The physics of categorization |
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| Authors: | Boaz Tamir Yair Neuman |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bar‐Ilan University, Israel;2. Homeland Security Institute and Department of Education, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Beer‐Sheva, Israel;3. The Brain Sciences Foundation, Providence, Rhode Island;4. The Behavioral Insights Research Laboratory, Victoria College, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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| Abstract: | In the context of cognition, categorization is the process through which several elements (i.e., words) are grouped into a single set which by naming becomes an abstraction of its elements. For example, tiger, kitty, and max can be categorized as Cats. In this article, we aim to show how the physical, biological and cognitive dimensions are related in the process of categorization or abstraction through the physics of computation. Drawing on Landauer's principle, we show that the price paid in terms of entropy is higher when grouping elements of low ranking (high probability) than when grouping elements of high ranking (low probability). Therefore, the logic of the cognitive process of abstraction is explained through constraints imposed by memory on the computation of categories. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 269–274, 2016 |
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| Keywords: | categorization physics of computation Landauer's principle Zipf's law cognitive computation interdisciplinary research PACS numbers |
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