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Workshop on Anticipatory Behavior in Adaptive Learning Systems

ABiALS 2008: Anticipatory Behavior in Adaptive Learning Systems pp 10–30Cite as

ABC: A Psychological Theory of Anticipative Behavioral Control

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5499))

Abstract

Almost all behavior is purposive or goal oriented. People behave, for example, in order to cross the street, to open a door, to ring a bell, to switch on a radio, to fill a cup with coffee, etc. Likewise, animals behave to attain various goals as for example to escape from a predator, to catch prey, to feed their offspring, etc. The ABC framework accords with the purposive character of almost all behavior by assuming that behavior is not determined by the current stimulation but by the desired or the ’to-be-produced’ effects. For this to work, behavioral acts have to be connected to the effects they produce in such a way that anticipations of effects gain the power to address the behavior that brings them about (often called the ideo-motor principle). Moreover, if action-effect contingencies systematically depend on the situational context, the formed action-effect relations have to be contextualized. Accordingly, the ABC framework assumes the formation of representations that preserve information about which effects can be realized by which behavior under which conditions. In the present article we review some of the empirical evidence in favor of the ABC approach and discuss the structures by which sensory anticipations might be transformed into the motor patterns that move the body to bring the desired effects about.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, D 97070, Würzburg

    Joachim Hoffmann

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  1. Joachim Hoffmann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche,Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale “Antonio Zampolli”, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi, 1 - 56124 Pisa, Italy and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche,Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Via San Martino della Ba, Italy

    Giovanni Pezzulo

  2. COBOSLAB – Cognitive Bodyspaces: Learning and Behavior, Department of Psychology III, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany

    Martin V. Butz

  3. Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (CNRS UMR 7222), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Pyramide Tour 55, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Olivier Sigaud

  4. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Via San Martino della Battaglia 44, 00185, Roma, Italy

    Gianluca Baldassarre

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Hoffmann, J. (2009). ABC: A Psychological Theory of Anticipative Behavioral Control. In: Pezzulo, G., Butz, M.V., Sigaud, O., Baldassarre, G. (eds) Anticipatory Behavior in Adaptive Learning Systems. ABiALS 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5499. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02565-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02565-5_2

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