Unlearning in the BCM learning rule for plastic self-organization in a multi-modal architecture

International audienceAn agent moving in a real environment perceives it by numerous noisy sensors which provide some high dimensionality data with unknown topology. In order to interact in this complex and changing environment, according to the active perception theory, the agent needs to learn the correlations between its actions and the changes they induce in the environment. In the perspective of a bio-inspired architecture for the learning of multi-modal correlations, this article focuses on the ability to forget some previously learned selectivity in a model of perceptive map which spatially codes the sensor data. This perceptive map combines the BCM (Bienenstock Cooper Munro) learning rule, which raises a selectivity to a stimulus, with the neural field (NF) theory, which provides spatial constraints to self-organize the selectivities at the map level. The introduction of an unlearning term in the BCM learning rule improves the BCM-NF coupling by providing plasticity to the self-organization

Levels of Dynamics and Adaptive Behavior in Evolutionary Neural Controllers

Two classes of dynamical recurrent neural networks, Continuous Time Recurrent Neural Networks (CTRNNs) (Yamauchi and Beer, 1994) and Plastic Neural Networks (PNNs) (Floreano and Urzelai, 2000) are compared on two behavioral tasks aimed at exploring their capabilities to display reinforcement-learning like behaviors and adaptation to unpredictable environmental changes. The networks report similar performances on both tasks, but PNNs display significantly better performance when sensory-motor re-adaptation is required after the evolutionary process. These results are discussed in the context of behavioral, biological, and computational definitions of learning

Levels of Dynamics and Adaptive Behavior in Evolutionary Neural Controllers

Two classes of dynamical recurrent neural networks, Continuous Time Recurrent Neural Networks (CTRNNs) (Yamauchi and Beer, 1994) and Plastic Neural Networks (PNNs) (Floreano and Urzelai, 2000) are compared on two behavioral tasks aimed at exploring their capabilities to display reinforcement-learning like behaviors and adaptation to unpredictable environmental changes. The networks report similar performances on both tasks, but PNNs display significantly better performance when sensory-motor re-adaptation is required after the evolutionary process. These results are discussed in the context of behavioral, biological, and computational definitions of learning

The Development of Bio-Inspired Cortical Feature Maps for Robot Sensorimotor Controllers

Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.This project applies principles from the field of Computational Neuroscience to Robotics research, in particular to develop systems inspired by how nature manages to solve sensorimotor coordination tasks. The overall aim has been to build a self-organising sensorimotor system using biologically inspired techniques based upon human cortical development which can in the future be implemented in neuromorphic hardware. This can then deliver the benefits of low power consumption and real time operation but with flexible learning onboard autonomous robots. A core principle is the Self-Organising Feature Map which is based upon the theory of how 2D maps develop in real cortex to represent complex information from the environment. A framework for developing feature maps for both motor and visual directional selectivity representing eight different directions of motion is described as well as how they can be coupled together to make a basic visuomotor system. In contrast to many previous works which use artificially generated visual inputs (for example, image sequences of oriented moving bars or mathematically generated Gaussian bars) a novel feature of the current work is that the visual input is generated by a DVS 128 silicon retina camera which is a neuromorphic device and produces spike events in a frame-free way. One of the main contributions of this work has been to develop a method of autonomous regulation of the map development process which adapts the learning dependent upon input activity. The main results show that distinct directionally selective maps for both the motor and visual modalities are produced under a range of experimental scenarios. The adaptive learning process successfully controls the rate of learning in both motor and visual map development and is used to indicate when sufficient patterns have been presented, thus avoiding the need to define in advance the quantity and range of training data. The coupling training experiments show that the visual input learns to modulate the original motor map response, creating a new visual-motor topological map.EPSRC, University of Plymouth Graduate Schoo

Felt senses of self and no-self in therapy

The thesis develops Gendlin's concept of the felt sense in two directions, and introduces parallel concepts of self. It starts by examining western and eastern cultural contexts, neuroscientific conceptualisations and linguistic issues as they relate to self, using the lens of Gendlin's two ways of relating to the world ̶ interpreting according to the unit model and thinking beyond patterns, to point out conceptual confusions. Buddhist philosophy and practice are discussed as methods of undoing such conceptual confusions in order to relieve suffering, with self as an independent, stable, substantial entity being the primary example of such a confusion. Dualism is identified as the basic misconception from which suffering ensues. Non-duality is investigated as a spiritual endstate, an integral part of the goals of humanistic therapies and an intrinsic element in 'carrying forward', then compared with Gendlin's implicit intricacy, Sartre's Being-in-itself and intersubjective theories. A small qualitative study investigates what happens when felt senses of self are intentionally produced or accessed by focusing. A continuum of experiences is described, ranging from self to no-self, with trauma proving a major block to both self and no-self experiencings. The felt sense is re-defined in two ways, as an extending boundary and as a direct referent. A sense of self is also considered both as a boundary drawing exercise, and a direct referent. Self may function in either of these forms on a relative level, constructively or destructively, according to circumstances and conditions, while on an ontological level no such single entity may be proven to exist. The conclusion is drawn that self and no-self form a kind of twisting human thread, which shows, at any one moment, just one side of a duality. These sides are conceptually, rather than actually, distinct

Interaction dynamics and autonomy in cognitive systems

The concept of autonomy is of crucial importance for understanding life and cognition. Whereas cellular and organismic autonomy is based in the self-production of the material infrastructure sustaining the existence of living beings as such, we are interested in how biological autonomy can be expanded into forms of autonomous agency, where autonomy as a form of organization is extended into the behaviour of an agent in interaction with its environment (and not its material self-production). In this thesis, we focus on the development of operational models of sensorimotor agency, exploring the construction of a domain of interactions creating a dynamical interface between agent and environment. We present two main contributions to the study of autonomous agency: First, we contribute to the development of a modelling route for testing, comparing and validating hypotheses about neurocognitive autonomy. Through the design and analysis of specific neurodynamical models embedded in robotic agents, we explore how an agent is constituted in a sensorimotor space as an autonomous entity able to adaptively sustain its own organization. Using two simulation models and different dynamical analysis and measurement of complex patterns in their behaviour, we are able to tackle some theoretical obstacles preventing the understanding of sensorimotor autonomy, and to generate new predictions about the nature of autonomous agency in the neurocognitive domain. Second, we explore the extension of sensorimotor forms of autonomy into the social realm. We analyse two cases from an experimental perspective: the constitution of a collective subject in a sensorimotor social interactive task, and the emergence of an autonomous social identity in a large-scale technologically-mediated social system. Through the analysis of coordination mechanisms and emergent complex patterns, we are able to gather experimental evidence indicating that in some cases social autonomy might emerge based on mechanisms of coordinated sensorimotor activity and interaction, constituting forms of collective autonomous agency

Problemas de diseño como prueba universal de inteligencia

Como humanos, ejercer el juicio sobre si algo puede pensar o no pasa normalmente por la búsqueda de aquellos fenómenos mentales que se presentan en nosotros cuándo lo hacemos. El presente trabajo es un intento de superar dicha limitación y mostrar una manera en que podamos entender, sin imponer nuestra perspectiva, el Pensar ya sea de un humano, animal, inteligencia artificial, extraterrestre o, en general, cualquier sistema con alguna forma de actividad cognitiva. Apoyándose en la teoría de los rastros cognitivos, la vida como un sistema cerrado autopoyético, la complejidad ambiental, el caso paradigmático de la avispa Sphex y los problemas de y la actitud del diseño propongo una forma de evaluación que permita al investigador responder la pregunta “¿puede este sistema pensar?” y comparar las capacidades de adaptación cognitiva entre diferentes individuos.Abstract. As humans, judging if something can think or not is usually a matter of looking for our mental activity when we do it. This work aims to overcome that limitation and show a way to understand, without imposing our perspective, Thinking for a human, animal, artificial intelligence, alien or, in general, any system with some form of cognitive activity. Taking as base the theory of cognitive trails, life as a “closed autopoietic system”, environmental complexity, sphexishness, design problems and design stance I propose a test which allows an investigator to answer the question “Can this system think?” and compare individual’s cognitive adaptation capabilities.Maestrí

Dinámica Cerebral. La actividad cerebral en función de las condiciones dinámicas de la excitabilidad nerviosa. Tomo segundo

This book can be cited as: Gonzalo J. (1945/2010/2022), "Dinámica Cerebral", Tomo segundo, Consejo Superior de investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid 1945, in: "Dinámica Cerebral" facsimile edition, Gonzalo I. (Ed), Red Temática en Tecnologías de Computación Artificial/Natural, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela 2010 (Open Access http://dspace.usc.es/handle/10347/4341). "Brain Dynamics" Volume 2, Gonzalo I. (Ed and English translation), Madrid 2022 (Open Access in this web page).This volume is the English translation of Volume 2 of the book "Dinámica Cerebral" written in Spanish by Justo Gonzalo Rodríguez-Leal (Barcelona 1910 – Madrid 1986), first published in 1950. The volume, devoted to tactile functions, is the continuation of Volume 1 (on general aspects and visual functions, English translation Open Access in https:/eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/63730/) to which it refers continuously. A facsimile Spanish edition includindg Vol. 1, 2 and supplements was published by the Red Temática en Tecnologías de Computación Artificial/Natural (RTNAC) and the University of Santiago de Compostela in 2010, and whose on-line Open-Access version (http://dspace.usc.es/handle/10347/4341 ) maintains a significant rate of visits since its publication. The author, after specialization in neurology and brain pathology in Austria and Germany (1933-35) developed a research on the human cerebral cortex. The interest of the research described here lies, as in Volume 1, in the fact that it is surprisingly of current interest, apart from its undoubted historical interest. Some aspects were ahead of discoveries that were made later. It is remarkable that some of the phenomena exposed are still unknown and that the proposed functional dynamic unit of the cortex is closely related to current trends in the study of the brain. This volume deals with tactile functions and further elaborates on concepts introduced in Volume 1. The tactile phenomenology in cases of central syndrome is described. This syndrome, already studied in Volume 1, is the result of a unilateral lesion in an association area in the left parieto-occipital cortex, equidistant from the visual, tactile and auditory primary areas. It consists of a multisensory alteration (visual, tactile, auditory) although the lesion does not involve specific areas, all functions being affected, from simple excitability to more complex functions, bilaterally and symmetrically. In particular, the striking phenomenon in which the visual image is tilted or nearly inverted (see Vol. 1), is now extended to the phenomenon of localization of stimuli in the tactile system. Inversion in tactile space is studied in detail in cases of central syndrome, being generalized to all sensory systems of a spatial nature, once confirmed in the auditory system. Similarly to what happens in vision, the tactile phenomena in the mentioned syndrome have a dynamic character since the disorders vary with the intensity of the stimulus and with the facilitation by other stimulus. The phenomenon of facilitation by muscular effort is particularly noticeable. The greater the deficit in brain excitability (due to the lesion), the greater the effect of facilitation. In the process of tactile localization of a stimulus, up to five phases are distinguished, from simple sensation to specific localization (passing through inversion), as stimulation increases. This process is described as a spiral development of the organization of the sensory field (tactile and also visual). As in vision, a continuity is found between the various functions that appear according to physiological requirements. Likewise, a continuity is established between sensory functions and gnosis, both being based on the same physiological laws. The schema function is studied in detail and considered in diverse degree according to the somatic model, postural model and praxis model. In addition to the patients directly studied by the author, a reference case is also the famous Schneider patient of Goldstein and Gelb studied in 1918 and 1919, which deserves publications even at present, and which the author interpreted under the central syndrome. This syndrome is also related to Gerstmann's syndrome. In subsequent research, the author found 35 cases that also fit the central syndrome. In a later publication (English translation, Open Access in https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/30931/ ) the author exposed a model based on functional gradients through the cortex, according to which, its specificity is distributed in a continuous gradation, and in agreement with a continuous transition between the central syndrome and other cortical syndromes. The author continued to develop a functional brain model applying the principle of similarity of a dynamic system to the central syndrome, the latter being understood as a change of scale in nervous excitability with respect to a normal individual. This concept was already introduced in the preceding Vol. 1 and also in this Vol. 2. A preface introduces some aspects of this research, its author and his subsequent research.Depto. de ÓpticaFac. de Ciencias FísicasFALSEunpu