Information Theory and Cognition: A Review.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Information Theory
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Information theory saw early application in cognition studies in the 1950s, followed by a period of reduced research.
• Recent decades show a resurgence of interest in applying information theory to cognition, with more rigorous experimental grounding.
• A key challenge is reconciling the mathematical nature of information theory with the subjective experience of cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the historical and contemporary applications of information theory in cognitive science.
• To explore methodologies for integrating information theory with the study of subjective cognitive phenomena.
• To highlight diverse applications across various domains of cognition research.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on information theory applications in cognitive research over seven decades.
• Analysis of approaches to bridge the gap between mathematical information theory and subjective cognition.
• Description of methods focusing on quantifiable cognitive aspects and borrowing conceptual tools from information theory.

Main Results:

• Demonstration of a revival in the use of information theory for cognitive analysis.
• Identification of strategies to apply rigorous information-theoretic principles to subjective cognitive processes.
• Examples of successful applications in neural coding, cognitive control, and predictive coding.

Conclusions:

• Information theory offers a powerful, increasingly validated framework for understanding cognitive processes.
• Methodological advancements enable the application of information theory to previously intractable aspects of cognition.
• The integration of information theory continues to advance diverse areas of cognitive science research.