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A relational model of cognitive maps

https://doi.org/10.1006/ijhc.1998.0201Get rights and content

Abstract

A useful tool for causal reasoning is the language of cognitive maps developed by political scientists to analyse, predict and understand decisions. Although, this language is based on simple inference rules and its semantics isad hoc, it has many attractive aspects and has been found useful in many applications: administrative sciences, game theory, information analysis, popular political developments, electrical circuits analysis, cooperative man–machines, distributed group-decision support and adaptation and learning, etc. In this paper, we show how cognitive maps can be viewed in the context of relation algebra, and how this algebra provides a semantic foundation that helps to develop a computational tool using the language of cognitive maps.

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