Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development
In this paper we connect open-ended development, authority, agency, and motivation through 1) an analysis of the demands of existing in a complex world and 2) environmental appraisal in terms of affordance content and the complexity to select appropriate behavior. We do this by identifying a coheren...
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doaj-5c35cf05a06b42cd9e906450ca57aac82020-11-24T23:06:03ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-10-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0076655661Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended DevelopmentTjeerd C Andringa0Kirsten A van den Bosch1Carla eVlaskamp2University of GroningenUniversity of GroningenUniversity of GroningenIn this paper we connect open-ended development, authority, agency, and motivation through 1) an analysis of the demands of existing in a complex world and 2) environmental appraisal in terms of affordance content and the complexity to select appropriate behavior. We do this by identifying a coherent core from a wide range of contributing fields. Open-ended development is a structured three-step process in which the agent first learns to master the body and then aims to make the mind into a reliable tool. Preconditioned on success in step two, step three aims to effectively co-create an optimal living environment. We argue that these steps correspond to right-left-right hemispheric dominance, where the left hemisphere specializes in control and the right hemisphere in exploration. Control (e.g., problem solving) requires a closed and stable world that must be maintained by external authorities or, in step three, by the right hemisphere acting as internal authority. The three-step progression therefore corresponds to increasing autonomy and agency.Depending on how we appraise the environment, we formulate four qualitatively different motivational states: submission, control, exploration, and consolidation. Each of these four motivational states has associated reward signals of which the last three — successful control, discovery of novelty, and establishing new relations — form an open-ended development loop that, the more it is executed, helps the agent to become progressively more agentic and more able to co-create a pleasant-to-live-in world. We conclude that for autonomy to arise, the agent must exist in a (broad) transition region between order and disorder in which both danger and opportunity (and with that open-ended development and motivation) are defined. We conclude that a research agenda for artificial cognitive system research should include open-ended development through intrinsic motivations and ascribing more prominence to right hemispheric strengths.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00766/fullMotivationagencylateralizationComplexityautonomyopen-ended development |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Tjeerd C Andringa Kirsten A van den Bosch Carla eVlaskamp |
spellingShingle |
Tjeerd C Andringa Kirsten A van den Bosch Carla eVlaskamp Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development Frontiers in Psychology Motivation agency lateralization Complexity autonomy open-ended development |
author_facet |
Tjeerd C Andringa Kirsten A van den Bosch Carla eVlaskamp |
author_sort |
Tjeerd C Andringa |
title |
Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development |
title_short |
Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development |
title_full |
Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development |
title_fullStr |
Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development |
title_full_unstemmed |
Learning Autonomy in Two or Three Steps: Linking Motivation, Authority, and Agency, with Open-ended Development |
title_sort |
learning autonomy in two or three steps: linking motivation, authority, and agency, with open-ended development |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2013-10-01 |
description |
In this paper we connect open-ended development, authority, agency, and motivation through 1) an analysis of the demands of existing in a complex world and 2) environmental appraisal in terms of affordance content and the complexity to select appropriate behavior. We do this by identifying a coherent core from a wide range of contributing fields. Open-ended development is a structured three-step process in which the agent first learns to master the body and then aims to make the mind into a reliable tool. Preconditioned on success in step two, step three aims to effectively co-create an optimal living environment. We argue that these steps correspond to right-left-right hemispheric dominance, where the left hemisphere specializes in control and the right hemisphere in exploration. Control (e.g., problem solving) requires a closed and stable world that must be maintained by external authorities or, in step three, by the right hemisphere acting as internal authority. The three-step progression therefore corresponds to increasing autonomy and agency.Depending on how we appraise the environment, we formulate four qualitatively different motivational states: submission, control, exploration, and consolidation. Each of these four motivational states has associated reward signals of which the last three — successful control, discovery of novelty, and establishing new relations — form an open-ended development loop that, the more it is executed, helps the agent to become progressively more agentic and more able to co-create a pleasant-to-live-in world. We conclude that for autonomy to arise, the agent must exist in a (broad) transition region between order and disorder in which both danger and opportunity (and with that open-ended development and motivation) are defined. We conclude that a research agenda for artificial cognitive system research should include open-ended development through intrinsic motivations and ascribing more prominence to right hemispheric strengths. |
topic |
Motivation agency lateralization Complexity autonomy open-ended development |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00766/full |
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