Cognitive Behavior, Basic Levels, and Intelligent Agents

Representing Mental States and Mechanisms

Volume

Representing Mental States and Mechanisms

Contents

This paper argues that the notion of basic levels of representation applies to the representation of mental processes. For such representations to be applicable across domains, they must be at a level that is abstract enough to be independent of domain details, but concrete enough to have agreed-upon interpretations. We then present the research area of intelligent software agents as allowing a separation between a representation of a mental process from the execution of the process. This allows the model of the process to exist at a basic level, while providing the basis for effective reasoning about mental activity.