The Modular Organization of the Mind

The human mind is what emerges from the actions of a number of largely independent cognitive modules integrated by a central control system. Figure 1.5 from the previous chapter showed the organization of some of these information-processing modules. The basic purpose of this chapter is to elaborate on this modular organization and the reasons for it. The first section will give a brief overview of the functional needs of the human mind and physical constraints of the human brain that force a modular solution. The second section will describe the modular structure in ACT-R and how that relates to issues about modularity more generally in cognitive science. The final three sections will illustrate this modular organization in three empirical studies – a study of driving behavior, a study of perfect time sharing, and an fMRI imaging study.