A Modelling Framework for Functional Imagination.

Imagination is generally regarded as a very powerful and advanced cognitive ability. In this paper we propose a mod- elling framework for what we call functional imagination: the ability of an embodied agent to simulate its own behav- iors, predict their sensory-based consequences, and extract behavioural benefit from doing so. We identify five key com- ponents of architectures for functional imagination, and claim that they may be both necessary and sufficient. We outline a typical architecture, explain the flow of control within it, and describe a typical testing scenario using nested physics-based robot models. We also show how malfunctions within such an architecture may produce effects reminiscent of those found in certain human pathologies.