UC Berkeley

Muscle control requires brain mechanisms that construct sequences of actions, predict each next step, and verify through reafference and proprioception that the desired movements are taking place. In a passive information processing system predefined stimuli convey information, which is transduced by receptors into trains of impulses that signify the features of an object. The symbols are processed according to rules for learning and association and are then bound into a representation, which is stored, retrieved and matched with new incoming representations. In active systems perception begins with the emergence of a goal that is implemented by the search for information. The only input accepted is that which is consistent with the goal and is anticipated in conjunction with the acts of searching. The key component to be modeled in brains is the dynamic subsystem that constructs goals and the adaptive actions by which the goals are achieved. The paper discusses how the neurodynamics of goal seeking produces acts of observation. It considers how the limbic system is the organ of intentional behavior