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<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial"
size="2"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Second Call
for Papers<o:p></o:p></font></font></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial"
size="2"><b><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">AAAI Spring
Symposium on Metacognition in Computation<br>
March 21-23, Stanford University<o:p></o:p></font></font></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial"
size="2"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"><a
href="http://www.cs.umd.edu/%7Eanderson/ASSMC">http://www.cs.umd.edu/~anderson/ASSMC</a></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman">The importance of metacognition in human
thinking, learning, and problem solving is well established. Humans use
metacognitive monitoring and control to choose goals, assess their own
progress, and, if necessary, adopt new strategies for achieving those
goals, or even abandon a goal entirely. Absent-minded Professor Doe,
for instance, almost always forgets his lunch. He has an adequate
recovery plan for this: he simply goes to the school cafeteria.
However, as the school cafeteria is expensive, this strategy is
wasteful. Thus, Professor Doe employs metacognitive reflection,
realizes the frequency with which he forgets his lunch, and adopts a
special strategy to help him remember: he sticks a note on his mirror
where he will see it each morning. In a similar vein, students
preparing for--or taking--an exam will make judgments about the
relative difficulty of the material to be covered, and use this to
choose study strategies, or which questions to answer first. Not
surprisingly, in these cases, accuracy of metacognitive judgments
correlates with academic performance. Thus, understanding human
metacognition has been an important part of work on automated tutoring
systems, and has led to the design of methods for using computer
assistants to help improve human metacognition.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman">However, there has also been growing interest
in trying to create, and investigate the potential benefits of,
intelligent systems which are <i>themselves</i> metacognitive. It is
thought that systems that monitor themselves, and proactively respond
to problems, can perform better, for longer, with less need for
(expensive) human intervention. Thus has IBM widely publicized their
"autonomic computing" initiative, aimed at developing computers which
are (in their words) self-aware, self-configuring, self-optimizing,
self-healing, self-protecting, and self-adapting. More ambitiously, it
is hypothesized that metacognitive awareness may be one of the keys to
developing truly intelligent artificial systems. DARPA's recent
Cognitive Information Processing Technology initiative, for instance,
foregrounds reflection (along with reaction and deliberation) as one of
the three pillars required for flexible, robust AI systems.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman">On the other side of the coin, it has also been
established that metacognition can actually interfere with performance.
Metacognition is no panacea, and therefore one of the issues that
require further inquiry is the scope and limits of its usefulness.
Furthermore many researchers still argue over the most useful
definition of metacognition. For instance, is it useful to distinguish
cognition about cognition from such things as monitoring the outcomes
of one's own actions in the world?<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman">The symposium is intended to bring together
researchers from computer science, cognitive science, linguistics,
psychology, philosophy, etc., interested in exploring, reporting on
methods for, and evaluating the worth of, implementing metacognition in
AI systems. Possible topics include:<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<font face="Arial" size="2"> <li class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman">Reports on implemented metacognitive systems <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">Computationally
tractable models of human metacognition <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">The relation of
recent work on metacognition in computation to work on such topics as
reflection, control of reasoning, and allocation of computational
resources <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">Methods for
evaluating metacognitive systems <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">Methods for
implementing metacognition in heterogeneous systems <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">Evaluation of
different architectures for implementing metacognition <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">Domains and/or
problems for which metacognition is useful/essential <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">Formal and/or
knowledge-representation issues in metacognition <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Times New Roman">The limits of
metacognition (including cost/benefit analyses) <o:p></o:p></font></span></li>
</font>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3">Submission Information</font></font></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman">The symposium will combine presentations on
such topics as those listed above with organized discussions of central
and foundational issues. Potential participants should send research
reports or position papers of no more than 6 pages in typical AAAI
format. Submissions should be in PDF format, and submitted
electronically to the conference submission site: </font><a
href="http://www.paperdyne.de/assmc05.html"><font
face="Times New Roman">http://www.paperdyne.de/assmc05.html</font></a><font
face="Times New Roman"> (available September 17, 2004).<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial"
size="2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Questions? Ask Mike
Anderson (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:anderson@cs.umd.edu">anderson@cs.umd.edu</a>).</font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3">Deadlines</font></font></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial"
size="2"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">October 8, 2004:</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Papers due,
submitted to conference submission page.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">November 5, 2004:</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Acceptance/rejection
notifications sent.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">January 31,
2005: </span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Camera-ready
copy due.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">February 11,
2005: </span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Registration
deadline for invited participants.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">March 21-23,
2005:</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
<td
style="border: medium none rgb(212, 208, 200); padding: 0.75pt; background-color: transparent;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Symposium held,
Stanford University.</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman" size="3">Organizing Committee</font></font></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font
face="Times New Roman">Mike Anderson, University of Maryland, College
Park (co-chair) (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:anderson@cs.umd.edu">anderson@cs.umd.edu</a>)<br>
Tim Oates, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (co-chair)
(<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:oates@csee.umbc.edu">oates@csee.umbc.edu</a>)<br>
Michael Cox, Wright State University (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mcox@cs.wright.edu">mcox@cs.wright.edu</a>)<br>
John Dunlosky, Kent State University (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jdunlosk@kent.edu">jdunlosk@kent.edu</a>) <br>
Don Perlis, University of Maryland, College Park (<a
href="mailto:perlis@cs.umd.edu">perlis@cs.umd.edu</a>)</font></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
COX, DR. MICHAEL T. | "DISCUS,
Computer Science & Engr | starred with premonitions,
Wright State University | throw yourself
Dayton, OH 45435-0001 | out of yourself." -- Paul Celan
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.cs.wright.edu/~mcox">www.cs.wright.edu/~mcox</a>
</pre>
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