Call for papers: AISB'05 symposium on emotion and motivation

[Dylan Evans]

Agents that want and like: motivational and emotional roots of cognition
and action.

A symposium of the AISB'05 Convention

University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK, 14th - 15th April, 2005

** Submission Deadline: October 31, 2004 **

http://www.dylan.org.uk/emotivation_aisb05/

SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION:
---------------------

Motivation and emotion are highly intertwined (e.g., emotions are
often very powerful motivational factors; motivation can be seen as a
consequence of emotion and viceversa, etc.) and it is not always easy
to establish clear boundaries between them. Both types of phenomena
are grouped under the broader category of "affect", traditionally
distinguished from "cold" cognition. They lie at the heart of
autonomy, adaptation, and social interaction in both biological and
artificial agents. They also have a powerful and wide-ranging
influence on many aspects of cognition and action. However, their
roles are often considered to be complementary - as a first
approximation, motivation would be concerned with the internal and
external factors involved in the establishment of "goals" and the
initiation and execution of goal-oriented action, whereas emotion is
rather concerned, among other critical factors, with evaluative
aspects of the relation between an agent and its environment.

This symposium proposes to investigate the roles and mutual
interactions of motivation and emotion in influencing different
aspects of cognition and action in biological and artificial agents
that interact with their physical and social environment. The nature
of this topic necessitates a highly multi-disciplinary symposium, and
we invite contributions from different relevant disciplines such as
psychology, biology, neuroscience, ethology, sociology and philosophy,
in addition to AI and robotics.


SYMPOSIUM ORGANISERS:
--------------------

Lola Canamero
Adaptive Systems Research Group
School of Computer Science
University of Hertfordshire
College Lane, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB
Phone: +44-(0)1707-284308; Fax: +44-(0)1707-284303
URL: http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~comqlc
E-mail: L.Canamero at herts.ac.uk

Dylan Evans
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
University of the West of England
Frenchay Campus
Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY
Tel: 0117-328-3294 (lab)
Tel: 0117-328-2489 (office)
Fax: 0117-344-3960
Web: http://www.dylan.org.uk
E-mail: d6-evans at uwe.ac.uk

SUBMISSION DETAILS:
------------------

Potential participants who would wish to present their work at the
symposium (poster, demo, or oral presentation) should submit an
extended abstract of no more than 2500 words. Contributions should
describe work in progress, completed work, positions, or give insight
into the current state or perspectives of research in the topic of the
symposium. All submissions must include: title, author(s) name(s),
affiliation(s), mailing and electronic addresses, and telephone and
fax numbers.

The abstracts submission deadline for this symposium is *31st October,
2004*. 

Extended abstracts of no more than 2500 words should be sent by e-mail
(ASCII or URL from which your contribution can be downloaded are
preferred; otherwise attached PDF, or UNIX-compatible postscript) to
both organisers:

L.Canamero at herts.ac.uk AND d6-evans at uwe.ac.uk

Since contributions will be evaluated on the basis of extended
abstracts, it is very important that authors make very clear why and
how their contribution is relevant to the symposium.  Abstracts should
explain clearly:

- The problem you are addressing. 
- Why this is an interesting problem, and how and why it is relevant
  to the theme of the symposium. 
- What has been tried before (in your community, in different
  communities) and why/how your contribution is better/different/more
  original.
- How it will help others/contribute to/enrich research or
  applications having to do with the symposium topic.
- Some results/proof/hint that it works (how can your work be evaluated?). 

Authors of accepted submissions will be invited to contribute a paper to
the symposium proceedings, edited by the AISB Society.   

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE:
-------------------

Orlando Avila-Garcia - University of Hertfordshire, UK
Ruth Aylett - Univesity of Salford, UK 
Cynthia Breazeal - MIT, USA 
Joanna Bryson - University of Bath, UK 
Lola Canamero - University of Hertfordshire, UK
Dylan Evans - University of the West of England, UK
Philippe Gaussier - University of Cergy-Pontoise, France 
Steve Grand - Cyberlife Research Ltd., UK 
Chris Melhuish - University of the West of England, UK 
Jean-Arcady Meyer - LIP6, France 
Jacqueline Nadel - CNRS & Hopital La Salpetriere, France 
Paolo Petta - OFAI & Medical University of Vienna, Austria 
Tony Prescott - University of Sheffield, UK 
David Sander - University of Geneva, CH 

IMPORTANT DATES:
---------------
- 31 October 2004: Abstract submissions due
- 22 November 2004: Notification to authors
- 17 December 2004: camera-ready copies due to symposium chairs
- 14 January 2005: early registration deadline
- 12-15 April 2005: AISB 2005 convention (symposium dates: 14 & 15 April)

For further details about the symposium please visit
http://www.dylan.org.uk/emotivation_aisb05

---
Dylan Evans
Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Autonomous Systems
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
University of the West of England
Frenchay Campus
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol BS16 1QY
Tel: 0117-328-3294 (lab)
Tel: 0117-328-2489 (office)
Fax: 0117-344-3960
Web: http://www.dylan.org.uk
Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments: see
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html