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Reactive agents are generally believed to be incapable of coping with perceptual ambiguity (i.e., identical sensory states that require different responses). However, a recent finding suggests that reactive agents can cope with perceptual ambiguity in a simple model (Nolfi, 2002). This paper investigates to what extent reactive and nonreactive agents can cope with perceptual ambiguity, and which strategies are employed when doing so. A model of active categorical perception (called Acp) is introduced. In Acp, situated agents with different types of neurocontrollers are optimized to categorize objects by adaptively coordinating action and perception. Our experiments show that both nonreactive and reactive agents can cope with perceptual ambiguity. An analysis of the behavior reveals that nonreactive agents use their internal memory to cope with perceptual ambiguity, while reactive agents use the environment as an external memory to compensate for their lack of an internal memory. We conclude that reactive agents can cope with perceptual ambiguity in the context of active categorical perception, and that they can organize their behavior according to stimuli that are no longer present, especially when they incorporate a nonlinear sensorimotor mapping. Moreover, we may conclude that sensory state-transition diagrams provide insight into the strategies employed by reactive agents to deal with perceptual ambiguity, and their use of the environment as an external memory.

Situated learning could benefit STEAM education because both aim to develop skills that can deal with complex real-life situations. Although ample research has been conducted into situated learning within higher vocational education in general, there exists little research on the implementation of the educational approach in STEAM education specifically. To gain insight into what is needed for this implementation, a case study of a situational simulation was conducted within a STEAM education context, in which we observed students in simulating media design studios. We observed the setup, working and evaluation phases of the simulation and analyze the data this yielded -setup surveys, studio agreements, feedback forms, individual reflections and concluding surveys -based on three core features of situated learning: community of practice, participation and authentic context. Based on this analysis, we conclude that our study confirms the potential of situated learning for STEAM education. Our case study also suggests four guidelines for, as well as one challenge in, the implementation of situated learning in STEAM education. These guidelines and challenge are 1.) to actively facilitate quality feedback between students within a situational simulation; 2.) to promote taking various professional roles within the simulation, 3.) to provide situational-specific scaffolding based on the determination of which skills and information should be offered by tutors and which skills and information students already possess or are best left to develop and find by themselves; and 4.) to gain insight into individual learning goals for the benefit of the cognitive realism of the simulation; while 5.) the absence of real financial or commercial consequences compromises the authenticity of a situational simulation and, consequently, challenges the implementation of situated learning in STEAM education.

People sense the world by exploiting correlations between their physical actions and the changing sensory input that results from those actions. Interfaces that translate non-human sensor data to signals that are compatible with the human senses can therefore augment our abilities to make sense of the world. This insight has recently sparked an increase in projects that explore sensemaking and the creation of novel human experiences across scientific and artistic disciplines. However, there currently exists no constructive dialogue between artists and scientists that conduct research on this topic. In this position paper, we identify the theory and practice of sensory augmentation as a domain that could benefit from such a dialogue. We argue that artistic and scientific methods can complement each other within research on sensory augmentation and identify six thematic starting points for a dialogue between the arts and sciences. We conducted a case study to explore these conjectures, in which we instigated such a dialogue on a small scale. The case study revealed that the six themes we identified as relevant for a dialogue on sensory augmentation emerge rather spontaneously in such a dialogue and that such an exchange may facilitate progress on questions that are central to the theory and practice of sensory augmentation. Overall, this position paper contributes preliminary evidence for the potential of, and a starting point for, a dialogue between the arts and sciences that advances our understanding of sensory augmentation and the development of applications that involve it.

While the notion of autarky is often contested in terms of feasibility and desirability, art and design projects that deal with autarky seem to moreover suggest positive socio-cultural and ecological effects of autarkic living. A social network model of autarky is introduced to unify these seemingly opposing views.