The term cognitive model has basically two meanings. In psychology, a model is a simplified representation of reality. The essential quality of such a model is to help deciding the appropriate actions, i.e. the actions ensuring that a given goal is reached (see Mental model).

In cognitive science, a cognitive model, can also mean a model of cognitive processes or even an organism. Briefly put, it is the use of computers to model cognitive behavior and sometimes also the study of nature to improve the usage of computers. Many cognitive models use the paradigm of connectionism. These cognitive models are used to study social behaviour and emergent properties of interacting nodes. Cognitive is often closely related to the field of artificial intelligence, as many of its pursuits can be linked to machine learning. It relies heavily on the fields of cognitive science and computer science. In contrast to a Cognitive architecture, a model does not necessarily have an explanation to all aspects of cognition (wholistic approach), but often focuses on several aspects of cognition, i.e. cognitive processes.

See also

• Cognitive architecture
• Connectionism
• Cognitive psychology

External link

• A Cognitive Model of Learning