Skip to Main Content Made-Up Minds addresses fundamental
questions of learning and concept invention by means of an
innovative computer program that is based on the cognitive-
developmental theory of psychologist Jean Piaget. Drescher uses
Piaget's theory as a source of inspiration for the design of an
artificial cognitive system called the schema mechanism, and
then uses the system to elaborate and test Piaget's theory. The
approach is original enough that readers need not have extensive
knowledge of artificial intelligence, and a chapter summarizing
Piaget assists readers who lack a background in developmental
psychology. The schema mechanism learns from its experiences,
expressing discoveries in its existing representational
vocabulary, and extending that vocabulary with new concepts. A
novel empirical learning technique, marginal attribution, can
find results of an action that are obscure because each occurs
rarely in general, although reliably under certain conditions.
Drescher shows that several early mi