Cognitive science
Related papers: 20
About
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the nature of intelligence, knowledge, and mental processes—including perception, memory, reasoning, language, and learning—drawing from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. In robotics and AI, cognitive science provides foundational frameworks for building systems that think, perceive, and behave more like biological agents. Concepts such as embodied and situated cognition inform how robots interact physically with their environments rather than relying solely on abstract symbolic reasoning. Theories of attention, memory, and intrinsic motivation guide the design of autonomous systems capable of curiosity-driven exploration and adaptive learning. Social dimensions of cognitive science underpin human-robot interaction research, enabling robots to recognize intentions, imitate behavior, and communicate naturally. Understanding how the body shapes thought has driven behavior-based and 4E cognition approaches that treat intelligence as emerging from the dynamic interplay between agent, body, and environment. Ultimately, cognitive science matters because it bridges biological intelligence and artificial systems, offering principled insights that make AI and robots more capable, adaptive, and trustworthy partners for humans.
Top Researchers
Top Institutes
Top Cited Papers
Artificial intelligence: a modern approach
Citations: 22245 • 1995
Swarm Intelligence
Eric Bonabeau, Marco Dorigo, Guy Théraulaz
Citations: 6404 • 1999
On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism.
Nicholas Epley, Adam Waytz, John T. Cacioppo
Citations: 3643 • 2007
How the Body Shapes the Mind
Shaun Gallagher
Citations: 3049 • 2005
Philosophical conceptions of the self: implications for cognitive science
Shaun Gallagher
Citations: 2856 • 2000
Behavior-based robotics
Citations: 2561 • 1999
State-of-the-Art in Visual Attention Modeling
Ali Borji, Laurent Itti
Citations: 1834 • 2012
Intelligence Without Reason
Rodney A. Brooks
Citations: 1560 • 2018
Designing Sociable Robots
Cynthia Breazeal
Citations: 1533 • 2002
The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition
Citations: 1326 • 2018
Is imitation learning the route to humanoid robots?
Stefan Schaal
Citations: 1325 • 1999
Collaborative learning : cognitive and computational approaches
Pierre Dillenbourg
Citations: 1324 • 1999
Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence
Fred Truck, Hans Moravec
Citations: 1276 • 1991
Models of Information Processing in the Basal Ganglia
Citations: 1187 • 1994
The neural and behavioural organization of goal-directed movements
Marc Jeannerod
Citations: 1175 • 1988
Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human–robot interaction
Kerstin Dautenhahn
Citations: 1152 • 2007
Intrinsic Motivation Systems for Autonomous Mental Development
Pierre‐Yves Oudeyer, Frédé́ric Kaplan, Verena V. Hafner
Citations: 1113 • 2007
Human movement variability, nonlinear dynamics, and pathology: Is there a connection?
Nicholas Stergiou, Leslie M. Decker
Citations: 1050 • 2011
How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence
Rolf Pfeifer, Josh Bongard
Citations: 1024 • 2006
Sparse Distributed Memory
Pentti Kanerva
Citations: 973 • 1988