Knowledge-based systems process information. That is, they have the capabilities of encoding information, applying lawful transformations on these inputs, and modifying their processing logic in accordance with changes in both their inputs and their own outputs. The scientific study of information processing systems has developed in a number of interrelated yet distinct disciplines, especially cognitive psychology, computer science , linguistics , and neuroscience. While these disciplines are all concerned with the processing of information, they each focus on somewhat different systems.
Cognitive psychology is concerned with all of the human information processing faculties.
Computer science deals with the modeling or automation of intelligent functions on digital hardware. Linguistics examines the particular cognitive faculty of language, sometimes studied from the perspective of its use by people, but often modeled without concern for human performance limitations. Finally, neuroscience seeks to explain how information processing functions are performed within the constraints of the neuroanatomical structure of biological systems. Increasingly, these distinct disciplines are developing overlapping domains of inquiry. Moreover, all of these disciplines can be seen to converge in their inquiry into the form and function of language.