We offer philosophical motivations for a method we call Virtual World Cognitive Science (VW CogSci), in which researchers use virtual embodied agents that are embedded in virtual worlds to explore questions in the field of Cognitive Science. We focus on questions about mental and linguistic representation and the ways that such computational modeling can add rigor to philosophical thought experiments, as well as the terminology used in the scientific study of such representations. We find that this method forces researchers to take a god's-eye view when describing dynamical relationships between entities in minds and entities in an environment in a way that eliminates the need for problematic talk of belief and concept types, such as the belief that cats are silly, and the concept CAT, while preserving belief and concept tokens in individual cognizers' minds. We conclude with some further key advantages of VW CogSci for the scientific study of mental and linguistic representation and for Cognitive Science more broadly.

This paper critically analyses the "attention economy" within the framework of cognitive science and techno-political economics, as applied to both human and machine interactions. We explore how current business models, particularly in digital platform capitalism, harness user engagement by strategically shaping attentional patterns. These platforms utilize advanced AI and massive data analytics to enhance user engagement, creating a cycle of attention capture and data extraction. We review contemporary (neuro)cognitive theories of attention and platform engagement design techniques and criticize classical cognitivist and behaviourist theories for their inadequacies in addressing the potential harms of such engagement on user autonomy and wellbeing. 4E approaches to cognitive science, instead, emphasizing the embodied, extended, enactive, and ecological aspects of cognition, offer us an intrinsic normative standpoint and a more integrated understanding of how attentional patterns are actively constituted by adaptive digital environments. By examining the precarious nature of habit formation in digital contexts, we reveal the techno-economic underpinnings that threaten personal autonomy by disaggregating habits away from the individual, into an AI managed collection of behavioural patterns. Our current predicament suggests the necessity of a paradigm shift towards an ecology of attention. This shift aims to foster environments that respect and preserve human cognitive and social capacities, countering the exploitative tendencies of cognitive capitalism.

Cobweb, a human-like category learning system, differs from most cognitive science models in incrementally constructing hierarchically organized tree-like structures guided by the category utility measure. Prior studies have shown that Cobweb can capture psychological effects such as basic-level, typicality, and fan effects. However, a broader evaluation of Cobweb as a model of human categorization remains lacking. The current study addresses this gap. It establishes Cobweb's alignment with classical human category learning effects. It also explores Cobweb's flexibility to exhibit both exemplar- and prototype-like learning within a single framework. These findings set the stage for further research on Cobweb as a robust model of human category learning.

Data-driven approaches have revolutionized scientific research. Machine learning and statistical analysis are commonly utilized in this type of research. Despite their widespread use, these methodologies differ significantly in their techniques and objectives. Few studies have utilized a consistent dataset to demonstrate these differences within the social sciences, particularly in language and cognitive sciences. This study leverages the Buckeye Speech Corpus to illustrate how both machine learning and statistical analysis are applied in data-driven research to obtain distinct insights. This study significantly enhances our understanding of the diverse approaches employed in data-driven strategies.

The paper presents a novel cloud-based digital twin learning platform for teaching and training concepts of cognitive robotics. Instead of forcing interested learners or students to install a new operating system and bulky, fragile software onto their personal laptops just to solve tutorials or coding assignments of a single lecture on robotics, it would be beneficial to avoid technical setups and directly dive into the content of cognitive robotics. To achieve this, the authors utilize containerization technologies and Kubernetes to deploy and operate containerized applications, including robotics simulation environments and software collections based on the Robot operating System (ROS). The web-based Integrated Development Environment JupyterLab is integrated with RvizWeb and XPRA to provide real-time visualization of sensor data and robot behavior in a user-friendly environment for interacting with robotics software. The paper also discusses the application of the platform in teaching Knowledge Representation, Reasoning, Acquisition and Retrieval, and Task-Executives. The authors conclude that the proposed platform is a valuable tool for education and research in cognitive robotics, and that it has the potential to democratize access to these fields. The platform has already been successfully employed in various academic courses, demonstrating its effectiveness in fostering knowledge and skill development.

Towards learning programs from data, we introduce the problem of sampling programs from posterior distributions conditioned on that data. Within this setting, we propose an algorithm that uses a symbolic solver to efficiently sample programs. The proposal combines constraint-based program synthesis with sampling via random parity constraints. We give theoretical guarantees on how well the samples approximate the true posterior, and have empirical results showing the algorithm is efficient in practice, evaluating our approach on 22 program learning problems in the domains of text editing and computer-aided programming.

Exclusive: 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sits down with'The Story's' Martha MacCallum to discuss his election bid. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called on President Biden Wednesday to show the American people he has the "cognitive capacity" and "mental acuity" to lead the nation for another four-year term. "I think he [Biden] needs to come out of the White House and show Americans that he has the cognitive capacity, to, and the mental acuity, to handle this job at probably the most challenging time now, at least in recent American history," RFK Jr. told "The Story." "We're facing issues that are existential. We're involved in two wars. We have AI coming down, which is going to change everything, and there's enormous dangers in it," he continued.

Grounding is a challenging problem, requiring a formal definition and different levels of abstraction. This article explores grounding from both cognitive science and machine learning perspectives. It identifies the subtleties of grounding, its significance for collaborative agents, and similarities and differences in grounding approaches in both communities. The article examines the potential of neuro-symbolic approaches tailored for grounding tasks, showcasing how they can more comprehensively address grounding. Finally, we discuss areas for further exploration and development in grounding.

The article identified 42 cognitive architectures for creating general artificial intelligence (AGI) and proposed a set of interrelated functional blocks that an agent approaching AGI in its capabilities should possess. Since the required set of blocks is not found in any of the existing architectures, the article proposes a new cognitive architecture for intelligent systems approaching AGI in their capabilities. As one of the key solutions within the framework of the architecture, a universal method of knowledge representation is proposed, which allows combining various non-formalized, partially and fully formalized methods of knowledge representation in a single knowledge base, such as texts in natural languages, images, audio and video recordings, graphs, algorithms, databases, neural networks, knowledge graphs, ontologies, frames, essence-property-relation models, production systems, predicate calculus models, conceptual models, and others. To combine and structure various fragments of knowledge, archigraph models are used, constructed as a development of annotated metagraphs. As components, the cognitive architecture being developed includes machine consciousness, machine subconsciousness, blocks of interaction with the external environment, a goal management block, an emotional control system, a block of social interaction, a block of reflection, an ethics block and a worldview block, a learning block, a monitoring block, blocks of statement and solving problems, self-organization and meta learning block.

This article presents a theoretical framework for adapting the Common Model of Cognition to large generative network models within the field of artificial intelligence. This can be accomplished by restructuring modules within the Common Model into shadow production systems that are peripheral to a central production system, which handles higher-level reasoning based on the shadow productions' output. Implementing this novel structure within the Common Model allows for a seamless connection between cognitive architectures and generative neural networks.