Computational Modelling of Distributed Executive Control

In this paper we illustrate the potential of process algebra to implement modular mental architectures of wide scope in which control is distributed rather than centralised. Drawing on the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems mental architecture, we present an implemented model of the attentional blink effect which relies on process exchanges between propositional meaning and a more abstract, implicational level of meaning. The key elements that are required in order to obtain the blink are the use of delay-lines to implement time-constrained serial order and also a mechanism for allocating limited attentional resources.