Biomedical subjects

Rolf Pfeifer

Publications and source records attributed to Rolf Pfeifer.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Remembering a depressive primary object: memory in the dialogue between psychoanalysis and cognitive science.

Memory has always been a central issue in psychoanalytic theory and practice. Recent developments in the cognitive and neural sciences suggest that traditional notions of memory based on stored structures which are also often underlying psychoanalytic thinking cannot account for a number of fundamental phenomena and thus need to be revised. We suggest that memory be conceived as a) a theoretical construct explaining current behaviour by reference to events that have happened in the past. b) Memory is not to be conceived as stored structures but as a function of the whole organism, as a complex, dynamic, recategorizing and interactive process, which is always 'embodied'. c) Memory always has a subjective and an objective side. The subjective side is given by the individual's history, the objective side by the neural patterns generated by the sensory motor interactions with the environment. This implies that both 'narrative' (subjective) and 'historical' (objective) truth have to be taken into account achieving stable psychic change as is illustrated by extensive clinical materials taken from a psychoanalysis with a psychogenic sterile borderline patient.

Cognitive Science↗

PubMed1998

Embedded neural networks: exploiting constraints.

Using concepts and tools of embodied cognitive science, we investigate the implications of embedding neural networks in a physical structure, the body of a robot. Embedding a neural network in a body provides constraints that can be exploited for learning. We show that the constraints are given by the environment and object properties, the agent's morphology, the agent's motor system and specific ways of interacting with the objects. We argue that designing embedded neural networks implies (a) understanding these constraints, and (b) exploiting them, i.e., designing neural networks such that they-one way or other-incorporate the constraints. This in turn results in cheap and simple networks that are suited for the task environment, and have real-time responses. Moreover, this constraint-based approach provides new perspectives on two fundamental problems of cognitive science: focus-of-attention and object constancy. The main arguments are illustrated with a series of case studies with simulated and physical mobile robots that are controlled by hand-designed as well as evolved neural networks.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

New robotics: design principles for intelligent systems.

New robotics is an approach to robotics that, in contrast to traditional robotics, employs ideas and principles from biology. While in the traditional approach there are generally accepted methods (e. g., from control theory), designing agents in the new robotics approach is still largely considered an art. In recent years, we have been developing a set of heuristics, or design principles, that on the one hand capture theoretical insights about intelligent (adaptive) behavior, and on the other provide guidance in actually designing and building systems. In this article we provide an overview of all the principles but focus on the principles of ecological balance, which concerns the relation between environment, morphology, materials, and control, and sensory-motor coordination, which concerns self-generated sensory stimulation as the agent interacts with the environment and which is a key to the development of high-level intelligence. As we argue, artificial evolution together with morphogenesis is not only "nice to have" but is in fact a necessary tool for designing embodied agents.

Artificial Intelligence↗