Doug,
The central executive controls all the processes that are controllable by the human ego. But the term 'executive' should be considered the equivalent of what the chief executive officer (CEO) of a business does in managing a corporation. There are intermediaries at various points.
Baddeley & Hitch wrote their initial article in 1974. They wrote that in response to George Miller's "Magic Number 7, plus or minus 2." They realized that there was much more to short-term memory than just words and phonemes. They called Miller's storage "the phonological loop" and they added a visuo-spatial scratchpad for short-term imagery and feelings. And they continued to revise and extend their hypotheses for another 20 or 30 years. Other neuroscientists, who are specialists in different aspects, have been working on related issues.
The idea is an important one that the Generative AI gang has not yet latched onto. But some AI people are starting to take notice, and I believe that they are on the right track. In summary, there is more to come. See the references I cited, and do whatever googling and searching you like.
John
----------------------------------------
From: "doug foxvog" <doug(a)foxvog.org>
John,
Baddeley & Hitch's "central executive" (CE) is described as an attentional
controlling system. I have just briefly glanced at it, but it seems that
the point is coordinating and accessing memory through an episodic buffer,
phonological loop, and visio-spatial "sketchpad". The hypothesized CE
deals with information, language, memory, imagery, & spatial awareness.
That covers a lot, and i assume it would also cover conscious actions and
processes.
But i don't see it covering neurohormone production or things like
heartrate. Lower level processes like basal signaling between neurons
would have no need of a central executive, as they are just basal
processes.
It's the word "all" in "all processes" that indicates to me that the claim
is excessive.
FWIW, i note that sharks also have brains -- as do "higher" orders of
invertebrates.
-- doug f
> On Wed, April 10, 2024 18:38, John F Sowa wrote:
> Doug,
>
> The central executive was proposed by the neuroscientists Baddeley &
> Hitch, not by AI researchers. There is nothing "machine-like" in the
> idea, by itself. Without something like it, there is no way to explain
> how a huge tangle of neurons could act together and coordinate their
> efforts to support a common effort.
>
> It reminds me of a neighboring town (to my residence in Croton on Hudson,
> NY), which was doing some major developments without hiring a general
> contractor. They thought that their local town employees could schedule
> all the processes. It turned out to be a total disaster. All the
> subcontractors did their tasks in a random order, each one interfering
> with some of the others, and causing a major mess. There were lawsuits
> back and forth, and the town management was found guilty and had losses
> that were many times greater than the cost of hiring a general contractor.
>
> It is certainly true that there is a huge amount of computation going on
> in the brain that is below conscious awareness. Most of that is done by
> the cerebellum (little brain), which is physically much smaller than the
> cerebral cortex. But it contains over four times the number of neurons.
> In effect, the cerebellum behaves like a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
> which is a superfast, highly specialized processor for all the perception
> and action that takes place without conscious awareness.
>
> For example, when you're walking down the street talking on your cell
> phone, the cerebellum is monitoring your vision, muscles, and strides --
> until you step off the curb and get run over by a bus. That's why you need
> a central controller to monitor and coordinate all the processes.
>
> Sharks and dolphins are about the same size and they eat the same kind of
> prey. Sharks have a huge cerebellum and a small lump for a cerebellum.
> Dolphins have a huge cerebral cortex and a huge cerebellum. They are as
> agile as sharks, but they can plan, communicate, and coordinate their
> activities. When the food is plentiful, they can both eat their fill.
> But when it's scarce, the dolphins are much more successful.
>
> Please look at the citations in my previous note and the attached
> Section7.pdf. The cycle of abduction, induction, testing, and induction
> depends on a central executive that is responsible for planning,
> coordinating, and integrating those steps of conscious feeling, thinking,
> reasoning, and acting. With a central executive, an AI system would be
> more intelligent. But much, much more R & D would be required before
> anything could be called "Artificial General Intelligence" (AGI). That's
> why I have very little faith in anything called AGI.
>
> John
>
> ----------------------------------------
> From: "doug foxvog" <doug(a)foxvog.org>
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] The central executive
>
> On Wed, April 10, 2024 14:07, John F Sowa wrote:
>> In today's ZOOM meeting, I objected to the term 'neuro-symbolic hybrid'
>> of
>> artificial neural networks (ANNs) with symbols. Hybrids simply relate
>> two
>> (sometimes more) distinctly different things. But all the processes in
>> the mind and brain are integrated, and they all operate continuously in
>> different parts of the brain, which are all monitored and controlled by
>> a
>> central executive. ...
>
> This seems to me to be modeling the body as a machine and not an accurate
> description.
>
> There are a wide variety of processes in the mind and brain -- many
> processes in the brain occur independently without being integrated either
> with each other or with the mind. I am excluding standard cellular level
> processes that go on in every cell and the processes of the circulatory
> system in the brain. Every neuron regularly chemically interacts with
> adjacent neurons & passes electrical signals along its surface.
>
> As far as i understand, much that goes on in the brain we are unaware of,
> neurohormone production, for example. Sensory input processing does not
> seem to be integrated with a number of other processes. I have seen no
> evidence of a central executive in the brain that monitors and controls
> all the other processes. I'm not sure how such a central executive could
> have evolved.
>
> --
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Doug,
The central executive was proposed by the neuroscientists Baddeley & Hitch, not by AI researchers. There is nothing "machine-like" in the idea, by itself. Without something like it, there is no way to explain how a huge tangle of neurons could act together and coordinate their efforts to support a common effort.
It reminds me of a neighboring town (to my residence in Croton on Hudson, NY), which was doing some major developments without hiring a general contractor. They thought that their local town employees could schedule all the processes. It turned out to be a total disaster. All the subcontractors did their tasks in a random order, each one interfering with some of the others, and causing a major mess. There were lawsuits back and forth, and the town management was found guilty and had losses that were many times greater than the cost of hiring a general contractor.
It is certainly true that there is a huge amount of computation going on in the brain that is below conscious awareness. Most of that is done by the cerebellum (little brain), which is physically much smaller than the cerebral cortex. But it contains over four times the number of neurons. In effect, the cerebellum behaves like a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) which is a superfast, highly specialized processor for all the perception and action that takes place without conscious awareness.
For example, when you're walking down the street talking on your cell phone, the cerebellum is monitoring your vision, muscles, and strides -- until you step off the curb and get run over by a bus. That's why you need a central controller to monitor and coordinate all the processes.
Sharks and dolphins are about the same size and they eat the same kind of prey. Sharks have a huge cerebellum and a small lump for a cerebellum. Dolphins have a huge cerebral cortex and a huge cerebellum. They are as agile as sharks, but they can plan, communicate, and coordinate their activities. When the food is plentiful, they can both eat their fill. But when it's scarce, the dolphins are much more successful.
Please look at the citations in my previous note and the attached Section7.pdf. The cycle of abduction, induction, testing, and induction depends on a central executive that is responsible for planning, coordinating, and integrating those steps of conscious feeling, thinking, reasoning, and acting. With a central executive, an AI system would be more intelligent. But much, much more R & D would be required before anything could be called "Artificial General Intelligence" (AGI). That's why I have very little faith in anything called AGI.
John
----------------------------------------
From: "doug foxvog" <doug(a)foxvog.org>
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] The central executive
On Wed, April 10, 2024 14:07, John F Sowa wrote:
> In today's ZOOM meeting, I objected to the term 'neuro-symbolic hybrid' of
> artificial neural networks (ANNs) with symbols. Hybrids simply relate two
> (sometimes more) distinctly different things. But all the processes in
> the mind and brain are integrated, and they all operate continuously in
> different parts of the brain, which are all monitored and controlled by a
> central executive. ...
This seems to me to be modeling the body as a machine and not an accurate
description.
There are a wide variety of processes in the mind and brain -- many
processes in the brain occur independently without being integrated either
with each other or with the mind. I am excluding standard cellular level
processes that go on in every cell and the processes of the circulatory
system in the brain. Every neuron regularly chemically interacts with
adjacent neurons & passes electrical signals along its surface.
As far as i understand, much that goes on in the brain we are unaware of,
neurohormone production, for example. Sensory input processing does not
seem to be integrated with a number of other processes. I have seen no
evidence of a central executive in the brain that monitors and controls
all the other processes. I'm not sure how such a central executive could
have evolved.
In today's ZOOM meeting, I objected to the term 'neuro-symbolic hybrid' of artificial neural networks (ANNs) with symbols. Hybrid's imply two (sometimes more) distinctly different things. But all the processes in the mind and brain are integrated, and they all operate continuously in different parts of the brain, which are all monitored and controlled by a central executive. For AI, integration is the goal, and a hybrid stage is something that needs to be replaced with a tighter integration. I believe that the final document should emphasize the dangers that Gary Marcus and I discussed in March.
And for that matter, artificial neural networks are not new. William James suggested the telephone network as a model, and more detailed mathematical models were developed in the 1940s. In fact, Marvin Minsky, one of the founders of AI, wrote his PhD thesis at Princeton on a mathematical model of neural networks in the early 1950s.
Research in the cognitive sciences involves a collaboration of all the sciences that study any and every aspect of cognition: philosophy, psychology, logic, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and anthropology. As an overview of the methods of integration, I attach a copy (Section 7) of an article that is in press: Phaneroscopy: The Science of Diagrams.
In that section, I show how the theories of C. S. Peirce and recent developments in the cognitive sciences support, illustrate, and explain the issues. In particular, they go far beyond just a hybrid of two approaches. They treat the brain and the mind it supports as an integrated system. The key to integration is a central executive, located in the frontal lobes that relates and controls every component in the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and the brain stem.
Note the loop with a photo of Peirce standing in the center. It shows how the four steps of abduction, deduction, observation, and induction work together. Every iteration -- from milliseconds to hours to days -- involves guessing, reasoning, observing, and learning. These processes are not separated. They operate continuously.
For details, see Section 7, which also contains several references to articles and slides with more detail. I also recommend The Central Executive Network (CEN): https://www.o8t.com/blog/central-executive-network#:~:text=Since%20its%20in…
John
Peirce's 1885 “Algebra of Logic” • Selection 1.1
• https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2024/03/24/peirces-1885-algebra-of-logic-sel…
All,
I'm laying down a few source materials
in preparation for a later discussion.
Selection from C.S. Peirce, “On the Algebra of Logic :
A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation” (1885)
❝§1. Three Kinds Of Signs❞
❝Any character or proposition either concerns one subject,
two subjects, or a plurality of subjects. For example, one
particle has mass, two particles attract one another, a particle
revolves about the line joining two others. A fact concerning
two subjects is a dual character or relation; but a relation
which is a mere combination of two independent facts concerning
the two subjects may be called “degenerate”, just as two lines
are called a degenerate conic. In like manner a plural character
or conjoint relation is to be called degenerate if it is a mere
compound of dual characters.
❝A sign is in a conjoint relation to the thing denoted and to the mind.
If this triple relation is not of a degenerate species, the sign is
related to its object only in consequence of a mental association,
and depends upon a habit. Such signs are always abstract and general,
because habits are general rules to which the organism has become
subjected. They are, for the most part, conventional or arbitrary.
They include all general words, the main body of speech, and any
mode of conveying a judgment. For the sake of brevity I will call
them “tokens”. [Note. Peirce more frequently calls these “symbols”.]
Regards,
Jon
cc: https://www.academia.edu/community/LpeZP7
cc: https://mathstodon.xyz/@Inquiry/112156450035935700
***CoKA: Call for Contributions***
================================================================
Conceptual Knowledge Acquisition: Challenges, Opportunities, and Use Cases
Workshop at the 1st International Joint Conference on
Conceptual Knowledge Structures (CONCEPTS 2024)
September 9–13 2024, Cádiz, Spain
Workshop Website: https://www.kde.cs.uni-kassel.de/coka/
Conference website: https://concepts2024.uca.es
================================================================
Formal concept analysis (FCA) can help make sense of data and the underlying
domain --- provided the data is not too big, not too noisy, representative of
the domain, and if there is data in the first place. What if you don’t have such
data readily available but are prepared to invest in collecting it and have
access to domain experts or other reliable queryable sources of information?
Conceptual exploration comes to the rescue!
Conceptual exploration is a family of knowledge-acquisition techniques within
FCA. The goal is to build a complete implicational theory of a domain (with
respect to a fixed language) by posing queries to a domain expert. When properly
implemented, it is a great tool that can help organize the process of scientific
discovery.
Unfortunately, proper implementations are scarce and success stories of using
conceptual exploration are somewhat rare and limited in scope. With this
workshop, we intend to analyze the situation and, maybe, find a solution. If
- you succeeded in acquiring new knowledge about or building a satisfying
conceptual representation of some domain with conceptual exploration before;
- you attempted conceptual exploration in application to your problem but failed
miserably;
- you want to use conceptual exploration to analyze some domain, but you don’t
know where and how to start;
- you are aware of alternatives to conceptual exploration;
then come to the workshop to share your experiences, insights, ideas, and
concerns with us!
==================
Keywords and Topics
==================
Knowledge Acquisition and Capture
Conceptual Exploration
Design Patterns and Paradigmatic Examples
successful use cases and real-world applications
challenges and lessons learned
application principles
missing theoretical foundations
missing technical infrastructure
integration with other theories and technologies
=========================
Duration, Format, and Dates
=========================
We invite contributions in the form of an extended abstract of up to two pages.
In addition, supplementary material, such as data sets, detailed descriptions,
or visualizations, may be submitted.
The workshop is planned for half a day within the conference dates and at the
same venue. It will consist of several short presentations each followed by a
plenary discussion.
Please send your contributions until *July 10, 2024* to
tom.hanika(a)uni-hildesheim.de. If you are not sure whether your contribution
matches the topics or the format of the workshop, you are welcome to contact the
organizers prior to submitting the abstract. An acceptance notification will be
sent within two weeks upon receiving the submission.
===================
Workshop Organizers
===================
- Tom Hanika, University of Hildesheim
- Sergei Obiedkov, TU Dresden
- Bernhard Ganter, Ernst-Schröder-Zentrum, Darmstadt
All,
For many years, I have been associated with the CharGer software, a conceptual graph editor. I began this project in 1997, with the support and encouragement of the conceptual graph community who met annually at the Internaional Conference on Conceptual Structures (ICCS). Over the years a number of new features were added, which are documented in the CharGer Manual, which is distributed with the software.
Having recently received a couple of inquiries about the software, I thought I'd post its current address.
http://www.cs.uah.edu/~delugach/charger.php
The software is not currently actively supported. Based on Java swing, it uses fairly old technology. There are probably better solutions at hand, but I've been given the idea that the old software is still useful, especially for preparing conceptual graphs for presentations.
I'll be happy to answer any questions about it.
Enjoy!
Harry Delugach
Harry S. Delugach, Ph.D.
-------------------
Associate Professor Emeritus (retired)
Computer Science Dept.
OKT N-351
University Of Alabama In Huntsville
Huntsville AL 35899 U.S.A.
voice: +1 256.824.6614
fax: +1 256.824.6239
delugach(a)uah.edu
http://www.cs.uah.edu/~delugach
