Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-45ctf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-20T13:58:13.074Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cognitive systems optimize energy rather than information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2011

Arthur B. Markman  and
A. Ross Otto
Arthur B. Markman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. markman@psy.utexas.edu http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Markman/PSY394/kreps11.html rotto@mail.utexas.edu
A. Ross Otto
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712. markman@psy.utexas.edu http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Faculty/Markman/PSY394/kreps11.html rotto@mail.utexas.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cognitive models focus on information and the computational manipulation of information. Rational models optimize the function that relates the input of a process to the output. In contrast, efficient algorithms minimize the computational cost of processing in terms of time. Minimizing time is a better criterion for normative models, because it reflects the energy costs of a physical system.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , August 2011 , pp. 207
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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, J. R. (1990) The adaptive character of thought. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cherniak, C. (1986) Minimal rationality. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Geisler, W. S. (1989) Sequential ideal-observer analysis of visual discriminations. Psychological Review 96:267–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Logan, G. D. (1988) Toward an instance theory of automaticity. Psychological Review 95:492–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marr, D. (1982) Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R. & Johnson, E. J. (1993) The adaptive decision maker. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, W. & Shiffrin, R. M. (1977) Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention. Psychological Review 84(1):1–66.Google Scholar
Shannon, C. E. (1949) The mathematical theory of communication. University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Simon, H. A. (1957b) Models of man: Social and rational. John Wiley.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. & West, R. F. (1998) Individual differences in rational thought. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 127(2):161–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tenenbaum, J. B. & Griffiths, T. L. (2001) Generalization, similarity, and Bayesian inference. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24(4):629–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turing, A. (1950) Computing, machinery and intelligence. Mind 49:433–60.Google Scholar