Exploration Behaviors, Body Representations, and Simulation Processes for the Development of Cognition in Artificial Agents

Abstract

Sensorimotor control and learning are fundamental prerequisites for cognitive development in humans and animals. Evidence from behavioral sciences and neuroscience suggests that motor and brain development are strongly intertwined with the experiential process of exploration, where internal body representations are formed and maintained over time. In order to guide our movements, our brain must hold an internal model of our body and constantly monitor its configuration state. How can sensorimotor control enable the development of more complex cognitive and motor capabilities? Although a clear answer has still not been found for this question, several studies suggest that processes of mental simulation of action-perception loops are likely to be executed in our brain and are dependent on internal body representations. Therefore, the capability to re-enact sensorimotor experience might represent a key mechanism behind the implementation of higher cognitive capabilities, such as behavior recognition, arbitration and imitation, sense of agency, and self-other distinction. This work is mainly addressed to researchers in autonomous motor and mental development for artificial agents. In particular, it aims at gathering the latest developments in the studies on exploration behaviors, internal body representations, and processes of sensorimotor simulations. Relevant studies in human and animal sciences are discussed and a parallel to similar investigations in robotics is presented.

Prerequisites for an Artificial Self

“…In a previous review paper (Schillaci et al, 2016), we investigated studies on mechanisms for the development of motor and cognitive skills in robots. In particular, we identified three main behavioral and computational components that can enable autonomous acquisition of motor skills and the implementation of basic cognitive capabilities: (1) exploration behaviors; (2) internal body representations; (3) sensorimotor simulations.…”

“…This manuscript follows-up a previous review paper (Schillaci et al, 2016), in which we investigated studies on mechanisms for the development of motor and cognitive skills in robots. In this review paper, we argue that the same mechanisms also build the foundation for the development of an artificial self.…”

“…The review paper is structured as follows. First, in section 2, we revisit the concepts addressed in our previous review (Schillaci et al, 2016) and frame them within the context of the development of an artificial self. In particular, we present advances in the study of behavioral and computational components that allow autonomous motor and cognitive development in artificial systems.…”

Adaptive Robot Body Learning and Estimation Through Predictive Coding

“…Moreover, biologically plausible sensorimotor learning has been investigated in works like [22] by means of Hebbian-based methods where body calibration can be learnt through sensorimotor mapping. Dynamic Hebbian learning has also been proposed for obtaining intermodal forward models in [23]. Body model free visual detection [24] has been approached as an intermodal inference problem but it is restricted to the camera view of the robot.…”

Simulation-Based Internal Models for Safer Robots

“…The learned internal models were used for arm reaching behavior, tool-use (Schillaci et al, 2012a), and human behavior recognition (Schillaci et al, 2012b). A review on how internal simulations can be used as tools to model cognition in artificial agents can be found in Schillaci et al (2016).…”