Case Study [d]

We intend to take a modelling and simulation approach. In particular, we plan to develop models of an intelligent agent empowered with cognitive brain using different computational formalisms ranging from probabilistic, generative modelling through non-axiomatic logic to neural models of human brain function. Our scientific ambition is to understand how these different modelling approaches can complement each other, especially given a wide range of temporal scales involved. Importantly, we will progressively work towards capturing key aspects of higher-order cognitive processes involved in decision making and planning the resulting behavior, such as learning, memory, attention, cognitive control, within a broad framework of perception-action cycle. Furthermore, to study interactions between the agents we intend to account for key features of theory of mind, at least at a phenomenological level. This way we expect to handle agent's awareness of motivations, goals and biases of other agents, which is of particular importance in our studies of the collective emergent effects. We are interested to investigate in what way uncertainty about other "state of mind" affects individual as well population(group)-level choices. In this regard, we plan to study the effect of other constraints and factors (both extrinsic and intrinsic) controlling the flexibility of the cognitive control. We expect that this framework will enable us to test specific psychological/behavioral hypotheses in the realm of socio-economic choices.

This case study will be implemented in a simulation test bed that allows for a suitable level of modelling abstraction, for example disregarding the need for capturing any low-level mechanisms underlying perception or behavioral motifs. The focus is on cognitive control, interaction and decision making with its higher-level behavioral implications. Importantly, the decision making domain should be embedded in the socio-economic context of smart cities, though limited in scope to meso-scale effects.