An action selection mechanism for "conscious" software agents

In this paper we describe an action selection mechanism for a "conscious" software agent. We discuss briefly the main cognitive modules of our agent architecture. Our focus is on the operational/functional details of the “consciousness” module and the action selection mechanism and how these two work together. We describe how events come to “consciousness,” how “conscious” events prime and bind to relevant actions/action-plans, and how the most relevant behavior/action is selected and executed. Our mechanisms provide the flexibility to interleave actions that operate under different tasks. We consider the descriptions in this paper a listing of the various hypotheses about human cognition resulting from our design of the agent described.

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