| 1. |
- Billing, Erik, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Finding Your Way from the Bed to the Kitchen: Reenacting and Recombining Sensorimotor Episodes Learned from Human Demonstration
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Robotics and Ai. - Lausanne, Switzerland : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-9144. ; 3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Several simulation theories have been proposed as an explanation for how humans and other agents internalize an "inner world" that allows them to simulate interactions with the external real world - prospectively and retrospectively. Such internal simulation of interaction with the environment has been argued to be a key mechanism behind mentalizing and planning. In the present work, we study internal simulations in a robot acting in a simulated human environment. A model of sensory-motor interactions with the environment is generated from human demonstrations and tested on a Robosoft Kompai robot. The model is used as a controller for the robot, reproducing the demonstrated behavior. Information from several different demonstrations is mixed, allowing the robot to produce novel paths through the environment, toward a goal specified by top-down contextual information. The robot model is also used in a covert mode, where the execution of actions is inhibited and perceptions are generated by a forward model. As a result, the robot generates an internal simulation of the sensory-motor interactions with the environment. Similar to the overt mode, the model is able to reproduce the demonstrated behavior as internal simulations. When experiences from several demonstrations are combined with a top-down goal signal, the system produces internal simulations of novel paths through the environment. These results can be understood as the robot imagining an "inner world" generated from previous experience, allowing it to try out different possible futures without executing actions overtly. We found that the success rate in terms of reaching the specified goal was higher during internal simulation, compared to overt action. These results are linked to a reduction in prediction errors generated during covert action. Despite the fact that the model is quite successful in terms of generating covert behavior toward specified goals, internal simulations display different temporal distributions compared to their overt counterparts. Links to human cognition and specifically mental imagery are discussed.
|
|
| 2. |
- Svensson, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
-
Dreaming of electric sheep? : Exploring the functions of dream-like mechanisms in the development of mental imagery simulations
- 2013
-
Ingår i: Adaptive Behavior. - : Sage Publications. - 1059-7123 .- 1741-2633. ; 21:4, s. 222-238
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- According to the simulation hypothesis, mental imagery can be explained in terms of predictive chains of simulated perceptions and actions, i.e., perceptions and actions are reactivated internally by our nervous system to be used in mental imagery and other cognitive phenomena. Our previous research shows that it is possible but not trivial to develop simulations in robots based on the simulation hypothesis. While there are several previous approaches to modelling mental imagery and related cognitive abilities, the origin of such internal simulations has hardly been addressed. The inception of simulation (InSim) hypothesis suggests that dreaming has a function in the development of simulations by forming associations between experienced, non-experienced but realistic, and even unrealistic perceptions. Here, we therefore develop an experimental set-up based on a simple simulated robot to test whether such dream-like mechanisms can be used to instruct research into the development of simulations and mental imagery-like abilities. Specifically, the hypothesis is that dreams' informing the construction of simulations lead to faster development of good simulations during waking behaviour. The paper presents initial results in favour of the hypothesis.
|
|
| 3. |
- Svensson, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
-
Embodied Representation : What are the Issues
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. - Mahwah, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. - 9780976831815 ; , s. 2116-2121
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A common theme of many discussions among embodied cognition researchers is whether or not cognition is making use of epresentations. This debate has recently been called a “debate for the sake of appearance” because there is no agreed upon way of identifying what is a representation. Therefore, instead of elaborating our own position on whether embodied cognition uses representation, we structure the debate by (1) reviewing three types of mechanisms in models of embodied cognition that might be considered candidates for epresentationhood and (2) outlining criteria for what is or is not a representation in embodied cognition.
|
|
| 4. |
- Svensson, Henrik
(författare)
-
Embodied simulation as off-line representation
- 2007
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis argues that a key to understanding the embodiment of cognition is the “sharing” of neural mechanisms between sensorimotor processes and higher-level cognitive processes as described by simulation theories. Simulation theories explain higher-level cognition as (partial) simulations or emulations of sensorimotor processes through the re-activation of neural circuitry also active in bodily perception, action, and emotion. This thesis develops the notion that simulation mechanisms have a particular representational function, as off-line representations, which contributes to the representation debate in embodied cognitive science. Based on empirical evidence from neuroscience, psychology and other disciplines as well as a review of existing simulation theories, the thesis describes three main mechanisms of simulation theories: re-activation, binding, and prediction. The possibility of using situated and embodied artificial agents to further understand and validate simulation as a mechanism of (higher-level) cognition is addressed through analysis and comparison of existing models. The thesis also presents some directions for further research on modeling simulation as well as the notion of embodied simulation as off-line representation.
|
|
| 5. |
- Svensson, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
-
Neural Pathways of Embodied Simulation
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Anticipatory Behavior in Adaptive Learning Systems. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9783642025648 - 9783642025655 ; , s. 95-114
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Simulation theories have in recent years proposed that a cognitiveagent's "inner world" can at least partly be constituted by internal emulations or simulations of its sensorimotor interaction with the world, i.e. covert perception and action. This paper further integrates simulation theory with the notion of the brain as a predictive machine. In particular, it outlines the neural pathways of covert simulations, which include implicit anticipation in cerebellar and basal gangliar circuits, bodily anticipation by means of forward models in the cerebellum, and environmental anticipation in the neocortex. The paper also discusses, to some extent, possible implications of the neural pathways of covert simulation for the frame problem, and the relation between procedural and declarative knowledge in covert simulations.
|
|
| 6. |
- Svensson, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
-
Representation as Internal Simulation : A Minimalistic Robotic Model
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the Thirty-First Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. - : Cognitive Science Society, Inc.. - 9780976831853 ; , s. 2890-2895
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Embodied cognition theorists have in recent years proposed that a cognitive agent's "representations" or "inner world" can at least partly be constituted by internal emulations or simulations of its sensorimotor interaction with the world, i.e. covert perception and action. This paper recapitulates some of the empirical evidence, distinguishes between implicit, internal and external anticipation, and discusses possible neural correlates. Furthermore a robotic neurocomputational model of external anticipation is presented and analyzed.
|
|
| 7. |
- Thill, Serge, et al.
(författare)
-
The inception of simulation : a hypothesis for the role of dreams in young children
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science. - Austin, TX : Cognitive Science Society, Inc.. - 9780976831877 ; , s. 231-236
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the present paper, we present an argument and an initial model connecting research into the functional role of dreams with simulation theories. Traditionally, although theories that describe the refinement of simulations exist, the origin of these simulations is not considered in detail. Similarly, research into the functional role of dreams tends to focus on adults, with less regard to the dreams of young children.Here, we suggest that a functional role of dreams in infants through to early childhood may be the inception of these simulations. We show that the proposed model can present a unified explanation for functions of both the phenomenological experience of dreaming as well as other aspects of brain activity during sleeping, e.g. the processing of memories. Additionally, it explicitly provides an account for the development of simulations in early childhood, hypothesising that an initial function of dreams is the inception and development of simulations.
|
|
