A Cognitive Architecture for Inner Speech

Abstract A cognitive architecture for inner speech is presented. It is based on the Standard Model of Mind, integrated with modules for self-talking. Briefly, the working mem- ory of the proposed architecture includes the phonological loop as a component which manages the exchanging information between the phonological store and the articula- tory control system. The inner dialogue is modeled as a loop where the phonologi- cal store hears the inner voice produced by the hidden articulator process. A central executive module drives the whole system, and contributes to the generation of con- scious thoughts by retrieving information from long-term memory. The surface form of thoughts thus emerges by the phonological loop. Once a conscious thought is elicited by inner speech, the perception of new context takes place and then repeating the cog- nitive loop. A preliminary formalization of some of the described processes by event calculus, and early results of their implementation on the humanoid robot Pepper by SoftBank Robotics are discussed.