This was the result:
My current research focus is on how high level cognition emerges from low level information integration.
This research is twofold;
* first I want to understand how higher levels of cognition emerge from low level information integration and interaction between simple components
* second, how can we use these techniques(from 1) (algorithms, etc.) for intelligent networks like (cognitive)sensor networks.
I know this is rather a broad description, but it contains everything I want to research.
For intelligent networks, (cognitive) sensor networks and swarm intelligence, this means that I want to understand how properties of high-level cognition, like concepts, are formed from low-level information integration, interaction between simple components and their interaction with the environment. Imagine that future sensor networks can use concepts to communicate with other sensor networks or even with human users.
I believe that *emergent* properties of simple distributed systems are already high(er)-level properties of the systems. For instance, in my experiment concerning categorization in sensor networks, sensor networks need to recognize object by integration information on a lower-level(from each sensor). This is because each individual sensor, which is only sensitive to color or to contrast, does not have the complexity to perform the whole categorization(red circle or blue triangle) on its own. The concepts of a red circle or a blue triangle do not exists in their low-level components, but it does in the system as a whole and is in fact a high-level property of the system. See it as a continuum with on one side a low-level description(like sensorimotor properties) and on the other side a high-level(reasoning) description of cognition.
I want to investigate this evolution(transition), from low-level to high-level cognition, using the evolutionary cybernetic approach.
For my research it would be nice to perform some simulations/experiment, which I'm working on, and some experiment with humans(maybe with the psychology department).
Until now I have ideas for several ideas/experiments; 1. active categorization in static and dynamic sensor networks 2. The role of memory in the evolution of complexity and cognition 3. Distributed memory in sensor networks 4. Concepts in intelligent networks from information integration
I would be nice to have a brainstorm about this with you all... Any remarks or feedback would be helpful.
At the moment I'm looking for some good papers about these subject.
Greetz,
Dirk
