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An active inference implementation of phototaxis

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conference contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 09:13 authored by Manuel Baltieri, Christopher BuckleyChristopher Buckley
Active inference is emerging as a possible unifying theory ofperception and action in cognitive and computational neuro-science. On this theory, perception is a process of inferringthe causes of sensory data by minimising the error betweenactual sensations and those predicted by an innergenerative(probabilistic) model. Action on the other hand is drawn as aprocess that modifies the world such that the consequent sen-sory input meets expectations encoded in the same internalmodel. These two processes, inferring properties of the worldand inferring actions needed to meet expectations, close thesensory/motor loop and suggest a deep symmetry betweenaction and perception. In this work we present a simpleagent-based model inspired by this new theory that offers in-sights on some of its central ideas. Previous implementationsof active inference have typically examined a “perception-oriented” view of this theory, assuming that agents are en-dowed with a detailed generative model of their surround-ing environment. In contrast, we present an “action-oriented”solution showing how adaptive behaviour can emerge evenwhen agents operate with a simple model which bears littleresemblance to their environment. We examine how variousparameters of this formulation allow phototaxis and presentan example of a different, “pathological” behaviour.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Artificial Life 2017

Publisher

MIT Press

Volume

14

Page range

36-43

Event name

14th European Conference on Artificial Life 2017

Event location

Lyon, France

Event type

conference

Event date

4-8th September 2017

ISBN

9780262346337

Series

Proceedings of the European Conference on Artificial Life

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-12-07

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-12-07

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-12-06

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