Software Integration for Computational Cognitive Models in Virtual Environments

Development of a general purpose software interface between cognitive models and 3D virtual environments requires innovation and research in cognitive abstractions and interfaces, as well as a thoughtful application of software architecture and engineering principles. We propose to embed these innovative cognitive abstractions in a middleware layer that offers “plug-and-play” operation for arbitrary pairings of cognitive architectures and simulation environments. The the content of aspects of the environment that will be exposed on the cognitive architecture side will be determined largely by what is known of human perceptual representations, while the categorization of these objects and relations will draw on standardized ontologies. The resulting system will provide flexible and psychologically plausible integration of multiple architectures and simulations.