title: Keep your options open: an information-based driving principle for sensorimotor systems.
abstract: The central resource processed by the sensorimotor system of an organism is information. We propose an information-based quantity that allows one to characterize the efficiency of the perception-action loop of an abstract organism model. It measures the potential of the organism to imprint information on the environment via its actuators in a way that can be recaptured by its sensors, essentially quantifying the options available and visible to the organism. Various scenarios suggest that such a quantity could identify the preferred direction of evolution or adaptation of the sensorimotor loop of organisms.
authors.affiliation: Adaptive Systems Research Group, School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alexander S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Klyubin
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Polani
authors.forename: Chrystopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Nehaniv
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D007257:Information Theory; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012371:Robotics; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*