From State Transitions to Sensory Regularity: Structuring Uninterpreted Sensory Signals From Naive Sensorimotor Experiences

Abstract

How could a naive agent build some internal, subjec-1 tive, notions of continuity in its sensorimotor experiences? This 2 is a key question for all sensorimotor approaches to perception 3 when trying to make them face realistic interactions with an 4 environment, including noise in the perceived sensations, errors 5 in the generation of motor trajectories, or uncertainties in the 6 agent's internal representation of this interaction. This paper 7 proposes a detailed formalization, but also some experimental 8 assessments, of the structure a naive agent can leverage from 9 its own uninterpreted sensorimotor flow to capture a subjective 10 sensory continuity, making it able to discover some notions of 11 closeness or regularities in its experience. The precise role of the 12 agent's actions is also questioned w.r.t. the spatial and temporal 13 dynamics of its exploration of the environment. On this basis, the 14 previous authors' contribution on sensory prediction is extended 15 to successfully handle noisy data in the agent's sensorimotor flow.