Intelligent Adaptive Curiosity: a source of Self-Development

This paper presents the mechanism of Intelligent Adaptive Curiosity. This is a drive which pushes the robot towards situations in which it maximizes its learning progress. It makes the robot focus on situations which are neither too predictable nor too unpredictable. This mechanism is a source of self-development for the robot: the complexity of its activity autonomously increases. Indeed, we show that it first spends time in situations which are easy to learn, then shifts progressively its attention to situations of increasing difficulty, avoiding situations in which nothing can be learnt

Robot life: simulation and participation in the study of evolution and social behavior.

This paper explores the case of using robots to simulate evolution, in particular the case of Hamilton's Law. The uses of robots raises several questions that this paper seeks to address. The first concerns the role of the robots in biological research: do they simulate something (life, evolution, sociality) or do they participate in something? The second question concerns the physicality of the robots: what difference does embodiment make to the role of the robot in these experiments. Thirdly, how do life, embodiment and social behavior relate in contemporary biology and why is it possible for robots to illuminate this relation? These questions are provoked by a strange similarity that has not been noted before: between the problem of simulation in philosophy of science, and Deleuze's reading of Plato on the relationship of ideas, copies and simulacra

A Praxical Solution of the Symbol Grounding Problem

Peer reviewe

An investigation of fast and slow mapping

Children learn words astonishingly skilfully. Even infants can reliably “fast map” novel category labels to their referents without feedback or supervision (Carey & Bartlett, 1978; Houston-Price, Plunkett, & Harris, 2005). Using both empirical and neural network modelling methods this thesis presents an examination of both the fast and slow mapping phases of children's early word learning in the context of object and action categorisation. A series of empirical experiments investigates the relationship between within-category perceptual variability on two-year-old children’s ability to learn labels for novel categories of objects and actions. Results demonstrate that variability profoundly affects both noun and verb learning. A review paper situates empirical word learning research in the context of recent advances in the application of computational models to developmental research. Data from the noun experiments are then simulated using a Dynamic Neural Field (DNF) model (see Spencer & Schöner, 2009), suggesting that children’s early object categories can emerge dynamically from simple label-referent associations strengthened over time. Novel predictions generated by the model are replicated empirically, providing proofof- concept for the use of DNF models in simulations of word learning, as well emphasising the strong featural basis of early categorisation. The noun data are further explored using a connectionist architecture (Morse, de Greef, Belpaeme & Cangelosi, 2010) in a robotic system, providing the groundwork for future research in cognitive robotics. The implications of these different approaches to cognitive modelling are discussed, situating the current work firmly in the dynamic systems tradition whilst emphasising the value of interdisciplinary research in motivating novel research paradigms

Making sense of the language of peace: its meaning in Iraqi war victims' narratives

Positive discourse can empower people to use language that promotes peace in daily communication to avoid conflicts. Language is seen as the influencer and reflector of individual’s self-image and background. Yet, past studies focus more on the language of war or hate speech. In Iraq, polemic language has evidently led to sectarian conflicts and violence. Not much has been explored in making sense of peace utterances, the linguistic or non-linguistic features. Thus, this qualitative study explores the interpretation of the language of peace through the lens of twenty-five Iraqis who have encountered war in their country. The study seeks to make sense of the language of peace, its meanings and factors that can enhance peace among Iraqis. Through purposive sampling, data collected were observations and narratives from focus group and in-depth interviews. The selected respondents comprise Iraqi visiting lecturers and postgraduate students in a Malaysian public university. Based on the analytical discourse approach, the data reveal several core themes and sub-themes of language of peace. Among these include avoiding crisis, cooperative language, language of affection and sense of security. The associated peace words include being caring, polite and promoting inner peace which are reflected in the factors that can enhance peace in daily communication. The study reveals several implications. It promotes a platform for deliberating peaceful rhetoric in violence-prone areas. It gives educators and decision makers a deeper understanding of language of peace that enables speakers to develop good, meaningful relationships, display politeness and feelings of goodwill. A similar approach can be used to obtain in-depth reflections about such language among other war victims. Further research studies should explore the language of peace roles in deliberating effective strategies to overcome conflicts in today’s digitalised world given that the language of endearment, conviction and hate can be disseminated quickly