Intelligent Systems
Note: This research group has relocated.

Novel plasticity rule can explain the development of sensorimotor intelligence

2015

Article

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Grounding autonomous behavior in the nervous system is a fundamental challenge for neuroscience. In particular, self-organized behavioral development provides more questions than answers. Are there special functional units for curiosity, motivation, and creativity? This paper argues that these features can be grounded in synaptic plasticity itself, without requiring any higher-level constructs. We propose differential extrinsic plasticity (DEP) as a new synaptic rule for self-learning systems and apply it to a number of complex robotic systems as a test case. Without specifying any purpose or goal, seemingly purposeful and adaptive rhythmic behavior is developed, displaying a certain level of sensorimotor intelligence. These surprising results require no system-specific modifications of the DEP rule. They rather arise from the underlying mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking, which is due to the tight brain body environment coupling. The new synaptic rule is biologically plausible and would be an interesting target for neurobiological investigation. We also argue that this neuronal mechanism may have been a catalyst in natural evolution.

Author(s): Der, Ralf and Martius, Georg
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume: 112
Number (issue): 45
Pages: E6224-E6232
Year: 2015

Department(s): Autonomous Learning
Research Project(s): Self-exploration of Behavior
Bibtex Type: Article (article)

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1508400112
Eprint: 1505.00835
URL: http://www.pnas.org/content/112/45/E6224.abstract

BibTex

@article{DerMartius2015:DEP,
  title = {Novel plasticity rule can explain the development of sensorimotor intelligence},
  author = {Der, Ralf and Martius, Georg},
  journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences},
  volume = {112},
  number = {45},
  pages = {E6224-E6232},
  year = {2015},
  doi = {10.1073/pnas.1508400112},
  eprint = {1505.00835},
  url = {http://www.pnas.org/content/112/45/E6224.abstract}
}