How the mind works: An exercise in pragmatism

This article follows the tradition of pragmatism, understanding cognition as "a guide to appropriate action" [1], and deriving cognitive models from the considerations of performance efficiency. Pragmatic approach has received recent development in [2] applying non-linear dynamics to modeling brain processes. The present article exercises the approach within the framework of Resource Allocation (RA), based on the definitions A and B and assumptions C and D below: A) Neuronal pool in the brain comprises sensory resources, motor resources, and control resources regulating allocation of the former two resource types. B) Performance efficiency equates to resource allocation efficiency. C) Environment changes. D) Allocating and using resources are energy demanding activities which can be sustained only if their return exceeds the expenditure. Here, A and B pose a problem: What method of resource allocation is exploited in the human brain? Suggestions that follow stem from a belief that examining methods for solving the problem under assumptions C and D can provide hints on how the mind operates and what went on in the nervous systems of the early humans that made possible evolutionary successes by far surpassing those attained by the other species. In the course of this research, biology inspired applications ([3], [4] while mathematics helped to articulate hypotheses about biological control ([5], [6]). This paper skips the applications, and focuses on summarizing the hypotheses.