Intrinsically motivated learning systems: An overview

Abstract

This chapter introduces the field of intrinsically motivated learning systems and illustrates the content, objectives, and organisation of the book. The chapter first expands the concept of intrinsic motivations, then introduces a taxonomy of three classes of intrinsic-motivation mechanisms (based on predictors, on novelty detection, and on competence), and finally introduces and reviews the various contributions of the book. The contributions are organised into six parts. The contributions of the first part provide general overviews on the concept of intrinsic motivations, the possible mechanisms that may implement them, and the functions that they can play. The contributions of the second, third, and fourth parts focus on the three classes of the aforementioned intrinsic-motivation mechanisms. The contributions of the fifth part discuss mechanisms that are complementary to intrinsic motivations. The contributions of the sixth part introduce tools and experimental paradigms that can be used to investigate intrinsic motivations.