Desiderata for developmental cognitive architectures

This paper complements Ron Sun's influential Desiderata for Cognitive Architectures by focussing on the desirable attributes of a biologically-inspired cognitive architecture for an agent with a capacity for autonomous development. Ten desiderata are identified, dealing with value systems & motives, embodiment, sensorimotor contingencies, perception, attention, prospective action, memory, learning, internal simulation, and constitutive autonomy. These desiderata are motivated by studies in developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and enactive cognitive science. All ten focus on the ultimate aspects of cognitive development - why a feature is necessary and what it enables - rather on than the proximate mechanisms by which it can be realized. As such, the desiderata are for the most part neutral regarding the paradigm of cognitive science - cognitivist or emergent - that is adopted when designing a cognitive architecture. Where some element of a desideratum is specific to a particular paradigm, this is noted.