SOAR (also spelled Soar) is a symbolic cognitive architecture, created by John Laird, Allen Newell, and Paul Rosenbloom at Carnegie Mellon University. It is both a view of what cognition is and an implementation of that view through a computer programming architecture for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Since its beginnings in 1983 and its presentation on a paper in 1987 it has been widely used by AI researchers to model different aspects of human behavior. A cognitive architecture is a computational process that acts like a certain cognitive system, most often, like a person, or acts intelligent under some definition. ... Allen Newell (March 19, 1927 - July 19, 1992) was a researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the RAND corporation. ... Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Wiktionary has a definition of: Cognition The term cognition is used in several different loosely related ways. ... A computer program (often simply called a program) is an example of computer software that prescribes the actions (computations) that are to be carried out by a computer. ... Artificial intelligence (also known as machine intelligence and often abbreviated as AI) is intelligence exhibited by any manufactured (i. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In cognition, a model is a simplified representation of reality. ...

The main goal of the SOAR project is for it be able to handle the full range of capabilities of an intelligent agent, from highly routine to extremely difficult, open-ended problems. In order for that to happen, according to the view underlying SOAR, it needs to be able to create representations and use appropriate forms of knowledge (such as procedural, declarative, episodic, and possibly iconic knowledges). SOAR should then address a collection of mechanisms of the [mind]. Also underlying the SOAR architecture is the view that a symbolic system is necessary and sufficient for general intelligence (see brief comment on neats versus scruffies). This is known as the physical symbol system hypothesis. The views of cognition underlying SOAR is tied to the psychological theory expressed in Allen Newell's Unified Theory of Cognition. Knowledge representation is needed for library classification and for processing concepts in an information system. ... Intelligence has two different common meanings : Intelligence (trait) Animal intelligence Artificial intelligence Intelligence (information gathering) Business intelligence Military espionage This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Artificial intelligence (also known as machine intelligence and often abbreviated as AI) is intelligence exhibited by any manufactured (i. ... Allen Newell (March 19, 1927 - July 19, 1992) was a researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the RAND corporation. ... Unified theories of cognition is a book written by Allen Newell in 1987. ...

Although SOAR's ultimate goal is to achieve general intelligence, there is no claim that this goal has already been reached. Advocates of the system recognize that SOAR is still missing some important aspects of intelligence. Some examples include a deliberate long-term planning facility, the ability to create new representations on its own, the ability to 'unlearn' something that it has learnt and better interaction with the world in real time.

SOAR is based on a production system, i.e. it uses explicit production rules to govern its behaviour (these are roughly of the form "if... then...", as also used in expert systems). Problem solving can be roughly described as a search through a problem space (the collection of different states which can be reached by the system at a particular time) for a goal state (which represents the solution for the problem). This is implemented by searching for the states which bring the system gradually closer its the goal. Each move consists of a decision cycle which has an elaboration phase (in which a variety of different pieces of knowledge bearing the problem are brought to SOAR's working memory) and a decision procedure (which weighs what was found on the previous phase and assigns preferences to ultimately decide the action to be taken). An expert system is a class of computer programs developed by researchers in artificial intelligence during the 1970s and applied commercially throughout the 1980s. ... In cognitive psychology, working memory is the collection of structures and processes within the brain used for temporarily storing and manipulating information (although the manipulation of working memory contents is increasingly being seen as attributable to executive function). ...

If the decision procedure just described is not able to determine a unique course of action, SOAR may use different strategies, known as weak methods to solve the impasse. These methods are appropriate to situations in which knowledge is not abudant. Some examples are means-ends analysis (which may calculate the difference between each available option and the goal state) and a type of hill-climbing. When a solution is found by one of these methods, SOAR uses a learning technique called chunking to transform the course of action taken into a new rule. The new rule can then be applied whenever SOAR encounters the situation again (that is, there will be no longer an impasse). In computing, optimization is the process of modifying a system to improve its efficiency. ... In cognitive psychology and mnemonics, chunking refers to a strategy for making more efficient use of short-term memory by recoding information. ...

ACT, e.g. ACT-R is another cognitive architecture by John R. Anderson that operates on similar principles. Other cognitive architectures are DUAL, Psi, Copycat, and subsumption architectures. Wiktionary has a definition of: Act Act may refer to: in law, a written document that attests the legality of the transaction. ... ACT-R (pronounced actor) is a symbolic cognitive architecture, created by John R. Anderson and others at Carnegie-Mellon University. ... Copycat is a model of analogy making and human cognition ( Cognitive architecture), developed by Douglas Hofstadter, Melanie Mitchell, and others at the at Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, Indiana University at Bloomington. ... Subsumption architecture is an AI concept originating from behavior based robotics. ...

External Links

• Soar Homepage (http://sitemaker.umich.edu/soar)
• Soar: Frequently Asked Questions List (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pub/soar/nottingham/soar-faq.html)

References

• Franklin, Stan (1997), Artificial Minds, MIT Press/Bradford books, 464 pages, ISBN 0262561093 (paperback).
• Laird, John, Newell, Allen and Rosenbloom, Paul (1987). "SOAR: An Architecture for General Intelligence". Artificial Intelligence, 33: 1-64.