From: tmr@cs.bham.ac.uk (Tim Read)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Possible Collaboration
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:07:22 GMT
Distribution: comp.ai
Organization: School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK

I am one of a group of research students at the University of Birmingham who
are interested in the cognitive issues pertaining to attention, affect,
motivation, and learning. We are co-supervised by Professor Aaron Sloman
(Head of Computer Science) and Professor Glyn Humphreys (Head of
Psychology). 

We are taking a computational approach to the modelling of these types of
phenomena (a `design-based' approach) and are interested in possible
collaboration with other groups in this area.

It is possible that we may be able to obtain funding for travel to encourage
cross-fertilisation of ideas, and so would like to hear from any interested
parties either in the UK or abroad.

What follows is a short introduction to our project:

      The Attention and Affect Project, University of Birmingham

As regards the Attention and Affect project is led by Aaron Sloman and Glyn
Humphreys. The former is professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive
Science in the school of computer science, and the latter is professor of
psychology, in the school of psychology. There are four research students
working on the project, Luc Beaudoin, Edmund Shing, Tim Read and Chris
Paterson. Other members of staff take part in the seminars and it is
expected that the group will grow.

The project is multidisciplinary and aims to investigate issues
concerned with: the production and processing of motives, their
relationship with attention and other cognitive processes; and the
production of emotional and other affective states as a result of new
percepts, new motives, new thoughts, etc.

Our approach is based on the idea that neurological, physiological,
linguistic and behavioural aspects of emotions and other affective
states and processes have generally been over-emphasised and that the
primary significance of affective states in general in intelligent
systems is cognitive and computational, although other aspects may be
important as a result of particular evolutionary or developmental
histories. In particular, an important conjecture is that design
requirements for resources-limited intelligent agents in a complex,
largely unpredictable, fast changing, world include mechanisms which, it
turns out, are capable of producing emotional states, although that is
not what they are for. (Similarly there are mechanisms in an operating
system that are capable of producing "thrashing behaviour" although that
is not what the mechanisms are for.) The basis of this idea is that
emotional states are bound up with partial lack of control attention.

The general framework for this research is outlined in the following
papers.

    A.Sloman and Monica Croucher,
    `Why robots will have emotions', in
    Proceedings 7th International Joint Conference on Artificial
        Intelligence, Vancouver, 1981,
    also available as Cognitive Science Research Paper 176, Sussex
    University from Berry Harper (email berry@cogs.sussex.ac.uk)

    A. Sloman,
    `Motives Mechanisms Emotions' in
    Cognition and Emotion, vol 1,no 3, pp.217-234 1987,
    reprinted in M.A. Boden (ed)
    The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
    "Oxford Readings in Philosophy" Series
    Oxford University Press, pp 231-247 1990.
    (Also available as Cognitive Science Research Paper No 62,
    Sussex University.)

    A. Sloman
    `Prolegomena to a theory of communication and affect'
    To appear in
    Ortony, A., Slack, J., and Stock, O. (Eds.)
    A.I. and Cognitive Science Perspectives on Communication.
    Heidelberg, Germany: Springer, 1991.
    (Also available as Cognitive Science Research Paper No 194
    University of Sussex)

    Luc Beaudoin
        University of Birmingham Thesis Proposal. Available as an
        "internal" report, on request Email: lpb@cs.bham.ac.uk

Some of the ideas are inspired by
    H.A. Simon, H.A.: `Motivational and Emotional Controls of Cognition'
    in Models of Thought, Yale University Press, (1979) pp29-38

Useful background reading:

    Ortony, A., Clore, G.L., Collins, A.:
    The Cognitive Structure of the Emotions,
    New York, Cambridge University Press (1988)

    P.N. Johnson-Laird
    The computer and the mind: An introduction to cognitive science,
        Fontana paperback, 1988.


The aim of this project is not detailed accurate modelling of human
mental processes, which would be far too difficult at present, but
exploration of general design principles for resource-limited
intelligent agents with multiple sources of motivation in a fast
changing, partly unpredictable world.

Thus, in addition to surveying relevant psychological and philosophical
literature we are collaborating on computer simulation studies requiring
the design and implementation of simplified models of cognitive
architectures able to support interactions between perceptual processes,
reasoning, planning, plan-execution, diversion of attention,
asynchronous generation of new motives, etc.

Part of the project will be studying philosophical or psychological
literature on motivation and emotions and assessing it from the design
standpoint.

The four research students on the project have first degrees in the
following subjects: Psychology, Computer Science, and Neurobiology. In
addition they all have an extensive grounding in Cognitive Science (one has
an MSc). One of the supervisors works in AI and Philosophy, one in Psychology.

We look forward to hearing from you.

 Tim
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    Tim Read, Email: tmr@cs.bham.ac.uk, The Attention and Affect Project
    Room LG23, School of Computer Science, The University of Birmingham,
    B15 2TT, England, Phone: +44-(0)21-414-4766, Fax: +44-(0)21-414-4281
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