Generation and selection of sensory channels

Abstract

Sensory channels determine the way an agent views the world. We investigate the question of how sensory channels may be autonomously constructed using generation and selection. The context is the discrimination of geometric shapes. In a first experiment, elements of a solution were attributed fitness based on the part of the problem they solved. In two subsequent experiments, cooperation between elements was respectively required and encouraged by means of a fitness function which only rewards complete solutions. Differences between the approaches are discussed, and generation and selection is concluded to provide a successful mechanism for the autonomous construction of sensory channels.