scholarly journals Beyond Embodiment: From Internal Representation of Action to Symbolic Processes

2012 ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
Isabel Barahona da Fonseca ◽  
Jose Barahona da Fonseca ◽  
Vitor Pereira
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Boudreau ◽  
Eric S. Swanson

Built-in datatypes and C++ classes are introduced in this chapter, and discussed in relation to the important notion of encapsulation, which refers to the separation between the internal representation of the datatype and the operations to which it responds. Encapsulation later becomes an important consideration in the design of custom C++ classes that programmers develop themselves. It is illustrated with built-in floating-point datatypes float and double and with the complex class from the C++ standard library. While a sophisticated programmer is aware of the internal representation of data and its resulting limitations, encapsulation allows one to consider these as details and frees one to think at a higher level of program design. Some simple numerical examples are discussed in the text and in the exercises.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2678
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Lobov ◽  
Alexey I. Zharinov ◽  
Valeri A. Makarov ◽  
Victor B. Kazantsev

Cognitive maps and spatial memory are fundamental paradigms of brain functioning. Here, we present a spiking neural network (SNN) capable of generating an internal representation of the external environment and implementing spatial memory. The SNN initially has a non-specific architecture, which is then shaped by Hebbian-type synaptic plasticity. The network receives stimuli at specific loci, while the memory retrieval operates as a functional SNN response in the form of population bursts. The SNN function is explored through its embodiment in a robot moving in an arena with safe and dangerous zones. We propose a measure of the global network memory using the synaptic vector field approach to validate results and calculate information characteristics, including learning curves. We show that after training, the SNN can effectively control the robot’s cognitive behavior, allowing it to avoid dangerous regions in the arena. However, the learning is not perfect. The robot eventually visits dangerous areas. Such behavior, also observed in animals, enables relearning in time-evolving environments. If a dangerous zone moves into another place, the SNN remaps positive and negative areas, allowing escaping the catastrophic interference phenomenon known for some AI architectures. Thus, the robot adapts to changing world.


Perception ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel-Ange Amorim ◽  
Jack M Loomis ◽  
Sergio S Fukusima

An unfamiliar configuration lying in depth and viewed from a distance is typically seen as foreshortened. The hypothesis motivating this research was that a change in an observer's viewpoint even when the configuration is no longer visible induces an imaginal updating of the internal representation and thus reduces the degree of foreshortening. In experiment 1, observers attempted to reproduce configurations defined by three small glowing balls on a table 2 m distant under conditions of darkness following ‘viewpoint change’ instructions. In one condition, observers reproduced the continuously visible configuration using three other glowing balls on a nearer table while imagining standing at the distant table. In the other condition, observers viewed the configuration, it was then removed, and they walked in darkness to the far table and reproduced the configuration. Even though the observers received no additional information about the stimulus configuration in walking to the table, they were more accurate (less foreshortening) than in the other condition. In experiment 2, observers reproduced distant configurations on a nearer table more accurately when doing so from memory than when doing so while viewing the distant stimulus configuration. In experiment 3, observers performed both the real and imagined perspective change after memorizing the remote configuration. The results of the three experiments indicate that the continued visual presence of the target configuration impedes imaginary perspective-change performance and that an actual change in viewpoint does not increase reproduction accuracy substantially over that obtained with an imagined change in viewpoint.


2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
María Santos ◽  
María Márquez

Anthropology seeks the meanings of standard or repeated behaviors, social processes, or human creations. This is why anthropologists have explored alien and/or distant social settings. What happens when we try to answer the same questions in our own contexts? In other words, how can we use anthropological theories and tools to discover the meaning of the development and adoption of technological artifacts and processes within our own cultural groups? In this article, we suggest that this can be partly achieved through the generation and exchange of theoretical tools. To this end, we propose the concepts of "technical-symbolic trajectories" and "technological style." These have been drawn from our field research and include influences from disciplines other than anthropology. They are then used to generate mid-range explanations to understand: (1) the symbolic processes that, in conjunction with other social, political, and economic forces, shape a specific and identifiable trajectory of technological development and (2) the technical resources, behaviors, and discourses that actors use to achieve the cultural objectives incorporated into any technological experience.


2013 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 984-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilsaan M. Joiner ◽  
Jordan B. Brayanov ◽  
Maurice A. Smith

The way that a motor adaptation is trained, for example, the manner in which it is introduced or the duration of the training period, can influence its internal representation. However, recent studies examining the gradual versus abrupt introduction of a novel environment have produced conflicting results. Here we examined how these effects determine the effector specificity of motor adaptation during visually guided reaching. After adaptation to velocity-dependent dynamics in the right arm, we estimated the amount of adaptation transferred to the left arm, using error-clamp measurement trials to directly measure changes in learned dynamics. We found that a small but significant amount of generalization to the untrained arm occurs under three different training schedules: a short-duration (15 trials) abrupt presentation, a long-duration (160 trials) abrupt presentation, and a long-duration gradual presentation of the novel dynamic environment. Remarkably, we found essentially no difference between the amount of interlimb generalization when comparing these schedules, with 9–12% transfer of the trained adaptation for all three. However, the duration of training had a pronounced effect on the stability of the interlimb transfer: The transfer elicited from short-duration training decayed rapidly, whereas the transfer from both long-duration training schedules was considerably more persistent (<50% vs. >90% retention over the first 20 trials). These results indicate that the amount of interlimb transfer is similar for gradual versus abrupt training and that interlimb transfer of learned dynamics can occur after even a brief training period but longer training is required for an enduring effect.


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