Creative conceptual change involves (a) the construction of new concepts and of coherent belief systems, or theories, relating these concepts, and (b) the modification and extrapolation of existing concepts and theories in novel situations. We discuss these and other types of conceptual change, and present computational models of constructive and extrapolative processes in creative conceptual change. The models have been implemented as computer programs in two very different task domains, autonomous robotic navigation and fictional story understanding. Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Case studies in creative conceptual change 4 3 Constructive conceptual change 6 4 Technical details: The SINS system 9 4.1 Task: Autonomous robotic navigation : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 9 4.2 Representation: Continuous prototypical cases : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 13 4.3 Process: Concept construction and modification : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 17 4.4 Discussion: Construc...

Does Nature permit the implementation of behaviours that cannot be simulated computationally? We consider the meaning of physical computationality in some detail, and present arguments in favour of physical hypercomputation: for example, modern scientific method does not allow the specification of any experiment capable of refuting hypercomputation. We consider the implications of relativistic algorithms capable of solving the (Turing) Halting Problem. We also reject as a fallacy the argument that hypercomputation has no relevance because non-computable values are indistinguishable from sufficiently close computable approximations. In addition to

A myth has arisen concerning Turing's paper of 1936, namely that Turing set forth a fundamental principle concerning the limits of what can be computed by machine - a myth that has passed into cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, to wide and pernicious effect. This supposed principle, sometimes incorrectly termed the 'Church-Turing thesis', is the claim that the class of functions that can be computed by machines is identical to the class of functions that can be computed by Turing machines. In point of fact Turing himself nowhere endorses, nor even states, this claim (nor does Church). I describe a number of notional machines, both analogue and digital, that can compute more than a universal Turing machine. These machines are exemplars of the class of nonclassical computing machines. Nothing known at present rules out the possibility that machines in this class will one day be built, nor that the brain itself is such a machine. These theoretical considerations undercut a numb...

This essay attempts to develop a psychologically informed semantics of perception reports, whose predictions match with the linguistic data. As suggested by the quotation from Miller and Johnson-Laird, we take a hallmark of perception to be its fallible nature; the resulting semantics thus necessarily differs from situation semantics. On the psychological side, our main inspiration is Marr's (1982) theory of vision, which can easily accomodate fallible perception. In Marr's theory, vision is a multi-layered process. The different layers have filters of different gradation, wkich makes vision at each of them approximate. On the logical side, our task is therefore twofold to fomalise the layers and the ways in which they may refine each other, and to develop logical means to let description vary with such degrees of refinement.

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This thesis is about common-sense psychology and its role in cognitive science. Put simply, the argument is that common-sense psychology is important because it offers clues to some complex problems in cognitive science, and because common-sense psychology has significant effects on our intuitions, both in science and on an everyday level. The thesis develops a theory of anthropomorphism in common-sense psychology. Anthropomorphism, the natural human tendency to ascribe human characteristics (and especially human mental characteristics) to things that aren't human, is an important theme in the thesis. Anthropomorphism reveals an endemic anthropocentricity that deeply influences our thinking about other minds. The thesis then constructs a descriptive model of anthropomorphism in common-sense psychology, and uses it to analyse two studies of the ascription of mental states. The first, BaronCohen et al.'s (1985) false belief test, shows how cognitive modelling can be used to compare dif...

v Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Part I---Mental arithmetic : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1 1.2 Part II---Multicolumn multiplication : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 2 1.3 Structure of arithmetic skills : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3 1.4 Aims : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3 Part I Mental arithmetic Chapter 2 Memory for arithmetic facts 6 2.1 Phenomena : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 6 2.1.1 The production task : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 7 2.1.2 Neuropsychological constraints : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 9 2.1.3 Rule based processing : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 11 2.1.4 Summary : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 12 2.2 Previous models : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 13 2.2.1 D...

ion and Plan-Based Models. Functional Indexing Schemes Summary CHAPTER THREE: A CRITIQUE OF TYPIFICATION IN COMMUNICATION THEORY 18 The Typification of Situations The Typification of Messages Standard Models Depend on the Premises Validity of the Premises. The Indefinite Describability of Messages The Typification of Means-Ends Relations. Functional Message Production Examples of Functional Diversity in Message Designs. Typification and Message Diversity Summary CHAPTER FOUR: LOCAL MANAGEMENT AND MESSAGE DESIGN: A PDP VIEW 32 A Situation-Based Representation of Message Structure Distributing the Representation of Communicator Goals A Model of Message Production Herrmann's Basic Model of Speech Production Selection of Semantic Input Summary CHAPTER FIVE: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE THOUGHT CHECKLIST 37 Methods and Design Subjects Thought Checklist Condition Protocol Condition Analysis and Results Quantity of Reported Thoughts Representativeness of the Thought Checklist Comprehen...

This goal of this paper is to defend the plausibility of the argument that passing the Turing test is a sufficient condition for the presence of intelligence. To this effect, we put forth new objections to two famous counter-arguments: Searle’s ”Chinese Room ” and Block’s ”Aunt Bertha. ” We take Searle’s argument to consist of two points: 1) intelligence is not merely an ability to manipulate formal symbols; it is also the ability of relating those symbols to a multi-sensory real-world experience; and 2) intelligence presupposes an internal capacity for generalization. On the first point, while we concede that multi-sensory real-world experience is not captured by the test, we show that intuitions about the relevance of this experience to intelligence are not clear-cut. Therefore, it is not obvious that the Turing test should be dismissed on this basis alone. On the second point, we strongly disagree with the notion that the test cannot distinguish a machine with internal capacity for generalization from a machine which has no such capacity. This view is best captured by Ned Block, who argues that a sufficiently large look-up table is capable of passing any Turing test of finite length. We claim that, contrary to Block’s assumption, it is impossible to construct such a table, and show that it is possible to ensure that a machine relying solely on such table will fail an appropriately constructed Turing test. 1

This work is dedicated to mobile robot navigation. It presents a solution to the navigation problem using a simple world model based on a new approach to behaviours' mapping. This new theory of behaviours' mapping proposes a general solution not only to mobile robots' navigation but to the control of a wide range of autonomous (intelligent) behaviour based systems. Based on the phenomena of bifurcation and non-continuity of a behaviour or a group of behaviours that consist an autonomous behaviour based system, the new behaviours' space mapping theory enables direct mapping of the system's existing space to a graph. The latter mapping creates a world model that is made exclusively in terms of behaviours. We believe that an intelligent system require a world model to plan and to predict the result of its actions. We also believe that behaviours' based systems cope more successfully with the dynamics and changes of the real world. Combining the two poses a real problem in the creation of ...