UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM "Evolution of Affective Displays: An Artificial Life Approach" Robert Lowe (School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire) 25 October 2006 (Wednesday) Lecture Theatre E350 Hatfield, College Lane Campus 3 - 4 pm Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available. [Catering Permitting] Everyone is Welcome to Attend [Space Permitting] Abstract: Models and studies of competitive behaviour regarding resource acquisition have often trivialized the influence of subjective need, and in particular the underlying state of the animals under investigation, on competitive performance or disregarded it entirely focusing more on the significance of other physical attributes such as strength or size. Behaviours, displays or expressions have tended to be ascribed particular functionalities, often tacitly or even explicitly, related to strategic cost-benefit assessment. Field biologists and evolutionary game theorists have often assumed that such attributed behaviours or phenotypic traits are adaptive and constitute a quasi-optimal behavioural approach irrespective of the environment in which they reside. The importance of affective state, in the form of simple internal state configurations, to display and related behavioural strategies is the subject of this presentation. Furthermore, a novel bottom-up approach that does not assume the functionality of ascribed behaviours or strategy sets, but rather allows behavioural patterns and displays to evolve, is posited as an alternative to more top-down models of display evolution. This approach is assessed via a systematic study of populations of artificial organisms in computer simulations that have the capacity to evolve displays and behaviours of adaptive value in their environment. This computational minimal model allows for a precise assessment of the relevance of internal mechanisms, such as affective states, to behavioural functionality regarding populations of agents needing to compete for limited, indivisible resources; and experimental findings pertinent to this model suggest that expression of affective state may play a crucial role in the adoption of peaceable resource acquiring behaviours. This is particularly found to be the case where the social and physical environments studied are conducive to frequent and non-excessively costly interactions allowing for proto-communication of affective states affording enhanced net pay-offs over multiple contests. -------------------------------------------------- Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq