Cognitive and Perceptual Computing

This chapter focuses on the essential components of phenotropic interaction, a bio-inspired and human-centered approach to diverse system interaction, as outlined in the phenotropic interaction framework. To produce a more natural interactive experience for humans, it is fundamental to build this on fundamental aspects of human conversation, such as handling the imprecision of language, understanding semantic information exchange, reasoning, and providing explanations. To reach these goals, the application of cognitive and perceptual computing techniques is proposed. This chapter introduces the general methods from cognitive computing and perceptual computing that form the building blocks of phenotropic interaction. It covers conversation theory, frameworks for handling word meaning, automated reasoning, trust building, improvement over time based on user feedback, interactive machine learning, and explainability. By incorporating these methods, one can argue that phenotropic interaction can effectively satisfy its design principles. The chapter concludes with a summary underscoring the significance of the presented methods for the phenotropic interaction framework. Overall, this chapter provides insights into the practical application of cognitive computing and perceptual computing techniques, highlighting their role in achieving successful phenotropic interaction and advancing the field of human–system interaction.