Modelling Natural Action Selection

Action selection is the task of doing the right thing at the right time. It requires the assessment of available alternatives, executing those most appropriate, and resolving conflicts among competing goals and possibilities. Using advanced computational modelling, this book explores cutting-edge research into action selection in nature from a wide range of disciplines, from neuroscience to behavioural ecology, and even political science. It delivers new insights into both detailed and systems-level attributes of natural intelligence and demonstrates advances in methodological practice. Contributions from leading researchers cover issues including whether biological action selection is optimal, neural substrates for action selection in the vertebrate brain, perceptual selection in decision making, and interactions between group and individual action selection. This first integrated review of action selection in nature contains a balance of review and original research material, consolidating current knowledge into a valuable reference for researchers while illustrating potential paths for future studies.

Anil K. Seth is a Reader in the School of Informatics at the University of Sussex, an EPSRC Leadership Fellow, and Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His research-crosses the fields of computational neuroscience, consciousness science, and neurorobotics. In addition to contributing new insights into the mechanisms of action selection, he has developed new ways to linkbrain activity to conscious experience and he is well known for his research on the statistical analysis of causality. Tony J. Prescott is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sheffield where he teaches courses on computational neuroscience and biomimetic robotics. His research lies within the biological and brain sciences, and concerns understanding the evolution, development, and function of natural intelligence. He is particularly well known for his work on modelling the neural substrates for action selection, and building robot models of animal and human behaviour. Joanna J. Bryson is a Reader in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath. She conducts interdisciplinary research on the origins, structure, and construction of human and animal-like intelligence and is involved in topics ranging from the evolution of altruistic communication to the ethical role of robots in our society. She is recognised for her work in systems AI and the design of action selection. Her most recent work is centred on the application of modelling to understanding the evolution of human social structures and culturally derived behaviour more generally.