Emotion-Based Agents

Abstract

To survive in a dynamic and rich environment. hu- considered species. man beings have to p>ocess very complex stimuli in real time. Whatever artificial system satisfying the challenge of achieving a similar performance in complex data handling, owht to incomorate mechanisms nnecificallv cnncejv\\red _ tc,-. 51--..---.---=--.._ _--.-- _._..--__A.-r- _._ _----, perform efficiently. We hypothesize that such efficiency oriented systems pro-cess stimuli- simultaneously- under two different per-spectives: a cognitive, elaborative- which allows them to understand what is happening and what they know about the world, and a perceptual, immediate- which permits them to react quickly and decide adequately in circumstances de-manding urgent action. Hence, from the very same complex stimulus, two sets of facets are extracted: one, mostly di-rected to recognition and reasoning purposes, and another,