In this chapter we will describe experiments carried out in our Behaviours Virtual
Laboratory. In the first section, we will presentexperiments involving the emergent intelligence,
opportunism, and lower cognition given by BeCA in the animats, while in the second section
we will present experiments involving emergent social behaviours and structures in small animat
societies. We encourage the readers to access our BVL through our web page
http://132.248.1L4/~carlos/asia/bvl to execute the experiments presented here, and also to
develop their own.
The goal of the experiments presented here is to show the properties and capabilities
of BeCA, I&I, and our BVL.
In the first section, we will present experiments showing the simulation of reflex,
reactive, and motivated behaviours. We will also show experiments involving primary and
secondary classical conditionings, and the learning of the motivation degree. We will also
present an experiment showing the non persistence of a consummatory behaviour in the
presence of an aversive stimulus, and we will show experiments involving different motivation
and reactive degrees through the adjustment of parameters in BeCA.
In the second section, we will first present simple experiments showing the imitation and
induction of behaviours. Then we will expose the relevance of the environment in the sociality
of the animats as they learn the imitation factors. Finally, we will present experiments
concerning collective misbelief.
6.1. Intelligence in the BVL
“Intelligence is the art of getting away with it”
—Arturo Frappё
We will present here experiments related with the adaptive intelligence emerging from
BeCA, which provides the control for the animats.
6.1.1. Modelling reflex behaviours
In this simple experiment, an animat is exploring following a straight trajectory. When
an obstacle is perceived as too close, he reflexively avoids it. These behaviours can be
appreciated in Figure 26. In animals, the behaviour “avoid obstacle” would be more reactive
than reflex, but our animats have no planning, and this behaviour can then be seen as a reflex
behaviour, because the signal to avoid the obstacle is inscribed on the External Perceptions
level only when the obstacle is within a close range24.
24See Section 3.5.
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