(semi OT) Fwd: Old math reveals new thinking in children's cognitive development

Begin forwarded message:
Date: December 11, 2009 8:00:00 PM EST Subject: Old math reveals new thinking in children's cognitive development Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News
Five-year-olds can reason about the world from multiple perspectives simultaneously, according to a new theory by researchers in Japan and Australia. Using an established branch of mathematics called Category Theory, the researchers explain why specific reasoning skills develop in children at certain ages, particularly at age five. The new theory shows that these reasoning skills have similar profiles of development because they involve related sorts of processes. Read more…
Unexpected applications of category theory for $500, Alex.... -- brandon s. allbery [solaris,freebsd,perl,pugs,haskell] allbery@kf8nh.com system administrator [openafs,heimdal,too many hats] allbery@ece.cmu.edu electrical and computer engineering, carnegie mellon university KF8NH

On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:26:55 -0600, Tom Tobin
On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 9:21 PM, Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH
wrote: Unexpected applications of category theory for $500, Alex....
Before you know it, they're going to be modeling mental processes as monads. :p
Modeling mental processes using a tool related to a branch of mathematics or computer science has been done before. For example, CopyCat was a "model of analogy making and human cognition based on the concept of the parallel terraced scan, developed by Douglas Hofstadter, Melanie Mitchell, and others at the at Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, Indiana University Bloomington" [1]. Furthermore, Metacat "is a computer model of analogy-making and perception that builds on the foundations of an earlier model called Copycat" [2]. A Haskellian version of Metacat could prove to be an interesting, if challenging, project. Does anybody know if such a project would be feasible? -- Benjamin L. Russell [1] "Copycat (software) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." _Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia._ 18 Apr. 2005. 16 Dec. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copycat_%28software%29. [2] Marshall, James B. "Metacat: A Self-Watching Cognitive Architecture for Analogy-Making and High-Level Perception." James B. Marshall. 17 Oct. 2009. 15 Dec. 2009. http://science.slc.edu/~jmarshall/metacat/.
participants (3)
-
Benjamin L.Russell
-
Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH
-
Tom Tobin