Virtual sea slug behaves like living counterpart

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An ocean predator "Cyberslug" created by researchers at the University of Illinois (UI) reacts to food and responds to members of its own kind, much like the actual animal it was modeled on, the sea slug.

The study has been published in the journal eNeuro.

When the sea slug is super hungry, it will even attack a painful stimulus, and when the animal is not hungry, it usually will avoid even an appetitive stimulus. Cyberslug behaves the same way.

The first Cyberslug prototype was housed in a plastic foam food container. /University of Illinois Photo

Unlike most other artificial intelligent (AI) entities, Cyberslug has self-awareness. "It relates its motivation and memories to its perception of the external world, and it reacts to information on the basis of how that information makes it feel," said UI molecular and integrative physiology professor Rhanor Gillette.

Cyberslug knows when it's hungry, for example. It has also learned which other kinds of virtual sea slugs are yummy to eat and which are less desirable.

Sea slugs typically choose one of three responses when encountering another creature in the wild: Do I eat it? Do I mate with it? Or do I flee?

To make the right choice, they must be able to sense their own internal state, get cues from their environment and remember past encounters.

"Their default response is avoidance, but hunger, sensation and learning together form their 'appetitive state,' and if that is high enough, the sea slug will attack," Gillette said.

Cyberslug makes a cost-benefit calculation whenever it encounters potential prey. /University of Illinois Photo

In previous work, UI researchers worked out the brain circuitry that allows sea slugs to operate in the wild. To test the accuracy of their models, the researchers experimented with simple computer simulations.

The new model uses more sophisticated algorithms to simulate Cyberslug's competing goals and decision-making. Over time it learns what is good and not so good to bite. Just like the sea slug, the more it eats, the more satiated it becomes and the more likely it is to avoid other creatures. But as hunger returns, Cyberslug becomes a less picky eater.

"I think the sea slug is a good model of the core ancient circuitry that is still there in our brains that is supporting all the higher cognitive qualities," Gillette said. "Now we have a model that's probably very much like the primitive ancestral brain. The next step is to add more circuitry to get enhanced sociality and cognition."

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency