Validating an Integrated Cognitive Architecture via Intelligence Testing with Virtual Animals Proposal for the Black Foundation Ben Goertzel, Como Harrigan, Joscha Bach Abstract: The "cognitive synergy' hypothesis states that, in order to achieve advanced general intelligence using limited computational resources, it is necessary for different cognitive processes corresponding to different kinds of memory to interact intimately, in a way that allows them to help each other squelch combinatorial explosions. This hypothesis lies at the core of the CogPrime Artificial General Intelligence design, an integrative cognitive architecture that is partially implemented in the current OpenCog software system. The proposed project would explore and attempt to validate the cognitive synergy hypothesis, via utilizing the OpenCog system to control a virtual parrot in a game world, and studying how the parrot performs on virtual-world implementations of various "animal-level intelligence" tests (including simple linguistic tests related to parrots' language abilities). Varying the degree and type of cognitive synergy inside the Al system, and observing the consequent impact on the virtual parrot's intelligence, should provide interesting information about cognitive synergy, OpenCog, CogPrime, and perhaps animal intelligence as well. Introduction One hypothesis regarding the nature of general intelligence is that, to achieve human-like or greater general intelligence using feasible computational resources, a significant amount of "cognitive synergy" will be required. That is: a significant amount of inter-operation between different cognitive processes focused on learning that regards different types of memory, in such a way that each cognitive process helps the others to scale and avoid the "combinatorial explosions" that habitually plague Al algorithms. This concept of cognitive synergy is a dynamical correlate to Karmiloff-Smith's (1992) classic notion of