Rodrigo M. M. Ventura, Carlos A. Pinto-Ferreira
To survive in a dynamic and rich environment, human beings have to process very complex stimuli in real time. Whatever artificial system satisfying the challenge of achieving a similar performance in complex data handling, ought to incorporate mechanisms specifically conceived to perform efficiently. We hypothesize that such efficiency oriented systems process stimuli - simultaneously - under two different perspectives: a cognitive, elaborative - which allows them to understand what is happening and what they know about the world, and a perceptual, immediate - which permits them to react quickly and decide adequately in circumstances demanding urgent action. Hence, from the very same complex stimulus, two sets of facets are extracted: one, mostly directed to recognition and reasoning purposes, and another, aiming at assigning degrees of threat, danger, pleasure, and so on, to the current situation, constructing what we call a vector of desirability.