The Probabilistic Mind: Prospects for Bayesian Cognitive ScienceNick Chater, Mike Oaksford The rational analysis method, first proposed by John R. Anderson, has been enormously influential in helping us understand high-level cognitive processes. The Probabilistic Mind is a follow-up to the influential and highly cited 'Rational Models of Cognition' (OUP, 1998). It brings together developments in understanding how, and how far, high-level cognitive processes can be understood in rational terms, and particularly using probabilistic Bayesian methods. It synthesizes and evaluates the progress in the past decade, taking into account developments in Bayesian statistics, statistical analysis of the cognitive 'environment' and a variety of theoretical and experimental lines of research. The scope of the book is broad, covering important recent work in reasoning, decision making, categorization, and memory. Including chapters from many of the leading figures in this field, The Probabilistic Mind will be valuable for psychologists and philosophers interested in cognition. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 78
... optimal traits . Thus , if X is optimal ( and evolutionarily available ) , then selection pressures can explain why behavior X emerges ( rather than A , B , or ... ) . Evolutionary explanations of X's occur- rence in terms of its ...
... optimal sequence of func- tion calls for some task and environment given some set of basic functions . Most rational analyses use a set of basic function calls corresponding to ( roughly ) all com- putable functions and so have no need ...
... optimal ones , there is no need to invoke the notion of optimality in order to assess this hypothesis ( see also Vicente & Wang , 1998 for a similar perspective ) . We have no objection to using knowledge of the optimal solution to ...
Contents
prospects for a Bayesian cognitive science | 3 |
A primer on probabilistic inference | 33 |
Rational analyses instrumentalism and implementations | 59 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Probabilistic Mind: Prospects for Bayesian Cognitive Science Nick Chater,Mike Oaksford Limited preview - 2008 |
The Probabilistic Mind: Prospects for Bayesian Cognitive Science Nick Chater,Mike Oaksford No preview available - 2008 |