Robert Pallbo

Ph.D. in Cognitive Science

Academic record	Born 1967. M.Sc in mathematics, Lund University, 1990. M.Sc in computer science, Lund University, 1994. Ph.D. in cognitive science, Lund University, 1997. Visitor at the Center for Theoretical Study , Charles University, Prague, 1996. Teacher at Lund University 1997-2000. Assoc. Prof. in Computer Science, Lund University, 2000-2005. Director of studies in Computers Science, Lund University, 2002-2005. Software development consultant at SimCorp, 2007-

Profile	My general interest is how noise may be utilized in the cognitive process. In my opinion, noise, is the origin of all cognitive activity of the mind. Every thought grows into existence from the noisy background. This is in sharp contrast to the traditional view in which a thought, through mechanical processes, is forced into existence. Noise allows a much more organic view. The noise in question refers to the spontaneous neural background activity that is present in most brain tissue. My work includes a model of how the brain may utilize this noise in order to detect motion in the directional field. In this model, it is demonstrated how noise significantly may reduce the complexity of the operations carried out in the neural tissue (see A One-step Motion Detection Circuitry ). My more resent research has focused on extending this utilization of noise to apply for cognition in general. This work includes a framework that allows the operation of the mind to be described as an evolutionary process (see Mind as Evolution and Evolution as Such ). Since this approach avoids controlling the cognitive process it also avoids many of the problems associated with consciousness (see An Inquiry into Meno's Dilemma ).

Papers	Key papers: --- 1999. " Mind as Evolution and Evolution as Such ," in F. Heylighen, J Bollen, and, A. Riegler (eds.) The Evolution of Complexity, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, 1999. --- 1997. "An Inquiry into Meno's Dilemma ," in Evolution and Cognition, 3(2). --- 1995. "A One-step Motion Detection Circuitry ,"in Biosystems, 40, pp 141-148. --- more papers.

Keywords	Cognitive science, Consciousness, Evolution, Spontaneous activity, Motion Detection, Evolutionary epistemology, Neural networks.