Str mungsforschung Bunsenstr. The importance of the information processing aspect is not diminished by the emphasis on behavioral autonomy.
Scientists use their brains preferentially to search for intelligible structure in the world.
Animals on the other hand, and many non-scientist humans, are less concerned about understanding puzzling combinations of sensory stimuli. Instead, they usually just behave the way they are inclined to. We can easily think of examples that support either scheme, although it appears that only comparatively simple behaviors can be caused directly by stimuli. The emergence of behavioral complexity requires larger loops, including feedback and the involvement of different types of stimuli. We will consider here parallel developments in autonomous robotics and brain theory.