Action Selection and Operant Conditioning: A Neurorobotic Implementation

Autor: André Cyr, Frédéric Thériault
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Robotics, Vol 2015 (2015)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1687-9600
1687-9619
DOI: 10.1155/2015/643869
Popis: Action selection (AS) is thought to represent the mechanism involved by natural agents when deciding what should be the next move or action. Is there a functional elementary core sustaining this cognitive process? Could we reproduce the mechanism with an artificial agent and more specifically in a neurorobotic paradigm? Unsupervised autonomous robots may require a decision-making skill to evolve in the real world and the bioinspired approach is the avenue explored through this paper. We propose simulating an AS process by using a small spiking neural network (SNN) as the lower neural organisms, in order to control virtual and physical robots. We base our AS process on a simple central pattern generator (CPG), decision neurons, sensory neurons, and motor neurons as the main circuit components. As novelty, this study targets a specific operant conditioning (OC) context which is relevant in an AS process; choices do influence future sensory feedback. Using a simple adaptive scenario, we show the complementarity interaction of both phenomena. We also suggest that this AS kernel could be a fast track model to efficiently design complex SNN which include a growing number of input stimuli and motor outputs. Our results demonstrate that merging AS and OC brings flexibility to the behavior in generic dynamical situations.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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