DUAL (cognitive architecture)

DUAL is a general cognitive architecture integrating the connectionist and symbolic approaches at the micro level. DUAL is based on decentralized representation and emergent computation. It was inspired by the Society of Mind idea proposed by Marvin Minsky but departs from the initial proposal in many ways. Computations in DUAL emerge from the interaction of many micro-agents each of which is hybrid symbolic/connectionist device. The agents exchange messages and activation via links that can be learnt and modified, they form coalitions which collectively represent concepts, episodes, and facts.