Behavior-Oriented Approaches to Cognition: Theoretical Perspectives

Understanding complex behavior requires a multidisplinary effort from the neurosciences, psychology, behavioral biology, and computer science. This paper gives an overview of the current state of theoretical thinking in the field. The focus is on a behavior-oriented approach to cognition, i.e., not so much on the mental representations themselves, but on the behaviors that do require these representations. It is the intention of the paper to support the exchange between the different disciplines involved. Examples of different types of models and explanations are discussed, but no comprehensive review of all relevant work is attempted. In the second part, I collect a number of elements that in my view are essential to a future theory of cognitive behavior