Abstract
Rational decision making depends on what one believes, what one desires, and what one knows. In conventional decision models, beliefs are represented by probabilities and desires are represented by utilities. Software agents are knowledgeable entities capable of managing their own set of beliefs and desires, and they can decide upon the next operation to execute autonomously. They are also interactive entities capable of filtering communications and managing dialogues. Knowledgeability includes representing knowledge about the external world, reasoning with it, and sharing it. Interactions include negotiations to perform tasks in cooperative, coordinative, and competitive ways. In this paper we focus on decision-making mechanisms for agent-based systems on the basis of agent interaction. We identify possible interaction scenarios and define mechanisms for decision making in uncertain environments. It is believed that software agents will become the underlying technology that offers the capability of distribution of competence, control, and information for the next generation of ubiquitous, distributed, and heterogeneous information systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bierman, H. S. and Fernandez, L., 1998: Game Theory With Economic Application, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Dempster, A., 1997: Upper and lower probabilities induced by a multi-valued mapping, Ann.Math.Stat. 38(2), 325-399.
French, S., 1986: Decision Theory: An Introduction to the Mathematics of Rationality, Wiley, New York.
Gibbons, R., 1992: Game Theory for Applied Economists, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Huhns, M. N. and Singh, M. P., (eds.), 1998: Readings in Agents, Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, CA.
Hurwicz, L.,: Optimality Criteria for Decision Making Under Ignorance, Unpublished discussion paper.
Ichikawa, A., 1983: Decision Making Theory, Kouritsu Publishing Co. (In Japanese)
Jennings, N. R. and Wooldridge, M. J., (eds.), 1997: Agent Technology: Foundations, Applications and Markets, Springer-Verlag, New York.
Kajii, A. and Matsui, A., 2000: Micro Economics: A Strategic Approach, Nihon-Hyouron Publishing Co. (In Japanese)
Kuhn, H. W., 1997: Classics in Game Theory, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Liu, B., 2002: Theory and Practice of Uncertain Programming, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Onjo, H. and Far, B. H., 2001: A unified view of heterogeneous agents' interaction, Trans.IEICE E84-D(8), 945-956.
Osborne, M. J., 1994: A Course in Game Theory, MIT Press, Reading, MA.
Pearl, J., 1988: Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems, Morgan-Kaufmann, San Mateo, CA.
Pearl, J., 1990: Reasoning under uncertainty, Annu.Rev.Comput.Sci. 4, 37-72.
Russel, S. and Norvig, P., 1995: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Savage, L. J., 1972: The Foundations of Statistics, 2nd ed., Dover, New York.
Shafer, G., 1976: A Mathematical Theory of Evidence, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Shortliffe, E. H., Buchanan, B. G. and Feigenbaum, E. A.: Knowledge engineering for medical decision making: A review of computer-based clinical decision aids, Proc.IEEE, 67(9), 1207-1224.
Subrahmanian, V. S., Bonatti, P., Dix, J., Eiter, T. and Ozcan, F., 2000: Heterogeneous Agent Systems, 1st edn., MIT Press, Reading, MA.
Wald, A., 1950: Statistical Decision Functions, Wiley, New York.
Weiss, G., (ed.), 1999: Multiagent Systems: A Modern Approach to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, MIT Press, Reading, MA.
Yager, R. R., 1988: On ordered weighted averaging aggregation operators in multi-criteria decision making, IEEE Trans.SMC, 18(1), 183-190.
Yager, R. R., 1990: Decision making under Dempster-Shafer uncertainties, Int.J.Gen.Syst. 20, 233-255.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Far, B.H., Wahono, R.S. Cognitive-Decision-Making Issues for Software Agents. Brain and Mind 4, 239–252 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025413930296
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025413930296