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Beginning with biology: “Aspects of cognition” exist in the service of the brain's overall function as a resource-regulator

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Jordan E. Theriault
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/
Matt Coleman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/
Mallory J. Feldman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, [email protected]://malloryjfeldman.com
Joseph D. Fridman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/
Eli Sennesh
Affiliation:
Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, [email protected]://esennesh.github.io/
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, 02129 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, 02129
Karen S. Quigley
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, [email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/ Department of Veterans Affairs, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial (VA) Medical Center, Bedford, MA, 01730

Abstract

Lieder and Griffiths rightly urge that computational cognitive models be constrained by resource usage, but they should go further. The brain's primary function is to regulate resource usage. As a consequence, resource usage should not simply select among algorithmic models of “aspects of cognition.” Rather, “aspects of cognition” should be understood as existing in the service of resource management.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

1.

These authors jointly supervised this work.

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