The limbic action-perception cycle controlling goal-directed animal behavior

Intelligent behavior is characterized by flexible and creative pursuit of endogenously defined goals. It has emerged in humans through the stages of evolution that are manifested in the brains and behaviors of the vertebrate series. Intentionality is a key concept by which to link brain dynamics to goal-directed behavior, and to provide for intelligent adaptations by machines. An archetypal form of intentional behavior is an act of observation into time and space, by which information is sought for the guidance of future action. Evidence points to the limbic system as the key organizing structure in producing such neural activity. The implementation of actions by the mesoscopic dynamics of the forebrain takes the form of hypothesis testing, in which essential information is sought by manipulation of the senses, and the synaptic connectivity of the brain is modified in respect to the consequences of actions taken. A description will be undertaken of software and hardware systems using coupled nonlinear differential equations with chaotic attractor landscapes, by means of which these functions can be built into free-roving machines operating in complex, rapidly changing and not fully predictable environments