The cognitive band refers to the layer of cognition most often modeled by architectures that should exhibit general intelligence. At the top of the biological band, an agent first becomes aware of symbols in the architecture (i.e., symbols have been accessed in the lower band). Automatic (over-trained) responses are possible at this level. The lower third of the cognitive band comprises behaviors that utilize few symbols and a minimum of deliberation. These take ~100ms to perform and examples include lifting a cup or drinking.
The middle third of the cognitive band comprises actions that involve several serial decisions taking ~1 sec such as reading and comprehending a word. These actions are called composed operations because they are built from the simpler, elementary deliberate operations of the previous layer. The top third of the cognitive band comprises actions that take approximately 10 seconds such as reading a sentence or balancing a cup on a fulcrum. These actions may be considered the composition of both elementary deliberate operations and the composed operations of the previous level.
Agents which model the cognitive band typically apply the agent to problems within the layer or just above this layer in the rational band.
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