Search the World's Largest Database of Information Science & Technology Terms & Definitions
InfInfoScipedia LogoScipedia
A Free Service of IGI Global Publishing House
Below please find a list of definitions for the term that
you selected from multiple scholarly research resources.

What is Diffusive Control

Chapter 7
Handbook of Research on Synthetic Emotions and Sociable Robotics: New Applications in Affective Computing and Artificial Intelligence
Diffusive control is intrinsically related for biological cognitive systems to the release of neuromodulators. Neuromodulators are generally released in the inter-neural medium, from where they physically diffuse, affecting a large ensemble of surrounding neurons. The neuromodulators do not affect directly the cognitive information processing, viz the dynamical state of individual neurons. They act as the prime agents for transmitting extended signals for meta learning. Diffusive control signals come in two versions, neutral and emotional. (A) Neutral diffusive control is automatically activated when certain conditions are present in the cognitive system, irrespectively of the frequency and the level of past activations of the diffusive control. (B) Emotional diffusive control has a preset preferred level of activation frequency and strength. Deviation of the preset activity-level results in negative reinforcement signals, viz the system feels `uneasy’ or `uncomfortable’.
Published in Chapter:
Emotions, Diffusive Emotional Control and the Motivational Problem for Autonomous Cognitive Systems
C. Gros (J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
Copyright: © 2009 |Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-354-8.ch007
Abstract
All self-active living beings need to solve the motivational problem—the question of what to do at any moment of their life. For humans and non-human animals at least two distinct layers of motivational drives are known, the primary needs for survival and the emotional drives leading to a wide range of sophisticated strategies, such as explorative learning and socializing. Part of the emotional layer of drives has universal facets, being beneficial in an extended range of environmental settings. Emotions are triggered in the brain by the release of neuromodulators, which are, at the same time, are the agents for meta-learning. This intrinsic relation between emotions, meta-learning and universal action strategies suggests a central importance for emotional control for the design of artificial intelligences and synthetic cognitive systems. An implementation of this concept is proposed in terms of a dense and homogeneous associative network (dHan).
Full Text Chapter Download: US $37.50 Add to Cart
eContent Pro Discount Banner
InfoSci OnDemandECP Editorial ServicesAGOSR