Knowledge Representation

"Markman is honest from the beginning about the goals of the book. He states in the Preface that he wants to provide a 'Michelin guide to knowledge representation.' At this, Markman succeeds admirably. The book is comprehensive and very well-writen."—Contemporary Psychology"...the book is clearly written and would be useful for the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student in psychology."—Journal of Mathematical Psychology"...Knowledge Representation is well-written and interesting. The book covers a very wide range of topics in order to analyze the forms of representation they use and to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each form. It is unique in both its coverage and its perspective, which make for a fresh approach to the study of how knowledge is represented and processed. It seems likely to become the standard text for courses on this topic."—Gregory Murphy, PhDUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign"Markman's book does an admirable job of explaining the ideas of representation. It provides a rare perspective, focusing on what kinds of representations have been used in different areas of research, and why. The properties and tradeoffs involved in various types of representations are well illustrated with examples drawn from several areas of cognitive science. Anyone interested in cognitive science will find this book an excellent, enlightening resource."—Kenneth D. Forbus, PhDNorthwestern University

• Contents: Preface. Foundations. Spatial Representations: What Do We Mean by Space? Featural Representations. Network Models. Structured Representations. Structure in Perceptual Representations. Structured Concept Representations. General and Specific Information in Representation. Mental Models. Using Representations.