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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Main Authors: Tjeerd C Andringa, Kirsten A van den Bosch, Carla eVlaskamp
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00766/full
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spelling 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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