Relevance realization: An emerging framework of intelligence in Garlick, Van der Maas, Mercado and Hawkins

Two separate conceptions of intelligence persist within the cognitive science community: The psychometric conception in terms of general intelligence (g), and the categorical conception in terms of the criteria that an entity must meet to be an intelligent cognitive agent. In this paper, we argue that a framework of intelligence in terms of relevance realization (RR) is emerging in the literature on psychometric and categorical intelligence. The RR framework involves three pervasive constraints on processing – cognitive scope, cognitive tempering, and cognitive prioritization – that emerge from interactions on the level of neurons and cognitive modules. Both Garlick and van der Maas presuppose and require RR in order to solve central problems in their accounts of psychometric intelligence. Moreover, the apparent clash between Mercado and Hawkins brain-based conceptions of categorical intelligence can be resolved through the RR framework. Taken together, Mercado and Hawkins give brain-based plausibility to Vervaeke, Lillicrap, & Richard’s computational models and philosophical arguments for a RR account of categorical intelligence. *The priority of authors is not meant to denote primacy or extent of contribution. Relevance Realization Framework 2 Relevance realization: An emerging framework of intelligence in Garlick, van der Maas, Mercado, and Hawkins