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A cognitively based simulation of academic science

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Abstract

The models used in social simulation to date have mostly been very simplistic cognitively, with little attention paid to the details of individual cognition. This work proposes a more cognitively realistic approach to social simulation. It begins with a model created by Gilbert (1997) for capturing the growth of academic science. Gilbert’s model, which was equation-based, is replaced here by an agent-based model, with the cognitive architecture CLARION providing greater cognitive realism. Using this cognitive agent model, results comparable to previous simulations and to human data are obtained. It is found that while different cognitive settings may affect the aggregate number of scientific articles produced, they do not generally lead to different distributions of number of articles per author. The paper concludes with a discussion of the correspondence between the model and the constructivist view of academic science. It is argued that using more cognitively realistic models in simulations may lead to novel insights.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Isaac Naveh

  2. Department of Cognitive Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

    Ron Sun

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  1. Isaac Naveh
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Additional information

Isaac Naveh obtained a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Missouri. His research interests include hybrid cognitive models and multi-agent learning.

Ron Sun is Professor of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and formerly the James C. Dowell Professor of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science at University of Missouri-Columbia. He received his Ph.D in 1992 from Brandeis University. His research interest centers around studies of cognition, especially in the areas of cognitive architectures, human reasoning and learning, cognitive social simulation, and hybrid connectionist models. For his paper on integrating rule-based and connectionist models for accounting for human everyday reasoning, he received the 1991 David Marr Award from Cognitive Science Society. He is the founding co-editor-in-chief of the journal Cognitive Systems Research, and also serves on the editorial boards of many other journals. He is the general chair and program chair for CogSci 2006, and a member of the Governing Board of International Neural Networks Society. His URL is: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun

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Naveh, I., Sun, R. A cognitively based simulation of academic science. Comput Math Organiz Theor 12, 313–337 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10588-006-8872-z

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