A social cognition model applied to general combinatorial optimization problem

A brief introduction to a social cognition study and perspectives of its application to engineering problems are given. Since many complicated combinatorial optimization problems still lack effective solution methods, a general comprehension of a combinatorial optimization problem and a mathematical model for it are mainly discussed. Through imitating some phenomena of the organization and evolution of human society, a social cognition model is proposed. This model has superior applicability to most kinds of combinatorial optimization problems. It has been shown that this model has higher computation efficiency and higher convergence stability than traditional genetic algorithms through a power distribution network planning example.