Use and usability: concepts of representation in philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science

2026-04-15

AI Summary

This study addresses the lack of a unified framework for representation theory across philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive science, and computer science. By integrating conceptual analysis with interdisciplinary literature, it proposes an analytical framework encompassing four dimensions: informational content, utility, format accessibility, and downstream usage. Building on this framework, the authors develop a three-tiered “information–accessible–used” model of representation. This model systematically synthesizes perspectives from multiple disciplines, offering a clear conceptual map and methodological guidance for representation research. It enables scholars to select definitions of representation that align precisely with their research objectives, thereby fostering clearer cross-disciplinary theoretical dialogue and conceptual clarification.

Technology Category

• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Symbolic Representations
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Argumentation
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Uncertainty Representations

Application Category

• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web query analysis, representation and understanding
• Semantics and Knowledge: Representation, semantic annotation, enhancement, enrichments, access and/or integration of a variety of data on the Web
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Psychology-informed user models and recommender systems

Abstract

Representations play a central role in the study of both biological and artificial intelligence, as well as philosophy of mind. Across neuroscience, computer science, and philosophy, a recurring theme is that representations not only carry information but should be ``useful'' for or ``usable'' by an agent in some sense. Here, we review how the ``usefulness'' of representations has been conceptualized and how it figures into different conceptions of representation. We identify and explore four aspects of use and usability: representations generally carry \textit{information}; that information may or may not be \textit{useful} and it may or may not be encoded in a usable \textit{format}; and the representations may or may not be \textit{used downstream}. Building on these four aspects of information and use, we then organize existing perspectives on neural representations into three levels: Representations as Information (Level 1); Representations as Usable (Level 2); and Representations as Used (Level 3). Our account is meant to give readers an appreciation for the diversity of notions of ``neural representation,'' help them navigate the vast and multi-disciplinary literature on the topic, and help them clarify the appropriate notion of representation for their own investigations.

Problem

• representation
• usefulness
• usability
• neural representation
• information

Innovation

• representation
• usability
• usefulness
• neural representation
• interdisciplinary framework