SC13: From Decentralized Control to Free Will

Speaker:

Holk Cruse, Universität Bielefeld

Summary:

Might cognition possibly emerge from the cooperation of decentralized reactive elements? To approach this question, I will, according to the behavior-based approach, introduce an artificial neural network able to deal with a fairly complex behavior, hexapod walking and climbing as well as navigation. I will then continue by treating phenomena usually attributed to cognitive systems,
cognition understood as to allow for creativity and planning ahead. Essential requirements to be introduced are a manipulable body model for internal simulation and an attention system.

I will then discuss to what extent cognitive properties used at higher levels of description can be ascribed to this network. These properties concern attention control, relations between unconscious and conscious treatment of memory elements, procedural and declarative memory, emotions, global workspace, voluntary decisions, access consciousness and meta-representation as well as autonomy in the sense of determining own goals. I will also discuss whether such a system might be endowed with subjective experience, a question, the answer to which appears to be a crucial prerequisite to approach the topic of free will.

Time permitting, a further expansion will be introduced allowing the system to verbally report on internal states or simulated behavior, and to follow verbal commands.

Topics:

animal behaviour, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, robotics

References:

Cruse. H. Dean, J. Ritter, H. (1998) Die Erfindung der Intelligenz oder können Ameisen denken? C.H. Beck, München
Cruse, H. (1999) Feeling our body - the basis of cognition? Evolution and Cognition 5, 162-173
Cruse, H. (2003) The evolution of cognition – a hypothesis. Cog. Science 27, 135-155
Dürr V, Schmitz J, Cruse H (2004) Behaviour-based modelling of hexapod locomotion: Linking biology and technical application. Arthropod Struct. Develop. 33, 237-250
Cruse, H. (2009) Neural Networks as Cybernetic Systems. 3rd edition
Overview: http://www.brains-minds-media.org/archive/1841, part 1: http://www.brains-minds-media.org/archive/1988 , part 2: http://www.brains-minds-media.org/archive/1990
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Cruse, H. (2009) Substrate der Entscheidungsfindung. In: Das Ich und sein Gehirn (G. Duttge (Hg.) Die Herausforderungen der neurobiologischen Forschung für das (Straf-) Recht. Göttinger Studien zu den Kriminalwissenschaften. Universitätsverlag Göttingen. p. 63-74
Cruse, H., Schilling,M. (2010) Getting cognitive. In: The Neurocognition of Dance. Eds: B. Bläsing, M. Puttke, T. Schack. Psychology Press, London, 53-74
Cruse, H. (2010) „Als lebeten sie“ – (er)lebende Roboter? In: Faszination Leben. V. Gerhardt, D. Schulte (eds.) Fink Verlag, München, pp.13-26

CV:

Studied biology, physics and mathematics at Freiburg, dissertation at University of Stuttgart, habilitation (zoology) at University of Kaiserslautern. Since 1981 until 2008 head of Biological Cybernetics, Fac. for Biology, University of Bielefeld.