ABSTRACT
Context-sensitivity is an important characteristic feature of every cognitive process and therefore should be reflected in every architecture pretending to explain human cognition. In this paper some experimental facts demonstrating context effects on various cognitive processes are reviewed and an attempt at context modeling is described.
A hybrid (symbolic/connectionist) cognitive architecture, DUAL, is proposed. It consists of a multitude of agents having both a symbolic and a connectionist part. The symbolic part represents some knowledge structure, while the connectionist part represents its relevance to the current context. The performance of the cognitive system emerges as result of the work and interaction of the currently active agents, where the set of active agents is not predefined for a specific task but is dynamic and reflects the specific context. So particular symbolic operations and data structures may be supported or suppressed depending on the particular activation pattern of the connectionist parts which represent the context-dependent relevance of the operations and structures. In this way a context-sensitive computation emerges.
An example of context-sensitive deductive reasoning is described.
