title: Cogent confabulation.
abstract: A new model of vertebrate cognition is introduced: maximization of cogency p(alphabetagammadelta|epsilon). This model is shown to be a direct generalization of Aristotelian logic, and to be rigorously related to a calculable quantity. A key aspect of this model is that in Aristotelian logic information environments it functions logically. However, in non-Aristotelian environments, instead of finding the conclusion with the highest probability of being true (a popular past model of cognition); this model instead functions in the manner of the 'duck test;' by finding that conclusion which is most supportive of the truth of the assumed facts.
authors.affiliation: Computational Neurobiology, Institute for Neural Computation, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0407, USA. rh-n@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hecht-Nielsen
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological