The Social Cognitive Actor

Contents......Page 11
List of Figures......Page 15
List of Tables......Page 19
1.1 Motivation......Page 21
1.2 Research background......Page 24
1.3 Methodology......Page 26
1.3.1 The design-based approach......Page 28
1.3.2 Life cycle of a simulation study......Page 29
1.4 Research questions and objectives......Page 31
1.5 Dissertation outline......Page 34
2 Multi-Agent Systems......Page 37
2.1 Agency......Page 41
2.1.2 Strong notion of agency......Page 42
2.2.1 Perception and attention......Page 44
2.2.3 Interaction between perception and action......Page 45
2.2.4.1 Memory......Page 48
2.2.4.2 Learning......Page 49
2.2.4.3 Goal-directed behaviour, meta-cognition andemotion......Page 51
2.2.4.4 Environment, communication, language and social ability......Page 52
2.3 The cognitive and the social agent......Page 53
2.3.2 The reasoning agent......Page 54
2.3.3 The reflective agent......Page 55
2.3.4 The social agent......Page 56
2.3.5 The complete cognitive and social agent......Page 57
2.4 The environment of the agent......Page 62
2.5.1 Cooperation and Conflict......Page 65
2.5.2 Coordination mechanisms......Page 68
2.5.2.1 The economic perspective......Page 69
2.5.2.2 The DAI perspective......Page 70
2.6 Multi-Agent System Applications......Page 78
2.6.1 Multi-Agent decision systems......Page 79
2.7 Discussion......Page 80
3 The Social Actor......Page 83
3.1 Social constructivism......Page 85
3.2 Social construction of organisation and society......Page 89
3.3.1 Umwelt......Page 91
3.3.2 Communication and Semiotics......Page 94
3.4.1 The situated actor and the semiotic level......Page 103
3.4.2 Social constructs......Page 105
3.4.3 Social constructs and organisation......Page 110
3.4.4 Social constructs: creation, evolution, control and ending......Page 113
3.5 Discussion......Page 117
4 The Cognitive Actor......Page 121
4.1 Cognitive science......Page 122
4.1.1 Levels of description......Page 123
4.1.2 Connectionism and embodied cognition......Page 125
4.2 The Cognitive Architecture......Page 129
4.2.1.1 Summary of SOAR......Page 130
4.2.1.2 Summary of ACT-R......Page 132
4.3 Comparing SOAR and ACT-R: selecting a cognitive architecture......Page 133
4.3.1 Selection of a cognitive architecture......Page 135
4.4 ACT-R......Page 141
4.4.1 Perception and Motor module......Page 143
4.4.2 Goal module......Page 144
4.4.3.1 Activation, base-level learning and context of chunks......Page 145
4.4.3.2 Retrieval parameters of declarative chunks......Page 150
4.4.3.3 Declarative chunks and learning: two types of learning......Page 152
4.4.4 Procedural module......Page 153
4.4.4.1 Procedures and symbolic procedural learning......Page 156
4.4.4.2 Procedures and sub-symbolic procedural learning......Page 158
4.4.5 The cognitive engine......Page 163
4.4.5.2 Conflict Resolution (Step 2)......Page 165
4.4.5.4 Credit assignment (Step 4)......Page 167
4.5.1 Multi-Agent System......Page 169
4.5.2 Social behaviour: social interaction and social constructs......Page 171
4.5.3 The rational and functional level......Page 173
4.6 Discussion......Page 176
5 RBot: Architecture and Design......Page 179
5.1 General Requirements and Overview of the Architecture......Page 180
5.1.1 Patterns......Page 181
5.1.2 Overview of the architecture......Page 182
5.2 The cognitive actor architecture......Page 186
5.2.1 The Memory......Page 188
5.2.1.1 Memorymap, buffer and stack......Page 189
5.2.1.2 Memory Components......Page 191
5.2.2 Controllers and handlers......Page 201
5.2.2.1 Goal Feeder and Goal Handler......Page 202
5.2.2.2 Perception......Page 208
5.2.2.3 Action :: physical memorymap and position handler......Page 209
5.2.2.4 Action :: message memorymap and message handler......Page 210
5.2.2.6 Social construct handler......Page 211
5.2.3 View and control of the model......Page 213
5.3 Backend server......Page 214
5.4 The Mixed-Tier......Page 215
5.4.1.3 Synchronisation of processes......Page 216
5.4.1.4 Communication among actors &between actors and task environment......Page 220
5.4.2 The task environment......Page 222
5.4.3 The client: graphs and data presentation......Page 225
5.5 Discussion......Page 226
6.1 Verification, Validation and Testing......Page 229
6.1.1 Validation methods and techniques......Page 233
6.2 Demonstrative experiments......Page 235
6.2.1.1 The addition-problem......Page 236
6.2.1.2 Results of the addition-problem experiment......Page 239
6.2.2 Experiment 2: Emergence of Social Constructs andOrganisational Behaviour......Page 242
6.2.2.1 Description of the experiment......Page 243
6.2.2.2 The model of the experiment......Page 245
6.2.2.3 Results......Page 246
6.2.2.4 Discussion......Page 249
6.2.3 Experiment 3: Social construct as coordination mechanism......Page 251
6.2.3.1 Description of the experiment......Page 252
6.2.3.2 Results......Page 254
6.2.3.3 Discussion......Page 256
6.3 Discussion and Conclusion......Page 257
7.1 Research findings......Page 261
7.1.1 Theoretical conclusions......Page 264
7.1.2 Implementation and experimental conclusions......Page 267
7.2 New questions raised......Page 270
7.2.1 Questions concerning RBot......Page 271
7.2.2 Questions concerning MRS......Page 273
7.2.3 Questions concerning simulation and application......Page 274
7.3 Further work......Page 275
A Apendix: Addition Productions......Page 279
Bibliography......Page 283
Author Index......Page 303
Index......Page 309
Summary......Page 317
Samenvatting......Page 323