A cognitive architecture is a proposed structure for the fixed mechanisms that support intelligent behavior in natural or artificial systems. It describes how components such as memory, perception, reasoning, and action may interact to produce cognition across tasks.
The Institute of Creative Technologies defines cognitive architecture as: "hypothesis about the fixed structures that provide a mind, whether in natural or artificial systems, and how they work together β in conjunction with knowledge and skills embodied within the architecture β to yield intelligent behavior in a diversity of complex environments."