Reinforcement Learning: A Technical Introduction – Part I

Abstract

Reinforcement learning provides a cognitive science perspective to behavior and sequential decision making provided that reinforcement learning algorithms introduce a computational concept of agency to the learning problem. Hence it addresses an abstract class of problems that can be characterized as follows: An algorithm confronted with information from an unknown environment is supposed to find step wise an optimal way to behave based only on some sparse, delayed or noisy feedback from some environment, that changes according to the algorithm’s behavior. Hence reinforcement learning offers an abstraction to the problem of goal-directed learning from interaction. The paper offers an opinionated introduction in the algorithmic advantages and drawbacks of several algorithmic approaches to provide algorithmic design options.