Cognitive Architecture

How is the mind organized into its component systems? What are the mechanisms underpinning perception, thought and action? This is the question and problem of the architecture of cognition. Its roots lie in the computational approach to the mind, informing virtually all of cognitive science and playing a fundamental role in the philosophy and psychology of the mind.

In this book Philip Robbins provides a systematic introduction to and overview of cognitive architecture. Beginning with an overview of the concept and situating it within the context of of the computational theory of mind he examines the following topics:






the modularity of mind and the arguments of its chief proponent, Jerry Fodor
modest modularity: the case for modularity in perception, language and related low-level cognitive capacities
massive modularity and the view that modules are information-processing mechanisms specialized for particular cognitive domains, including arguments from evolutionary psychology
challenges to the massive modularity argument: the 'input' problem, the problem of domain integration, and the challenge of the 'positive manifold'
dual-process theory: including the 'specification' and 'unity' problems
dual processing and the rational mind: experiments in deductive reasoning and probability judgment, including examples from Kahneman and Tversky's research into heuristics and biases in reasoning
dual processing and the social mind, including arguments about moral cognition.

Key features of the book are chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary as well as a conclusion drawing the various topics and arguments together. As such Cognitive Architecture is essential reading for students of philosophy of mind, psychology and cognitive science, as well as those in related disciplines where cognitive architecture is studied, such as psychology, linguistics and computer science.