Cognitive Search

by Todd, Peter M.; Hills, Thomas T.; Robbins, Trevor W.

• ISBN13: 9780262018098
• ISBN10: 0262018098
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-08-31
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Over a century ago, William James proposed that people search through memory much as they rummage through a house looking for lost keys. We scour our environments for territory, food, mates, and information. We search for items in visual scenes, for historical facts, and for the best deals on Internet sites; we search for new friends to add to our social networks, and for solutions to novel problems. What we find is always governed by how we search and by the structure of the environment. This book explores how we search for resources in our minds and in the world. The authors examine the evolution and adaptive functions of search; the neural underpinnings of goal-searching mechanisms across species; psychological models of search in memory, decision making, and visual scenes; and applications of search behavior in highly complex environments such as the Internet. As the range of information, social contacts, and goods continues to expand, how well we are able to search and successfully find what we seek becomes increasingly important. At the same time, search offers cross-disciplinary insights to the scientific study of human cognition and its evolution. Combining perspectives from researchers across numerous domains, this book furthers our understanding of the relationship between search and the human mind.

Table of Contents

The Ernst Strüngmann Forum	p. vii
List of Contributors	p. ix
Building a Foundation for Cognitive Search	p. 1
Evolution of Search, Adaptation, and Ecology
The Evolution of Cognitive Search	p. 11
Ecological and Behavioral Approaches to Search Behavior	p. 25
Searching for Fundamentals and Commonalities of Search	p. 47
Search, Goals, and the Brain
Executive Control of Cognitive Search	p. 69
Search Processes and Hippocampus	p. 81
Neural Bases of Actions and Habits	p. 97
Chemical Neuromodulation of Goal-Directed Behavior	p. 111
Search, Goals, and the Brain	p. 125
Mechanisms and Processes of Cognitive Search
Visual Search	p. 159
Human Memory Search	p. 177
Model-Based Reinforcement Learning as Cognitive Search: Neurocomputational Theories	p. 195
Cognitive Control, Cognitive Search, and Motivational Salience: A Systems Neuroscience Approach	p. 209
Convergent and Divergent Operations in Cognitive Search	p. 221
Unpacking Cognitive Search: Mechanisms and Processes	p. 237
Search Environments, Representation, and Encoding
Foundations of Search: A Perspective from Computer Science	p. 257
Problem Solving and Search in Networks	p. 269
From Plato to the World Wide Web: Information Foraging on the Internet	p. 283
Optimal Strategies and Heuristics for Ecological Search Problems	p. 301
Search Environments, Representation, and Encoding	p. 317
Bibliography	p. 335
Subject Index	p. 397
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