Extending Cognitive Architectures with Spatial and Visual Imagery Mechanisms
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Extending Cognitive Architectures with Spatial and Visual Imagery Mechanisms by Scott D. Lathrop A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Science and Engineering) in The University of Michigan 2008 Doctoral Committee: Professor John E. Laird, Chair Professor George W. Furnas Professor Richard L. Lewis Associate Professor Thad A. Polk © Scott D. Lathrop All rights reserved 2008 For Susan, Sarah, and Stephanie ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Sue, my wife and best friend, who encouraged me to pursue a PhD and then backed those words of encouragement with tremendous love and support. Thank you for supporting me by doing more work than a mom should ever have to do. I would not have accomplished this goal without you! Thank you, Sarah, my five-year-old daughter, who while setting the table for dinner one night, gave me the idea of how a child may use imagery to perform such a task. Sarah always kept my research in perspective with her many questions such as whether the ―story‖ I was writing had anything to do with the ―game‖ I made, and whether or not I was going to talk about it at ―show-and-tell‖. To Stephanie, my two-year old daughter, who despite instructions not to enter the study when the door was closed, entered anyway, ran to me, and give me a big hug. Those moments are precious and always brightened my day even when I had not accomplished much. Sarah and Stephanie‘s games of ―hide-and-go-seek‖ also inspired some of my thoughts. To my parents, thanks for always encouraging me to ―climb the next mountain‖, work hard, and persevere. A special thanks to my advisor, John Laird, who helped cultivate these research ideas and then provided me with the latitude to develop them. As a ―nontraditional‖ graduate student, John respected my professional background and kept me on track by encouraging me to focus on the most important ideas, start simple, and always evaluate. To my committee members, George Furnas, Rick Lewis, and Thad Polk, thank you for encouraging me to think about depictive representations (George) and to consider the psychological and neurological constraints (Rick and Thad). I enjoyed the discussions and learned a lot at the biologically inspired cognitive architecture (BICA) meetings. I appreciate my fellow Soar graduate students--Andy, Bob, Jakub, Joseph, Nate, Nick, and YJ--for the friendship, stimulating discussions, and letting an ―old guy‖ hang around the research lab. iii Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi List of Appendices ............................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Spatial and Visual Imagery Representations ...................................................... 8 2.1 Symbolic, Quantitative, and Depictive Structures .............................................. 8 2.2 Functional and Computational Tradeoffs ......................................................... 11 2.3 Mental Imagery Debate..................................................................................... 15 2.4 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 3 Design Space Constraints and Theory ............................................................. 24 3.1 Behavioral and Biological Constraints ............................................................. 25 3.2 Functional Constraints ...................................................................................... 28 3.3 Computational Constraints................................................................................ 30 3.4 Theory Summary .............................................................................................. 32 Chapter 4 Related Work.................................................................................................... 35 4.1 Cognitive Architectures .................................................................................... 35 4.2 AI Systems ........................................................................................................ 37 4.3 Computational Models ...................................................................................... 42 Chapter 5 Tasks and Environments .................................................................................. 45 5.1 Characteristics of Tasks and Environments ...................................................... 45 5.2 Geometry Gymnastics ....................................................................................... 51 5.3 Alphabet Soup ................................................................................................... 52 5.4 Scouts Out ......................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 6 Architectural Design ........................................................................................ 56 iv 6.1 Soar ................................................................................................................... 57 6.2 SVI .................................................................................................................... 60 6.2.1 Memories .................................................................................................... 60 6.2.2 Processes ..................................................................................................... 67 6.3 Summary ........................................................................................................... 88 Chapter 7 Evaluation......................................................................................................... 89 7.1 Evaluation Criteria ............................................................................................ 90 7.2 Geometry Gymnastics ....................................................................................... 91 7.2.1 Functional Capability .................................................................................. 95 7.2.2 Computational Advantage .......................................................................... 96 7.2.3 Geometry Problem Assessment .................................................................. 98 7.3 Alphabet Soup ................................................................................................. 100 7.3.1 Alphabet Results ....................................................................................... 101 7.3.2 Alphabet Experiment Assessment ............................................................ 105 7.4 Scouts Out ....................................................................................................... 107 7.4.1 Simulation Environment ........................................................................... 107 7.4.2 Task Decomposition ................................................................................. 114 7.4.3 Computational Advantage ........................................................................ 121 7.4.4 Functional Capability and Problem-Solving Quality ................................ 125 7.4.5 Scout Domain Assessment ........................................................................ 133 7.5 Lessons Learned.............................................................................................. 133 Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusion .............................................................................. 135 8.1 Research Contributions ................................................................................... 135 8.2 Future Work .................................................................................................... 137 8.3 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 142 Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 143 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 188 v List of Figures Figure 1-1: Representations Involved in Spatial and Visual Imagery ................................ 4 Figure 2-1: Imagery Representations .................................................................................. 9 Figure 2-2: Example of the Capability and Limitation of Representations ...................... 12 Figure 2-3: Examples Shepard and Metzler Used to Show ―Mental Rotation‖ ............... 17 Figure 2-4: Fictional Island Map ...................................................................................... 18 Figure 2-5: Visual Cortex ................................................................................................. 18 Figure 2-6: X On/Off Letter Experiment. ......................................................................... 19 Figure 2-7: Summary of Mental Imagery Debate ............................................................. 21 Figure 2-8: The Depictive Format