Optimal neurocontrol: practical benefits, new results and biological evidence

In addition to demonstrated, intelligible engineering functionality, a “brain-like” system should contain at least three major general-purpose adaptive components: (1) an action or motor system, capable of outputting effective control signals to the plant of environment; (2) an “emotional” or “evaluation” system or “critic”, used to assess the long-term costs and benefits of near-term alternative outcomes; (3) an “expectations” or “system identification” component, which serves as a model or emulator of the external environment or of the plant to be controlled. This paper will: (1) summarize the practical advantages of moving from more classical designs to more brain-like designs, in today´s engineering applications; (2) summarize accomplishments of working groups; (3) argue that these designs (with some enhancement) do constitute a worthwhile theory of how intelligence works in the brain, generating testable predictions and proposed experiments; (4) scope out some key areas of research needed to implement the required enhancements in engineering