5. Cognitive Abilities

Psychologists generally recognize that the century-old measure called IQ or intelligence quotient is a gross over-simplification, and individuals differ in many ways in their abilities to process information and take appropriate action. It is difficult if not futile to separate an individual’s personality from intellectual skills, because the two interact closely to define character and determine behavior. Central to both is consciousness, which is not some mystical concept but the very real functioning of short-term working memory, mediating between instantaneous perception and long-term memory. Human differences are illustrated by a pilot study contrasting an individual with average working memory with one who may be considered to have eidetic or photographic memory. Consideration of two kinds of neural networks, back-propagation and direct reinforcement, show how artificial intelligence could emulate the intellectual skills of a particular person. Two other demonstration studies show how an individual’s skills could be captured inside an expert system. Capture and emulation of a wide range of forms of skillful cognition demand development of appropriate theories, research methods, and emulation technologies, as well as approaches to integrate them.