Rewarding Repetition
Alastair Clarke

The second volume in The Pattern Recognition Theory Series addresses the evolutionary significance of the reward system associated with the faculty of humour. Considering the frequency and intensity of its activity, Clarke argues that the nature of this system tells us much about the function of the behaviour it encourages, as exhibited by other rewards elsewhere in the animal kingdom. With this in mind, in order to pit the relative merits of pattern recognition against competing interpretations based on anomaly, the author analyses the potential drawbacks of his own Information Normalization Theory, arguing that the recognition of repetition, encouraging new comparisons and novel applications, confers far greater advantages than alternative theories can support.

Rewarding Repetition goes on to suggest that pattern recognition escapes the functional flaws that Clarke claims make the evolution of a system rewarding the recognition of error or anomaly in information processing unlikely, since its versatile merits avoid the pitfalls associated with "the negation of negatives." Since the discovery and absorption of contextual information about any subject is of positive cognitive and analytical value, the creative nature of pattern recognition is seen in sharp contrast to corrective alternatives that reward debugging as opposed to innovation.

Extensive examples also illustrate the non-globality of normalization, highlighting the necessity on both mechanistic and functional bases of the recognition of non-anomalous similarity for the cogency of the system. Information Normalization Theory which will be available as a separate volume in advance of Rewarding Repetition, will also be supplied at the rear of the book.

Prior knowledge of pattern recognition theory is not essential for a reading of this volume; however, those acquainted with the mechanism of humour as described in The Faculty of Adaptability will find Rewarding Repetition more readily accessible.

About Information Normalization Theory