Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T14:10:19.368Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reverse engineering the structure of cognitive mechanisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2011

David Pietraszewski  and
Annie E. Wertz
David Pietraszewski
Affiliation:
Yale University, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8205. david.pietraszewski@yale.eduannie.wertz@yale.edu
Annie E. Wertz
Affiliation:
Yale University, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8205. david.pietraszewski@yale.eduannie.wertz@yale.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Describing a cognitive system at a mechanistic level requires an engineering task analysis. This involves identifying the task and developing models of possible solutions. Evolutionary psychology and Bayesian modeling make complimentary contributions: Evolutionary psychology suggests the types of tasks that human brains were designed to solve, while Bayesian modeling provides a rigorous description of possible computational solutions to such problems.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , August 2011 , pp. 209 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (1987) From evolution to behavior: Evolutionary psychology as the missing link. In: The latest on the best: Essays on evolution and optimality, ed. Dupre, J., pp. 277–306. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Marr, D. (1982) Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Perrigo, G., Belvin, L. & Vom Saal, F. S. (1991) Individual variation in the neural timing of infanticide and parental behavior in male house mice. Physiology and Behavior 50:287–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perrigo, G., Belvin, L. & Vom Saal, F. S. (1992) Time and sex in the male mouse: Temporal regulation of infanticide and parental behavior. Chronobiology International 9:421–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tooby, J., Cosmides, L., Sell, A., Lieberman, D. & Sznycer, D. (2008) Internal regulatory variables and the design of human motivation: A computational and evolutionary approach. In: Handbook of approach and avoidance motivation, ed. Elliot, A., pp. 251–71. Erlbaum.Google Scholar