Situated Cognition: On Human Knowledge and Computer Representations

by William J. Clancey

Overview

This text deals with recent changes in the design of intelligent machines. New computer models of vision and navigation in animals suggest a different way to build machines. Cognition is viewed not just in terms of high-level "expertise," but in the ability to find one's way around the world, to learn new ways of seeing things, and to coordinate activity. This approach is called situated cognition. Situated Cognition differs from other purely philosophical treatises in that Clancey, an insider who has built expert systems for twenty years, explores the limitations of existing computer programs and compares them to human memory and learning capabilities. Clancey examines the implications of "situated action" from the perspective of artificial intelligence specialists interested in building robots.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521444002
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/28/1997
Series:	Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives
Pages:	428
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.33(h) x 1.10(d)

Table of Contents

Part I. Representations and Memory: 1. Aaron's drawing; 2. Mycin's map; 3. Remembering controversies; 4. Sensorimotor maps vs. encodings; Part II. Situated Robots: 5. Navigating without reading maps; 6. Perceiving without describing; 7. Remembering without matching; 8. Engineering transactional systems; Part III. Ecological Theories: 9. Transactional experience; 10. Dialectic mechanism; 11. Ecological psychology; 12. Couplin vs. inference; 13. The varieties of symbol systems; 14. Reformulated dilemmas; 15. Conclusions: lessons for cognitive science.