The purpose of this assignment is to help you synthesize theories of cognition and identify critical differences among theories of information processing. The target prompt will allow you to demonstrate a basic understanding of the unique claims that various theories and models make about the mind. The best responses will begin with a clear topic sentence on the theme or area of research you will be focusing on. Then, the remaining sentences will be dedicated to providing evidence that builds on your topic sentence by relying on and integrating course material.

The ideas/questions below are designed to prime the pump in your ol' brain. You do not need to integrate any of the ideas/questions into your responses; but you may find that focusing on one or more of these issues will help you as you delve into the learning materials.

First, be clear what is meant by a representation. I know, it's weird. It's abstract. But think about it: what does it mean to represent information about the environment? What would it even look like to explain behavior and cognition without representations?

In order to understand information representation and transformation, a major explanatory tool is a cognitive model. These models are critical because they provide a mechanism for explaining information processing. They are an attempt to take what is really abstract and make it more grounded. And this can lead to testable claims about how intelligent agents (humans or machines) might engage with their environment. So, think about the models that have been introduced in the learning materials and focus on one or more of them.

What unique claims about information processing does CRUM make? Or the physical symbol system hypothesis? Or David Marr's claims? Or even experiments with rats? All of them are trying to say something about information processing (and all of them are dealing in some way with representations and how they might be manipulated in various problem domains).

If you were an artificial intelligence researcher and you wanted to make a thinking machine, how would you do it? I bet you would need to figure out some way for that machine to represent its environment. And I bet you would need to figure out a way for that machine to process the information in its environment. Are there any models or theories provided by cognitive science you might turn to for inspiration?