Howard Gardner et al classroom applications of cognitive science - teaching poor readers how to learn, think, and problem solve, Irene W. Gaskins. Part 3 Classrooms as learning communities: from visual word problems to learning communities - changing conceptions of cognitive research, the cognition and technology group at Vanderbilt the CSILE project - trying to bring the classroom into world 3, Marlene Scardamalia et al guided discovery in a community of learners, Ann L. Brown and Joseph C. Campione. Conclusion - classroom problems, school culture, and cognitive research, John T. Bruer.

Philosophical Applications of Cognitive Science.

Philosophical Applications of Cognitive Science.

Philosophical applications of cognitive science

Philosophical applications of cognitive science

The Psychology of Everyday Things

Product Description : Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure our which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this fascinating, ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology.The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization. The book presents examples aplenty—among them, the VCR, computer, and office telephone, all models of how not to design for people.But good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time. But the designer must care.The author is a world-famous psychologist and pioneer in the application of cognitive science. His aim is to raise the consciousness of both consumers and designers to the delights of products that are easy to use and understand. (http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/basic/book_detail.jsp?isbn=0465067093)

Applications of Cognitive Science to Human-Computer Interaction

Applications of Cognitive Science to Human-Computer Interaction