What Does a System Modify When It Modifies Itself?
Quick summary
arXiv:2603.27611v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: When a cognitive system modifies its own functioning, what exactly does it modify: a low-level rule, a control rule, or the criterion that evaluates its revisions? Cognitive science describes executive control, metacognition, and hierarchical learning, while artificial intelligence modifies policies, parameters, and learning mechanisms, but the two fields lack common criteria for comparing these transformations. We propose a minimal analytical model distinguishing functional rules Phi_t = {R0, ..., Rk}, modification mechanisms Mt, and evaluat
Key takeaways
- arXiv:2603.27611v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: When a cognitive system modifies its own functioning, what exactly does it modify: a low-level rule, a control rule, or the criterion that evaluates its revisions?
- Cognitive science describes executive control, metacognition, and hierarchical learning, while artificial intelligence modifies policies, parameters, and learning mechanisms, but the two fields lack common criteria for comparing these transformations.
- We propose a minimal analytical model distinguishing functional rules Phi_t = {R0, ..., Rk}, modification mechanisms Mt, and evaluat
Why it matters
The value of this work lies as much in how it was tested as in the claim itself. Sample design, baselines, uncertainty and replication help separate a laboratory result from real-world impact.
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