Rational Use of Cognitive Resources: Levels of Analysis Between the Computational and the Algorithmic

• Published in: Topics in cognitive science Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 217 - 229
• Main Authors: Griffiths, Thomas L., Lieder, Falk, Goodman, Noah D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Algorithmic level; Algorithms; Bayesian models of cognition; Cognition - physiology; Computational level; Humans; Levels of analysis; Models, Theoretical; Rational process models; Resource-rational models; Thinking - physiology; Rational process models; Levels of analysis; Algorithmic level; Bayesian models of cognition; Computational level; Resource-rational models
• ISSN: 1756-8757; 1756-8765; 1756-8765
• DOI: 10.1111/tops.12142

Marr's levels of analysis—computational, algorithmic, and implementation—have served cognitive science well over the last 30 years. But the recent increase in the popularity of the computational level raises a new challenge: How do we begin to relate models at different levels of analysis? We propose that it is possible to define levels of analysis that lie between the computational and the algorithmic, providing a way to build a bridge between computational‐ and algorithmic‐level models. The key idea is to push the notion of rationality, often used in defining computational‐level models, deeper toward the algorithmic level. We offer a simple recipe for reverse‐engineering the mind's cognitive strategies by deriving optimal algorithms for a series of increasingly more realistic computational architectures, which we call “resource‐rational analysis.”