The Concept of Cognition as Categorization in the Development of New Metaheuristics and Algorithms Inspired by Nature

The sensorimotor system is a crucial mechanism that enables organisms to categorize information in their environment, a skill necessary for survival. According to cognitive scientist Steven Harnad’s “To Cognize is to Categorize: Cognition is Categorization all living things are essentially sensorimotor systems. This approach is proposed to serve as a novel concept for the development of algorithms inspired by swarm intelligence. Many authors of such algorithms have drawn inspiration from animal species, attempting to emulate their abilities to interact with and navigate their environment. However, these abilities are essentially rooted in the organisms’ categorization skills, which are a fundamental characteristic of all sensorimotor systems. Therefore, when designing new algorithms and metaheuristics, it is unnecessary to seek out new species with specific behaviors; instead, the entire sensorimotor system can be observed, and its sensor capabilities can be incorporated even if they do not exist in nature. In order to justify this, abstraction was used as a way to demonstrate the creation of concepts. The paper offers a new perspective on the development of swarm intelligence algorithms and promotes a holistic approach to algorithm design based on Steven Harnad’s viewpoint of sensory motor systems.