Towards modelling affect and emotions in autonomous agents with recurrent fuzzy systems

In this paper, we present a computational model of the elicitation and the dynamics of affective states in autonomous agents based on fuzzy methodology. Fuzzy logic has been used in computational modelling of affect for 15 years, but has not yet been employed to bridge the particular benefits of fuzzy modelling with dynamical systems approaches to understanding emotions. The information-processing architecture scheme we propose for the calculations which are involved in affective processes can be instantiated in a distributed fashion. This enables `programming´ of the agent´s affective interpretation of its relationship with its environment with respect to different objects and their behavior towards the agent, as well as its own internal motivational states. In our simulations, we emphasize dynamic properties of affective processes and behaviors resulting therefrom. In addition, we sketch theoretical ideas of internal effects of different affective states that we are currently implementing.