Connectionists: Theme Issue on Models of Natural Action Selection

[Tony Prescott]

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Readers of this list may interested in the following theme issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Biological Science, which was published online this month.  Apologies for multiple postings.

Theme Issue on "Models of Natural Action Selection"
Editors: Tony J. Prescott, Joanna J. Bryson, Anil K. Seth.

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B.
ISSN:
Print: 0962-8436
Online: 1471-2970

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/index.cfm?page=1318

SUMMARY: Action selection, at its simplest, is the problem that every human and animal faces at each instant of "what to do next?". To scientists this problem raises a plethora of further questions: How do we know how to do the right thing? Why is it that we sometimes make poor choices? How do we plan ahead for complex tasks and remember what we are trying to do as we go along?  Are there central decision-making mechanisms in the brain or do actions somehow 'select themselves' through the interaction of many concurrent brain processes? What happens when different parts the brain want to do different things? How do the actions selected by individuals shape and change the social groups in which they live?
 
This theme issue addresses these questions by focusing on a particular strategy for finding scientific explanations - computer modelling.  The contributions employ state-of-the-art modelling techniques ranging from large networks of simulated brain cells, through to models of individuals (people or animals) viewed as agents operating in simulated worlds. The research has broad applications, from understanding brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, to explaining how we choose which political parties we vote for, and how they adapt to increase their appeal to us.

Contents:

Introduction. Modelling natural action selection
Tony J. Prescott, Joanna J. Bryson, Anil K. Seth
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=t492g1hv6x876027
 
Do we expect natural selection to produce rational behaviour? 
Alasdair I. Houston, John M. McNamara, Mark D. Steer
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=376r0758h2535773
 
The ecology of action selection: Insights from artificial life 
Anil K. Seth
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=b7552510826h88u5
 
Compromise strategies for action selection
Frederick L. Crabbe
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=k233kl08x105608h
 
Action selection and refinement in subcortical loops through basal ganglia and cerebellum
J.C. Houk, C. Bastianen, D. Fansler, et al.
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=w4077317t235g045

Cortical mechanisms of action selection: the affordance competition hypothesis
Paul Cisek
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=u80m22400060r56r
 
Towards an executive without a homunculus: computational models of the prefrontal cortex/basal ganglia system
Thomas E. Hazy, Michael J. Frank, Randall C. O'Reilly
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=4172u10225l40707
  
Multilevel structure in behaviour and in the brain: a model of Fuster's hierarchy 
Matthew M. Botvinick
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=cmp4015726557200
  
Is there a brainstem substrate for action selection?
M.D. Humphries, K. Gurney, T.J. Prescott
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=lh5k330u4v1k8320
 
Understanding decision-making deficits in neurological conditions: insights from models of natural action selection
Michael J. Frank, Anouk Scheres, Scott J. Sherman
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=v1153m417480086j
  
Extending a biologically inspired model of choice: multi-alternatives, nonlinearity and value-based multidimensional choice
Rafal Bogacz, Marius Usher, Jiaxiang Zhang, et al.
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=50v10186675418m1
  
Biologically constrained action selection improves cognitive control in a model of the Stroop task
Tom Stafford and Kevin N. Gurney
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=d224283588250646

Agent-based modelling as scientific method: A case study analysing primate social behaviour
Joanna J. Bryson, Yasushi Ando, Hagen Lehmann
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=k622m6tx3715lgw3

An agent-based model of group decision making in baboons
W.I. Sellers, R.A. Hill, B.S. Logan
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=60v120716201w758
 
Spatial models of political competition with endogenous political parties
Michael Laver and Michel Schilperoord
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/link.asp?id=m0044hqx84g16020

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Dr Tony J Prescott, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield,
Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK. Email:T.J.Prescott at sheffield.ac.uk
Tel: (national 0114, international 44 114) 222 6547,  fax:  276 6515 
Web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~abrg/tony/   
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