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Beginning with biology: “Aspects of cognition” exist in the service of the brain's overall function as a resource-regulator

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Jordan E. Theriault Open the ORCID record for Jordan E. Theriault [Opens in a new window] ,
Matt Coleman ,
Mallory J. Feldman ,
Joseph D. Fridman ,
Eli Sennesh ,
Lisa Feldman Barrett  and
Karen S. Quigley
Jordan E. Theriault
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115jordan_theriault@northeastern.edum.coleman@northeastern.eduj.fridman@northeastern.edul.barrett@northeastern.eduK.Quigley@northeastern.eduhttp://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/
Matt Coleman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115jordan_theriault@northeastern.edum.coleman@northeastern.eduj.fridman@northeastern.edul.barrett@northeastern.eduK.Quigley@northeastern.eduhttp://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/
Mallory J. Feldman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599mjfeld@live.unc.eduhttps://malloryjfeldman.com
Joseph D. Fridman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115jordan_theriault@northeastern.edum.coleman@northeastern.eduj.fridman@northeastern.edul.barrett@northeastern.eduK.Quigley@northeastern.eduhttp://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/
Eli Sennesh
Affiliation:
Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115sennesh.e@husky.neu.eduhttps://esennesh.github.io/
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115jordan_theriault@northeastern.edum.coleman@northeastern.eduj.fridman@northeastern.edul.barrett@northeastern.eduK.Quigley@northeastern.eduhttp://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, 02129 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, 02129
Karen S. Quigley
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115jordan_theriault@northeastern.edum.coleman@northeastern.eduj.fridman@northeastern.edul.barrett@northeastern.eduK.Quigley@northeastern.eduhttp://www.jordan-theriault.com/http://josephfridman.com/https://www.affective-science.org/ Department of Veterans Affairs, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial (VA) Medical Center, Bedford, MA, 01730
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Abstract

Lieder and Griffiths rightly urge that computational cognitive models be constrained by resource usage, but they should go further. The brain's primary function is to regulate resource usage. As a consequence, resource usage should not simply select among algorithmic models of “aspects of cognition.” Rather, “aspects of cognition” should be understood as existing in the service of resource management.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e26
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

1.

These authors jointly supervised this work.

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