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Cognitive Convergence: Deep Similarities Between LLMs and Human Cognition (2026) (arxiv.org)
2 points by eh_why_not 47 days ago | hide | past | pdf | discuss on HN

In plain words: A comparison finds language models are not alien minds: despite different bodies and training, they organize thought along the same principles cognitive science uses to explain people, from prediction-driven learning to goal pursuit. This suggests one account of intelligence can cover humans and machines.

Abstract · Cognitive Convergence: Deep Similarities Between Large Language Models and Human Cognition

LLMs are widely regarded as alien intelligences, systems whose cognitive operations are fundamentally unlike our own. Apparent similarities to human cognition are therefore often seen as the result of anthropomorphic projection. We argue that this framing is mistaken. LLMs clearly differ from humans in important respects, including their physical substrate, learning history, and the environments with which they interact. These differences make it all the more striking that contemporary LLM-based systems converge with human cognition on a number of principles of cognitive organization with longstanding support in cognitive science. We identify structural correspondences across five dimensions: inferential organization, computational architecture, representational structure, prediction-driven learning, and reinforcement-learning-like mechanisms supporting goal-directed action. These correspondences support a broader model of intelligent cognition in which core principles long used to explain human intelligence also characterize contemporary LLM-based systems.

Chandra Sripada, Richard Lewis
arXiv:2607.26179 · q-bio.NC, cs.AI, cs.CL · submitted Jul 28, 2026
abstract · pdf · 23 pages, 0 figures

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